Does anything ever happen as a result of the Feedback forum?

[sufue]

Just curious - to me the Feedback forum is used as a way to shove disagreements with the moderators/management of Mobile Read off into a corner where no one will follow and discussion will be killed.

In the two or three disagreements I've had with the management of the forum, this is what has happened. And in each case, a lively discussion has been killed, and, of course, suggestions or complaints were ignored and nothing changed.

A great example is the recent stickies discussion from the Deals forum. That thread had 23 posts in the approximately 2 days from the time it was posted (by a moderator!) in the Deals forum on June 18 until it was moved to this Feedback forum on June 20. In the more than two days since it was moved, there have been all of 2 posts.

I suppose one could try to argue that, totally by coincidence, everyone in the Deals forum had said everything they wanted to say, so moving it wasn't what resulted in the quashing of the discussion, but if you read the posts, it certainly doesn't seem that way, and I don't believe it. Moving the thread to this hard-to-find forum, buried at the bottom of the forum list, and followed by almost no-one, killed the discussion. On the question of whether this is a deliberate kill-off or not, I won't venture an opinion right now, but each time it happens, it makes me think more and more that it is.

It's even more ironic that this thread was moved only three posts after Lynx-lynx praised the moderators for having posted it, providing info and responses and allowing discussion about what happened:

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

My comments are addressed generally - not directly to Issy .... (but, of course, include Issy )

First off, I want to applaud the existence of this thread . Too often in the past a change has been administered with no explanation or concomitant thread in the same sub forum for comment. Thank you to the mods who realised that communication is essential to the pleasant administration of a forum.

RE the Kobo Discounts thread, my reasons for it remaining stickied include:

• it still has 'live' coupons for open use in the first post, and other coupons are somewhat consistently posted, 50% codes for example.
• deals are still posted with regularity
• the browse factor - that is - the Discounts thread can be easily located in the stickies. Members who are not subscribers to the thread may choose to look in to see what's happening, and can readily find the thread. I do that with other 'stickied' threads that I do not want to subscribe to, but from time to time I do drop in and browse the deals and general chit chat (and I'm surely not alone in that!)
• members new to Kobo and/or new to the idea that there is a Kobo Discounts thread are easily able to find it amongst the 'stickies'.

Edit (again!)
As a by the way, I have no problems with the volume of 'stickied' threads, and wonder why the removal of two threads makes a difference?

I totally get that in a privately run forum, moderators and management set the rules, and can quash discussions/disagreement as they wish, but it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I still very much value the forums, and will continue to make my posts, and hopefully contribute to the well-being of the other forum participants, and benefit from their posts. But each time this happens it dulls my enjoyment of Mobile Read just a little bit, and makes me less likely to come here first, or spend an extra few minutes to make a post.

So, back to my original question, does anything ever happen as a result of something posted in this forum, or is really just a place to send disagreements so they will die?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by sufue

So, back to my original question, does anything ever happen as a result of something posted in this forum, or is really just a place to send disagreements so they will die?

It got us the Audiobook section of the forum and has accomplished other sections being added as well.

[sufue]

I really meant more when there was disagreement with actions taken by management/moderators. (But I wasn't specific in my OP, so thanks for helping me clarify my thoughts...)

I don't know if that was the case with adding the various sections, if there was disagreement about them, or if those were simply good suggestions that were adopted.

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It got us the Audiobook section of the forum and has accomplished other sections being added as well.

[Cinisajoy]

The thread you mentioned was not a deal so it did belong down here. Yes, I have seen some good come out of this forum.
Also I found this forum easily.

And yes, I have had disagreements with mods. They are usually resolved peacefully and quietly.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by sufue

Just curious - to me the Feedback forum is used as a way to shove disagreements with the moderators/management of Mobile Read off into a corner where no one will follow and discussion will be killed.

...

So, back to my original question, does anything ever happen as a result of something posted in this forum, or is really just a place to send disagreements so they will die?

Very rarely. The folks who run this place have very poor communication skills. The purpose of the feedback forum is just to give you a vent, and not to listen.

Originally Posted by sufue

I totally get that in a privately run forum, moderators and management set the rules, and can quash discussions/disagreement as they wish, but it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I still very much value the forums, and will continue to make my posts, and hopefully contribute to the well-being of the other forum participants, and benefit from their posts. But each time this happens it dulls my enjoyment of Mobile Read just a little bit, and makes me less likely to come here first, or spend an extra few minutes to make a post.

I wouldn't say that this place is run so much as it is shambled - you know, like a zombie.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by sufue

Just curious - to me the Feedback forum is used as a way to shove disagreements with the moderators/management of Mobile Read off into a corner where no one will follow and discussion will be killed.

In the two or three disagreements I've had with the management of the forum, this is what has happened. And in each case, a lively discussion has been killed, and, of course, suggestions or complaints were ignored and nothing changed.

Disagreement with Moderation must be done off line as per the Guidelines.

