Member Avatar for tgreer

A very clear explanation, Dani. Thank you.

Member Avatar for Dave Sinkula

Decisions are typically made behind the scenes, using a wide variety of resources such as working with advisors, varoius in-person focus groups, and by data mining statistics such as tracking browsing habits throughout DaniWeb.

I realize that such things are strategic tools which you would not be inclined to disclose publicly. But as a curious outsider to such things, are there a few resources available which tend to summarize current trends that you may be able to share via a link or two?

Member Avatar for MidiMagic

I am now satisfied with the operation of the tooltips. They aren't bumbling anymore. So I will mark it solved again.

The only VALID way to take a survey is to provide a YES checkbox, an NO checkbox, and an ABSTAIN checkbos for EACH choice presented.

It is a grand mistake to assume that if someone is in favor of one choice that he is against all of the others. This applies to elections too.

Member Avatar for Dani

Exactly ... you cannot assume that things are so black and white as a member either being in favor of one choice or against all others.

Remember, there is no reason to take a Yes/No/Abstain poll for just a handful of members. The statistics I collect already tell me this information on a much, much more grandeose scale.

When a large majority of DaniWeb doesn't like a particular thing, guaranteed that I am already very well aware of it. A poll indicating so does me no good because it's information I'm already aware of ... and more accurately so than can be gathered from a poll. Instead what I need from you guys is feedback!

For example, I might already know from all of the stats that I collect and analyze that a very large portion of the DaniWeb audience doesn't use the mark as solved link. A poll of 20 or even 30 members asking whether they use the 'Mark as Solved' feature with Yes/No/Indifferent options does me no good because I'm already aware of the percentages with a much, much larger sample size.

However, it's the feedback from you guys that puts reasons behind your actions so that I can fix the problem. For example, WHY don't you use the solved feature. Is it because it's placed in such a bad part of the page that you can't find it? Do you not like the idea of solving threads because you favor ongoing discussions? Are you just too lazy?

Without any feedback, I'm going to try moving the 'Mark as Solved' link to different parts of the page, and collect statistics for each spot, and determine where it performs best. It's the best that I can do with what's at my disposal. For example, I might think that not many people even notice it where it curently is, so I'll move it to a more prominent position and give that a shot for a little while, and see if it improves the usage rate. If it doesn't, I'll try something else. Then I'm going to get yelled at for constantly changing the UI elements and moving things around. What I need from you guys is feedback such as, "It's not the placement, Dani. I'm just too lazy to click it no matter where the link is located on the page."

Remember ... I already know what people do. I need to know WHY people do what they do.

Take these tooltips, for example. It is useless to present me with a yes/no/indifferent poll about whether you like the tooltips. At most, only a couple dozen people will respond to the poll and I am already aware of what the outcome will be based on millions of users - which is much more reliable data. What I need to know is WHY you like or don't like them. Is it because they follow the mouse or is it because you'd prefer to see an abstract about the last post in the thread instead of the first post in the thread? Maybe you'd love them if they didn't follow the mouse but hate them when they do? It's this type of feedback that I listen to most of all because it provides a voice for the numbers that I already have.

Member Avatar for John A

Poor Dani, having to type that all over again just because you didn't listen to what she said the first time.

Member Avatar for Dave Sinkula

To me, sometimes less is more (a view from my side of the monitor).

But as long as there is a slight delay between hover and tooltip, I don't mind it. When it comes right away is when I find it annoyingly distracting.

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