Do we need 4 separate forums for web and forum feedback?

[Tristan Green]

Simple question.

Wouldn't one feedback forum do the job? Who's ever going to trawl through 4 separate forums of complaints?

Cheers,
Tristan

[Keith Lawrence]

That area does need some work. My initial idea was to have separate forums for things like broken web links, inaacuracies in BSAC documentation that type of thing. But that does break my 'keep it tight' rule.

Suggestions please folks - what shall we do with the help/feedback area?

[Adrian Kelland]

Seeing as a fair chunk of the BSAC docs are online, albeit a mix of HTML, Word and PDF, then a fault is with both the documentation and the website.

All feedback in one place then all know which section to put it in. And threads to be 'closed' when the problem is corrected. Hmm sounda a bit familiar :D

[Steve Pearson]

Just have one feedback forum

ie. Forum feedback/Fault reporting

[MattS]

Hmmm.

I think there is a clear distinction between IT/Application related feedback and BSAC related feedback. While I am a big fan of less is more, in this case I think you need two seperate forums because they are two very different functions and skill bases.

[Adrian Kelland]

Hmmm.

I think there is a clear distinction between IT/Application related feedback and BSAC related feedback. While I am a big fan of less is more, in this case I think you need two seperate forums because they are two very different functions and skill bases.
To the IT savvy maybe.

To others 'the web site is wrong' will cover broken links and content.

Not that it will be hard to moderate to put them in the correct forum if we have just the two, should we need to.

Adrian

[Tristan Green]

I would have thought that the simplest route for feedback for the forum and website should be a single forum on here. If anyone wants to post feedback about how BSAC is going about it's business then they would be best placed to contact someone at HQ, or failing that direct approach by posting something on the general forum pages (in the relevant bit) for their attention. Surely the BSAC HQ and council people will be looking at this forum from time to time?

Isn't that what happens now using the current forum and BSAC office phone number?:D

Please trim it down - at the moment there are more forums for public complaints/feedback than there are for your average BSAC member!:eek:

Cheers,
Tristan

[MattS]

To others 'the web site is wrong' will cover broken links and content.I may be at crossed purposes.

Let me try and explain it in terms of functionality. As an IT savvy type I am not inclined to trawl through a forum filled with broken link and web server problem reports. As a Branch Officer I am inclined to trawl a forum which covers misprints in exam papers, SDPs, instructor manuals - providing I don't have to sift through broken link and web server threads.

That's probably clear as mud.

[Keith Lawrence]

That's probably clear as mud.

What is clear is that what we have now is wrong but nobody is quite sure what we should have :) (I'm included in that list!) OK, here's my random thoughts...


That "BSAC Member Access" forum is going, that was my mistake, it's legacy, I only put it there when I had to shuffle things due to some permissions problems.


We do need a function somewhere to report stuff like BSAC documentation problems to NDC, HQ etc. But is a simple feedback forum the right place or the right mechanism? My gut feeling is that function should be in the Members Forums section and we play around with the settings so that people can start threads but only HQ/NDC etc. can reply. I need to talk this over with the relevant people, one of my aims is to get more offical involvement in the forums by removing the problems that prevent that involvement at present.


Help and feedback itself should be limited to the technical stuff, ideally I'd like it split into two to cover a 'How do I... hints and tips' (as we discussed a few days ago) and then a feedback for suggestions and bug reporting.

OK, based on the above here's a suggestion for discussion -

We bin the idea of BSAC feedback for now, people can use the members forums, we'll split it out into a forum in that section later when there is a bit of demand and I've talked to the appropriate people.

That 'BSAC Members Access' forum goes!

We create a 'How Do I - Hints and Tips forum'

'Feedback' becomes 'Suggestions and Bug Reports'

Do we want to cover things like broken links in our other sites? We could include it in 'Bugs' for now and split it out later if needed.

I'm just floating ideas around here, all I know is that my first cut was rubbish:) Feel free to expand, contract, hack about or ridicule my ideas - my track record is not brilliant on this one :D

Keith L

[Steve Pearson]

I think it sounds good as a starting point, you can always tweak it later if it's not functioning as expected, but you've got to start somewhere

[Tristan Green]

What is clear is that what we have now is wrong but nobody is quite sure what we should have.

