I've taken several days off to collect my thoughts on this topic. I'll say again that I am delighted by the extensive discussion and surprised by the complexity of the issues and choices. At this point I am unlikely to advocate a site-wide reader feedback button. I would prefer to wait until the mobile application is working well and then find a way to enable reader feedback selectively by forum.
Now let me address some inaccurate hyperbole:
Originally Posted by
GUWonder
This feature is already a done deal and pretty much ready to go.
Originally Posted by
kipper
I was hoping you were incorrect, but the more I see, the more I think you are correct that this is a done deal.
I don't see how a complete reading of what I have posted in this thread could lead either of you to conclude that I believe there are 6 TalkBoard votes for reader feedback or that that CD has decided to add reader feedback. This is a study in progress, not an attempt to force some existing product on our members. I suppose Carol could do that, but that's not at all her style, as everyone knows.
Originally Posted by
CMK10
All due respect but, can we dial it back a notch here? I would say there's a 99.999999% chance that there is no lobbying effort. Yes, nsx wants this button, but I imagine he has better things to do with his time, as does anyone else in favor of this, then going out and lobbying people to vote for it. We're talking about a possible change to an internet bulletin board here...let's keep some perspective.
For goodness sake, we do have some odd theories going here. Seriously, what would be the point of asking for members' opinions and then manipulating the poll? That would only make sense if you were intent on forcing an outcome regardless what arguments were made. TalkBoard members can be stubborn, but we listen well. We wouldn't want anyone messing with our input from members.
The observations and arguments made in this thread are much more important to me than the vote count in the poll. We need to consider all the advantages and disadvantages when specifying potential reader feedback functionality. The fact that the poll is approximately evenly split warns us to be even more careful not to solve one problem by creating two more.
Originally Posted by
goalie
You ask valid questions ^ and I'm sure that this will be spun by those pushing this in a way to make "well, gosh golly gee, we never thought about that at all" to "I have some inside information that I can't share but don't worry be happy" instead of giving us real answers
C'mon goalie, you know better than this. The inside information was Carol's internal demonstration and related information that she herself posted just a short while later. You make it sound sinister when you know it's not.
As to not giving answers, I don't understand why you would expect me or anyone to present a fully specified list of features and functionality when the whole point of this thread is to find the most useful set of features and functionality and then discuss whether or not we want to move forward to a trial of some sort.
There are enough questions in this thread to keep me busy a long time thinking about features and functionality. I'm not in a rush and the mobile app comes first, so there is plenty of time to discuss first features, then feasibility, then options for a trial. After all that we might vote on something, or we might not. It's the farthest thing from a done deal than I've ever seen on TalkBoard, outside some votes which were conducted purely for show.
Don't underestimate the ability and diligence of TalkBoard members to read and understand the issues and to make intelligent decisions for the benefit of FlyerTalk members.
Example: Given that a forum-specific reader feedback button is not currently available I for one am going to proceed very slowly and carefully. While we could run a short trial of site-wide reader feedback, that would be largely pointless unless we knew that we could have forum-specific reader feedback in the near future.
Please keep the comments flowing here. Your TalkBoard members are reading them.