Last year in September (and April in 2009) I asked readers to fill out a short survey about the site and I used that data to make some changes to the site and its content. Well, it’s nearly a year later and it’s time to do it again. A slightly different survey (max 16 questions and will definitely take you less than 5 minutes) will be used in much the same way–to make your user experience a better one.
The survey is optional and anonymous but know that I will be selecting someone who completed the survey and chose to provide their e-mail address at random to receive a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant. After the window closes on August 5th at midnight, I will be doing the selection and the user will be notified via e-mail of their win sometime on the 6th.
As with anything done here please know that your responses will be kept confidential. However be aware that your responses are stored on Google’s servers as they host the surveying tool and you can take that with as much concern as you wish.
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Do you think this survey’s questions are adequate to create a better user experience? Do you think that we do a good job of responding to user suggestions through surveys as well as general feedback? If you’d like to provide public feedback about any part of the site or this survey go ahead and comment on below as I’d definitely love to hear what you have to say.
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July 29th, 2011 at 9:59 am
How long been reading what? Might want to add an option to that of long enough, for those that have trouble keeping track of time.
August 4th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Before I release the results of the survey this weekend, I wanted to note that there are some changes coming as part of my response to the survey’s results and the comments provided by readers.
One of these changes stems from issues many people have with the way I moderate comments here. Because I have extensive experience moderating heavily trafficked forums I have decided that it works best if I do not do much moderation unless it violates a very loose TOS agreement. However, some people claim that my laissez-faire approach inhibits their desire to comment and degrades the quality of the site.
Because of this, I decided to make a compromise and enable user-based moderation. Comments which have a negative rating of more than 5 (combination of + and – votes) will be hidden from view but are still viewable with a click of the mouse.
I have fixed all of MSPD’s voted down comments and swapped them with positive values. Michele also had one of these and it’s now similarly fixed. Everyone else (as of this comment) had 0 thumbs down votes.
I hope this appeases everyone involved and works to make a better moderation system which will not be abused.
Thoughts?
August 4th, 2011 at 11:38 am
meh… people really worry about the comments of others? Might as well give it a shot. At a minimum gives you some ammunition for the next years survey.
August 4th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
The funny thing is, whenever I try and click thumbs up (or down as of now) it doesn’t do anything. It might be my computer setup, but the feature doesn’t work for me.
August 4th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Once you vote on a comment you can’t vote again.
August 4th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Well, duh.
Actually I think I just figured it out. When I clicked, I expect the number to change from 0 to 1. I see that if I click, then refresh it votes.
Thus the “1″ next to the thumbs down for you.
August 4th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
you may have javascript disabled for the site. I clicked the thumb (chrome browser) and saw a check mark on mouse down, and the vote tally change on mouse up.
August 4th, 2011 at 1:40 pm
I have also added thumbs up and thumbs down counts to the leaderboard: http://www.lazylightning.org/leaderboard/
August 4th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Sure, just hand MSPD the thumbs up lead without him earning it. He probably gets free cell phones from the government too.
August 4th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Shutup lefty :-)
August 5th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Bill, can you see who is voting up/down?
…would you tell us if you could?;)
August 5th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
I can only see the IP addresses of who voted either way. While it is possible to tie the two together for those who have commented recently, I don’t bother to do so.
August 5th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Liar. He knows exactly who is doing what.
And, the contests are fixed.
August 5th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
It was you sandy, I know it was. I can see it in your typing. Why you, I’m gonna… you haters, you are now officially on notice!
August 5th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Beautiful.
August 5th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Funny boys.
August 7th, 2011 at 11:16 am
The 2011 User Survey closed as of 8/7/2011. Here are some data:
1. There were 126 responses, up from the 118 received in 2010′s survey and the 111 in 2009.
2. Respondents were 60% male and 40% female vs 65% and 35% respectively in 2009 and 63% male and 37% female in 2010.
3. the 35-50 year old set continues to represent the largest percentage of readers with 47%, compared with 2009′s 40% and 2010′s 46%.
4. Content quality ratings are the same at 7.93 in 2011 vs 7.92 in 2010. While 2009 was 8.12 it is converted from a 5pt scale and thus is unreliable.
Of those reading the site for more than a year 57% believe the site’s quality has improved over time while 7% said it did not and 25% were unsure or didn’t feel they could answer the question. Clearly it has not improved in any significant way.
5. Most people have been reading 1-2 years (52% and down slightly from 2010′s 53%). While 26% of 2010′s respondents had been reading for less than a year, only 11% fall into that category this year–a significant drop.
6. Most respondents come for restaurants (#1), news and food (tie #2), and politics (#3).
7. 88% of respondents prefer online news mediums and the StarTribune is their #1 source of information (38% N=48) with the Pioneer Press and TV tied at #2 (23% N=29) for local news.
Thisweek ranked generally 3rd or lower with newcomer Patch being at the bottom.
8. 66% responded that they participate in discussion and for those who responded they did not, there was nothing that could be done to the site to encourage them to do so.
9. There was a 50/50 split in those who were not interested (1-4 rating) and those who were (6-10 rating) interested in doing a meetup. This question was asked in 2009 and more people are interested but not significantly more.
10. Some suggestions were for improving comment moderation, reorganizing the structure of how sites are categorized so you can search by geographic location either, and coverage of non-restaurant businesses would be interesting.
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There are plenty more data points which I look at and breakdowns by many different groups but they’re even more boring to read about than what I posted above. If you’re really interested I can provide you with a sanitized dataset for your own research.
Thanks to everyone who participated.
August 7th, 2011 at 11:50 am
After doing some research I found a few issues with unattached comments (such as “Mike” instead of “Mikeh”). I have resolved those issues and thus several commenters will see their counts change. Mikeh’s in particular.
August 7th, 2011 at 10:12 pm
I forgot to suggest something in the survey. It would be good if when a visitor clicked on a post the comments that have been added since their last visit were hilighted. Don’t know if this is possible within your structure, but it would be cool.
September 6th, 2011 at 7:02 am
[...] as it comes in? With so many people choosing the StarTribune, Pioneer Press and local TV news in the 2011 Lazy Lightning survey on top of a distant Thisweek, do you think that perhaps they may want to rethink their strategy? [...]