That "BSAC Member Access" forum is going, that was my mistake, it's legacy, I only put it there when I had to shuffle things due to some permissions problems.
We do need a function somewhere to report stuff like BSAC documentation problems to NDC, HQ etc. But is a simple feedback forum the right place or the right mechanism? My gut feeling is that function should be in the Members Forums section and we play around with the settings so that people can start threads but only HQ/NDC etc. can reply. I need to talk this over with the relevant people, one of my aims is to get more offical involvement in the forums by removing the problems that prevent that involvement at present.
Help and feedback itself should be limited to the technical stuff, ideally I'd like it split into two to cover a 'How do I... hints and tips' (as we discussed a few days ago) and then a feedback for suggestions and bug reporting.OK, based on the above here's a suggestion for discussion -

We bin the idea of BSAC feedback for now, people can use the members forums, we'll split it out into a forum in that section later when there is a bit of demand and I've talked to the appropriate people.
That 'BSAC Members Access' forum goes!
We create a 'How Do I - Hints and Tips forum'
'Feedback' becomes 'Suggestions and Bug Reports'Keith L

sOUND'S SENSIBLE (Aaggghhh - flipping Caps Lock key!!:D ).

It seems appropriate to have a separate section of the forums for troubleshooting the forums themselves and "How do I do ..." and "Forum problems and reports for the webmaster" seem like a good way of dividing that up.

It would also be handy to have a feedback section within the BSAC members only forum - something like "Ask HQ or "Tell us about a problem" to feed back errors in working of the BSAC website, the published BSAC documentation on the website or general errors or questions about the paperwork and manuals if this is relevant to the wider BSAC audience. Maybe this forum should be moderated to the extent that any member can post a new thread, but only someone from HQ can post a reply. This will limit the amount of mud slinging that can arise and will focus the poster in explaining his problem rather than having a public grumbling discussion and whinging session.

I'm a firm believer that if you have a specific problem with something in BSAC you should be contacting the HQ in the first instance (by email or by phone) and having a conversation or exchange of emails with the person responsible for managing it. Obviously, if it is a perceived problem with BSAC policy then the general forum is a good place to have a discussion about it after a reply has been posted by HQ.

Slightly off topic now - but can anyone tell me if there is a big red "feedback" button somewhere on the members section home page that opens a new e-mail window to send comments and suggestions in to the webmaster? If not then maybe this could be added as a first point of contact for reporting general web problems.

All food for thought.

Cheers,
Tristan

[Nigel Hewitt]

I'm a firm believer that if you have a specific problem with something in BSAC you should be contacting the HQ in the first instance (by email or by phone) and having a conversation or exchange of emails with the person responsible for managing it.For an awful lot of people that is the hardest option. Phoning HQ and asking for the complaints department and then explaining yourself clearly is hard. Putting it in as a question, or just a whinge, on a forum and hoping somebody with more bottle will pick it up is about as far as some people can go.

Shy people are already one of the most bady discriminated against groups in society so we don't need to make it worse.

[Tristan Green]

For an awful lot of people that is the hardest option. Phoning HQ and asking for the complaints department and then explaining yourself clearly is hard. Putting it in as a question, or just a whinge, on a forum and hoping somebody with more bottle will pick it up is about as far as some people can go.

Shy people are already one of the most bady discriminated against groups in society so we don't need to make it worse.

Nigel,

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for providing as many routes for feedback as possible. I was rather thinking that the majority of questions and feedback relating to BSAC policy would be coming from instructors and branch committee members (and I haven't met too many shy ones of those yet).

I imagine that there would be a higher chance of a response from someone at HQ if all the comments were kept in the same place that they could check in on regularly. Hence my desire to see only a single forum for reporting items on.

I must have become battle hardened working overseas - I don't get to know many shy people - I guess they wouldn't even try to communicate with a gwailo (the Cantonese term of endearment for a foreigner) and most of the expats are so desperate for social contacts they'll talk to anyone - even a Cornishman. :D

Cheers,
Tristan