Suggestions

Does anyone think it would be a good idea to change the name of the "Suggestions" board to "Suggestions for New Features on the Site" and then have another board with the title "Problems with the Site"?

That way the development team could concentrate on checking the New Features board and the support team could keep an eye on the Problems with the Site board.

Genes wouldn't really need to reply on the boards - perhaps just have a "tick" column that they could tick when they had read and considered the posts.

Kath. x

No - too many posters would still get it wrong.

Bugs should be reported directly to the support team and this board should be limited to suggested enhancements to the site (but could include operational changes as well as software changes).

Genes should monitor the board and delete any bug threads after sending the contents to the support team and move any other rogue threads to the appropriate boards.

I agree that bugs should be reported to the support team (and I've mentioned this on other threads on this board and been shouted down!!) but I think people will still post these on the suggestions board unless there is a dedicated "board" for problems. People just don't seem to like sending emails to the support team.

I just thought changing the board titles might help.

Kath. x

I suppose there would be some use in a problems board to discuss problems, point out workrounds etc.

Certainly the title "Suggestions" has caused confusion even though the description of the board's function is quite clear.

The function of any of the boards is quite clear, IF one reads the header description.


The problem is that people don't either don't read those descriptions, or don't read them carefully enough to understand them, get flummoxed, and then post somewhere out of desperation.

If you look at all the boards, every one of them has at least a few postings which do not belong on there, IF the description is followed.

A contributing factor is also the fact that some members seem to believe that there should be no form of "control" over what is posted on a board, and assure themselves and others that "it doesn't matter, just post wherever you want".



I can see where you are coming from, Kath, but I think another board will only compound the problem!



and the thing is, I cannot see anyway to find a solution that will work for everyone, and to everyone's satisfaction.




sylvia

You're right of course.........people don't seem to read the header description of the boards. That's why I thought that making the title of each board much more specific might help. Anyway, there's nothing we can do to change things - it's up to Genes at the end of the day.

Kath. x

I would say yes. changing the title would be a trivial change of seconds work and may help clarify.

But, will people read it? after all, this is what it says immediately below the title when you click on Suggestions and how many read that?

"This board is for you to add your suggestions for changes you would like to see made to Genes Reunited. We will be unable to respond to each post individually, but we will be checking the suggestions regularly and taking your suggestions on board."

Hi everyone, thanks for suggesting this. We don't have any plans to increase the amount of boards or change the names of them. We do feel the name 'suggestions' speaks for itself.

With regard to bugs, they should always be reported to our support team. there are a few reasons for this:
1). Our support have access to your registrations and details of your PC are sent to us when you contact us, for example which internet browser you are using. These are all things we need to know that help us solve problems. Some bugs may only be affecting Firefox users, which our support team could quickly establish.
2). Some things that are reported aren't bugs and are just issues affecting only one member - a problem with their tree displaying, for example. We have a back office system that our support team use that enable us to correct trees and other errors really quickly.
3). We do have a system for bug reporting that we like to stick to. When bugs are reported to us I then pass full details on to Phil (our lead developer) using our back office system. The bugs are then fixed by one of Phil's team. Most things get looked at very quickly.
I hope this has answered everything.

Estelle

Thanks Estelle, hopefully that gets us away from the 'bad old days' when anything we reported got a stock reply no matter what the query was. We've all had them which, I think, is what puts people off reporting directly by e mail. I have to say I haven't had a stock reply since this new system was put in place.

Hi Ann,

that's really good to hear, thanks. Our customer service team have all been working really hard to make sure a member's query is answered correctly. We realise how important it is to send a personal reply to our members.

Estelle

Yes, yes, yes, change the name of this board! If you look at this page now this is about the only thread which is related to suggestions for changes to GR. All of the others are asking for suggestions about how to find someone. Perhaps if the title was changed to something like "Suggestions for Changes to GR"

I was thinking of starting a thread asking if anyone could suggest what I could have for lunch tomorrow....would this not be the correct board? :-D

jax

Wouldn't be any worse than any of the other posts on this board, Jax. May i suggest my favourite. Coquille St. Jacques. But I'm not sure I know how to spell it.

Not sure what that is....but will have roast beef now :-D

The main problem is that posters go by example rather than instruction. Once someone has misinterpreted the function of the board, others copy and you get the situation that has developed on this board.

Similarly on Genealogy Chat although it quite clearly says NO LOOKUPS there are enough exceptions for posters to ignore the rule. On that board there is also the problem of some helpers actually begging to do lookups when the poster asks a general question.

It isn't just new members either. There are some oldies who should know better who regularly post on the wrong boards.

Also, what is wrong with pointing out politely whenever the wrong board is used? That seems to be frowned upon by some too, but otherwise how is the message to get across?

yes, I got told off the other day for suggesting someone would do better to post on another board rather than on here.

True, it seemed that I had misunderstood what the person was asking ............ but got told that "everyone should perhaps learn to read opening posts and make sure we understood them" before upsetting OPs.


and, yes, IGP I had done it politely!



sylvia

Oops, yes I saw that one too. I must admit, though, that on first reading I also thought it was a request for help rather than an enhancement suggestion.....!

oh, I'm so glad that I wasn't the only one to misunderstand! :-)

Estelle, I really do think you need to do something about the suggestions board. Hardly any of the recent threads are about suggestions for improving the site, and the term Suggestions is being used in the widest possible sense to justify threads that should be elsewhere.