An Idea for T2W

[ardhill]

Hi

I was just thinking about ideas for T2W, obviously Sharky is interested in what the members wish to see, so how about this...

Over on the TradeStation forum, they have a section that allows members to suggest improvements to TradeStation and other members vote by using a poll on whether they think it is a good idea to include or not.

So, we could maybe have a forum here for ideas.

You post your idea with a 'standard suggestions layout' poll that has for example 3 choices:

(1) No, don't do that.
(2) Don't care one way or another.
(3) Great idea, I vote for that.

Then ideas can be aired and the boys and girls running T2W can get an idea of what the users would like to see. If an idea is popular enough, then it could be implemented (technology and sensibility permitting).

Should we have a poll about this and see what others think?

 

[roguetrader]

Would such a thing not fall under the auspices of the T2W feedback thread?

Ooops we're in it. I really must pay attention to what area I am posting in. Having said that surely this area is already exactly what you have suggested or am I missing something?

 

[ardhill]

Yes and No

The feedback thread is what we do not, and people can have their say if they care to post their comments, but lets face it, sometime the conclusion isn't that clear

With a poll, you can have a clear cut answer as well as any user comments if they wish.

So, lets say I put this question on a poll. We could discuss it but, it may well happen that, in not too many post we will go completely off topic and the who initial idea will get lost. With a poll, we could give our 2c worth if we wish, but there will also be a clear answer to the question.

A poll may give results of :

Yes - 80
No - 15
Don't Care - 8

Then the T2W supreme commander would know what the people wanted - or didn't want.

For instance, some ideas discussed on this have gotten so heated that the thread has needed to be closed. And at the end, only the opinion of a few is known as others just don't want to join in a heated discussion. Though I guess a bunch of others would be prepared to give their yes / no answer - especially if they could do it anonymously - which you can with a poll.

On TradeStation, the polls are left up for some time, to give the users a chance to see it and vote on it. Then if implemented, they can be closed.

 

[ardhill]

Here is a graphical Idea of what I am talking about. These screen shots are from the TradeStation Enhancements Suggestions Forum and are from a recent post by a member of that forum.

The 1st graphic is the poll you see before you vote.

The 2nd graphic is the current results of the poll.

See how it is easier to tell what people think.

 

[Sharky]

Thanks for the suggestion ardhill - you do realise you can already post polls in any forum? Are you saying we need an actual forum dedicated for polls to discuss whether we should implement suggestions? A more structured approach?

We're certainly keen to get as much feedback as possible about how to go about improving the site - hence the 2005 survey that is currently running, which will help us to decide which direction to take the site in the future.

 

[ardhill]

Are you saying we need an actual forum dedicated for polls to discuss whether we should implement suggestions?

It works on the TradeStation forum, which in my opinion is one of the few things that work well on there.

You could put a new section up, or implement it on the Feedback Forum, TS have a separate 'Enhancement Suggestions' forum.

If you did start this poll idea, one thing that I would suggest is that you have a standard layout that can be used for the poll answers, that way you as the boss, can actually get a clearer idea of what is wanted or not - I am sure that it is not always that easy at the moment ;-)

As a business person myself, I know how important it is to find out what the 'customer' wants rather than what you want to give him or her.

The graphics I posted show the default suggestions of the poll options on TS, though they can be changed by the poll poster, they usually aren't though.

I am not saying that you should use the same wording, but choose something you feel appropriate for here, such as maybe a 5 point scale of :

"1.Great idea" through to "5.That would make things worse" or whatever is appropriate.

 

[Sharky]

I see where you're coming from and it makes a lot of sense. I'm thinking that we could have a form through which you post a suggestion and this automatically creates a poll in a sub-forum of the freedback forum with the standard answers - similar to the survey, (v.interested <-> n.interested) at all, or perhaps as you suggested saying the action may even be detrimental. We'd have to have certain guidelines in place so that voting is strictly limited to enhancements of the site.

 

[Sharky]

Ardhill - we've now set this up. A new sub-forum of T2W Feedback called "Members' Suggestions".

In order to post a suggestion we've created a special T2W Suggestion Form, so that they are all presented in a standard format.

Hopefully this is what you envisaged, and I think it will help to encourage more participation by members in improving what we do.

 

[ardhill]

Discussed on Wednesday - Live by Friday, now that's action!