I agree that threads like this shouldn’t be common. But I’d like to make a case for this one.
As the head of the Forum, I spend a lot of time thinking about what content I should be encouraging, promoting, etc. Over the last three years, I think I’ve developed a pretty good instinct for what kinds of posts people tend to like, which helps me do my job.
That’s why posts like this (where the reactions surprise me and I don’t have even a “best guess” as to what provoked them) are so interesting!
I see these rare scenarios as a chance to learn more about how Forum voters (our most engaged readers) think. And if someone ever asks me for feedback on a similar idea, I’d like to be able to advise them on how to present it so that readers will find it valuable.
Fair enough. I would personally find it less off-putting if you framed it in terms of collecting feedback instead of focusing on the downvotes. For example, suppose I saw a thread starting with:
‘I’m curious on feedback to this post. Please take this survey[link]’
and then the survey itself has questions about the positions 1/2/3/4/5 mentioned, and a question on whether the respondent up/downvoted.
Then that seems like a fine thread. You’re collecting genuine feedback, maybe it seems a little over the top, but it doesn’t come across as speculation on why someone disliked something. There’s also an easy way for me to provide that feedback without making a public statement that people can then argue with. If I downvote something, there is a very good chance that I don’t want to spend time explaining my reasoning on a public thread where I’m in a social contract to reply to objections.
Very fair feedback! I’ll try to make that framing more explicit, though I don’t expect I’ll use a survey — it adds an extra step, stops the author from getting notified when feedback happens (I have to share with them separately), and risks promoting a norm of “don’t explain why you dislike things in public”, which I think is very unhealthy for the Forum.
(For example, a comment like Peter Hartree’s, particularly the useful suggestion of hiring a professional for the same price, is one I’m very glad to have be public, for this author and for other authors who might try something similar.)
I agree that threads like this shouldn’t be common. But I’d like to make a case for this one.
As the head of the Forum, I spend a lot of time thinking about what content I should be encouraging, promoting, etc. Over the last three years, I think I’ve developed a pretty good instinct for what kinds of posts people tend to like, which helps me do my job.
That’s why posts like this (where the reactions surprise me and I don’t have even a “best guess” as to what provoked them) are so interesting!
I see these rare scenarios as a chance to learn more about how Forum voters (our most engaged readers) think. And if someone ever asks me for feedback on a similar idea, I’d like to be able to advise them on how to present it so that readers will find it valuable.
Fair enough. I would personally find it less off-putting if you framed it in terms of collecting feedback instead of focusing on the downvotes. For example, suppose I saw a thread starting with:
‘I’m curious on feedback to this post. Please take this survey[link]’
and then the survey itself has questions about the positions 1/2/3/4/5 mentioned, and a question on whether the respondent up/downvoted.
Then that seems like a fine thread. You’re collecting genuine feedback, maybe it seems a little over the top, but it doesn’t come across as speculation on why someone disliked something. There’s also an easy way for me to provide that feedback without making a public statement that people can then argue with. If I downvote something, there is a very good chance that I don’t want to spend time explaining my reasoning on a public thread where I’m in a social contract to reply to objections.
Very fair feedback! I’ll try to make that framing more explicit, though I don’t expect I’ll use a survey — it adds an extra step, stops the author from getting notified when feedback happens (I have to share with them separately), and risks promoting a norm of “don’t explain why you dislike things in public”, which I think is very unhealthy for the Forum.
(For example, a comment like Peter Hartree’s, particularly the useful suggestion of hiring a professional for the same price, is one I’m very glad to have be public, for this author and for other authors who might try something similar.)