To date, the vast majority of sites totalitarian. Power (developers) for the people (users) decides how the site will develop in the future. At the same time, on most popular sites, users create content that brings money to developers. Developers forget that they perform a service function: they create a tool so that people can realize their ideas on their website. The decision to introduce the next feature or change is most often made by a team of creators, only occasionally addressing questions directly to users.

If the Internet is a place of freedom, then why relations between developers and users are uneven? Users who create content are part of the team, but they are not given a normal opportunity to speak and influence the future of the site.

Problem

Feedback from developers on most sites is implemented as a barely noticeable email address in the basement of the page. Sending a message to developers in this way is the same as writing a letter to the president with his proposals. The user does not see any guarantee that his idea will reach the recipient and interest him. He is not involved in the process.

There are various services that provide a plugin with a feedback form. Using it, a site user can post his complaint or idea, which will be stored on an external feedback site. Theoretically, the developer can respond to it. But this does not happen often, because the reviews about the site are somewhere on a third-party service, where not everyone will go. The developer of the site no longer feels so much responsibility for the suggestions of people and for solving their problems. This is the same as if in a restaurant the guest book would be located not at the entrance, but in the distant office of the public relations manager. It turns out that this is only an illusion of the importance of the views of users.
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Decision

It is necessary to give people the opportunity not only to express their ideas on the site, but also to evaluate the ideas of other users. Moreover, you need to do this in a prominent place so that every visitor to the site can see the reviews of others and understand that their opinion is highly valued by the developers.

There are many advantages to such a decision. According to the results of evaluations of proposals, it will be seen how relevant the idea is. Perhaps the implementation of this particular idea was not enough for the site. There may be a discussion among users, which may lead to an even cooler idea. And if the developer of the site joins the discussion and approves the proposal, its author will be very pleased. And if this idea is also implemented, then its author will feel pride and involvement in the creation of the site and will tell friends about the site. In this situation, the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe.

It is necessary to decentralize power on the sites. Open source, user moderated content are great steps to this. Wikipedia, one of the most popular sites, is moderated by users, each of which can contribute and evaluate the work of others. Users have full power over the content, and their influence on the site is limited only by their work and desire. It was openness that allowed Wikipedia to become one of the most useful sites for the whole world. I believe that developers need to be aligned with Wikipedia as the ideal of a free site.

Example

What gives me the right to talk about all this? I am a co-founder of the Brainlook project, a voting opinion site. On this site, people express opinions on any topic and vote on them for or against. Statistics show that unites the voters and allows people to find like-minded people. At the same time, everything is free and open to everyone. Our global goal is to collect the opinions of people from all over the world and to give everyone the opportunity to find out what the majority thinks on any issue.

Initially, we did not even think that people would use the functionality of the site as a form of feedback from the developers. Users themselves began to post opinions in the form of ideas that they would like to see implemented on the site. For example, one user suggested to add alerts to the site. According to statistics, it became clear that this feature should be implemented as soon as possible, which was done.



If the user notices a bug, he creates an opinion about it. For example, another user reported a rare bug on the main one. People voted for, if they faced the same problem - the developers immediately realized how common it was.



Now, before starting work on any feature, we ask users if they want to see it on the site. For example, we asked about the possibility of anonymous publication of opinions. And after the implementation of features - ask if users like it, for example, did they like the alert system .



These are just a few examples of improved user feedback. I believe that a similar approach should be integrated into all sites.

Concrete actions

What steps should developers take?

• Add feedback to your site. Make a convenient input form and display a list of ideas from all users.
• Add the ability for users to rate and comment on the suggestions of others.
• Respond to their ideas, approve them, or argue why you did not.
• Be attentive to people's opinions and do not assume that you know everything for others.
• PROFIT

If you are not a developer, then demand this approach from the creators of your favorite sites. Write them letters and leave comments with a call to place the feedback section in a public and visible place.

If we do not fight for the right to be heard - soon we will have no opportunity to fight for anything else. Recently, the Internet is regulated more and more rigidly, leaving users less and less freedom. We must confront this, increasing the role of users in the network!

Finally, I want to clarify one thing for developers. Fully agree with the users is not worth it. They do not know what the creators of the site know: the distribution of resources in a team, the complexity of the task, market trends and so on. But now many developers refuse to listen to users at all, guided by these arguments. Do not push people away from you, and perhaps you will hear an idea from them that will help your project and you personally.


It will be interesting to hear your comments and suggestions on how to specifically implement such ideas. Leave a review of the article on brainlook.org . Pleasant discoveries!

ZY Choose your side in the poll below. We created the same survey on Brainlook .