Differing OPINIONS on other topics, can be discussed. Politics and Religion in their special place

[Lynx-lynx]

Sufue, thank you for starting this thread down here in the netherworlds forum.

I have used this forum on maybe 3 or 4 (?) occasions including to start poll threads about issues that affected members who posted in threads up in the top populous section of the forum; and in order to get people to know of the existence of the thread/poll I PMed all the 'regulars' of the thread concerned and alerted them.

Yeah, it takes a lot of effort to get people to realise that something that affects them in one part of the forum is being discussed/mooted for change etc in another part of MR.

An example that comes to mind is when I proposed a name change to the now called Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion thread.

Another time I started a poll that had the end result of getting a majority of the well used/viewed threads stickied in the Deals forum. And it seems that people have forgotten the reason why we got those threads stickied so here is a link to that thread/poll: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ight=Lynx-lynx

So, my answer to your question is that there may or may not be an outcome to discussion in Feedback, and that as Nate says this area seems to be more for 'vent' than action, or even acknowledgement ......

[Lynx-lynx]

RE the removal of the sticky on the Discounts thread, it seems to me that for no particular reason someone or other awoke one morning and decided that they didn't want the thread in the stickied section of the Deals forum, so it was removed.

That thread, which currently has 3,498,342 views, was quite a friendly place where members helped other members, some laughs were shared, many many tips were shared and there was rarely a miscommunication scrap.

Importantly, the thread was easy to find because it was stickied, so if a person didn't want to know about all the lesser deals posted then they didn't have to subscribe but could just drop in when they felt like - because they knew where to find it. Good luck trying to find the thread now folks!

What I don't understand is why only such a small number of us who were relatively regular users of the Discounts thread commented. Why didn't others comment in Issy's thread which was started to inform people that a decision had been made? A decision had been made that affected their enjoyment of the thread and they didn't ask questions as to why they weren't asked before the decision was made

So, I thought to myself that if the silent majority don't want the thread stickied then it must mean that the thread has run its day, it's no longer relevant .....

I don't choose to continue to subscribe to a thread that is no longer relevant, so I unsubscribed.

As I said in the first paragraph someone awoke one morning and decided to un-sticky the Discounts thread .....

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

What I don't understand is why only such a small number of us who were relatively regular users of the Discounts thread commented. Why didn't others comment in Issy's thread which was started to inform people that a decision had been made? A decision had been made that affected their enjoyment of the thread and they didn't ask questions as to why they weren't asked before the decision was made

Can't speak for anyone but myself, but I don't care if it's stickied one way or the other. I very rarely just browse the forums so it doesn't really come into play for me. When I come to MR I click New Posts, w/o E-Book uploads and check through what's been posted since I was last here. So it didn't effect my enjoyment of the thread one way or the other and the thread hasn't suddenly become less (or more) useful due to its un-stickyness, I didn't feel compelled to post about it.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Can't speak for anyone but myself, but I don't care if it's stickied one way or the other. I very rarely just browse the forums so it doesn't really come into play for me. When I cone to MR I click New Posts, w/o E-Book uploads and check through what's been posted since I was last here. So it didn't effect my enjoyment of the thread one way or the other and the thread hasn't suddenly become less (or more) useful due to its un-stickyness.

How do you do this? It would be very helpful.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

How do you do this? It would be very helpful.

Click "New Posts" from the blue bar at the top of the forums & then select the option you want from the drop down.

I do that and read through the posts that interest me, then check one more time to see what added while I was reading. Once I all done I select Mark Forums Read from the Quick Links and go on my way until the next time I visit.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Click "New Posts" from the blue bar at the top of the forums & then select the option you want from the drop down.

I do that and read through the posts that interest me, then check one more time to see what added while I was reading. Once I all done I select Mark Forums Read from the Quick Links and go on my way until the next time I visit.

Thanks a million.

[murg]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

What I don't understand is why only such a small number of us who were relatively regular users of the Discounts thread commented. Why didn't others comment in Issy's thread which was started to inform people that a decision had been made? A decision had been made that affected their enjoyment of the thread and they didn't ask questions as to why they weren't asked before the decision was made

The reason no one comments is that we've gotten used to such commenting being pointless.

Once a decision to restructure occurs, it is almost impossible to change that decision. In fact, I'm not sure such as decision has ever been changed.

However, it would have been nice if the powers that be asked for comments first, that way there would have at least been the illusion that non-moderators are listened to.

As for the stated purpose, cleaning up the forum, there are a number of other issues in that forum that, if addressed, would result in a far cleaner forum.

I've always thought that a discussion about a particular forum should take place in that forum. Forcing the discussion into the Feedback forum basically gets it safely out of the way so it can be ignored.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

How do you do this? It would be very helpful.

Any post you make will automatically (by default) add that forum thread to your User CP entries. I always check there first for relevant posts.

Dale

[Cinisajoy]

I am learning more ways to use Mobileread.