Presenting my feedback...again...

[Captain Brony (MG11) 218]

I’m going to attempt to phrase my message as objectively as possible. No aggravated emotions, no emotional whiplash, just plain and honest statements.

 

Before I start I’d like to say that I’m not going to dispute any actions that the moderators have made. They are only doing their jobs and I recognize and applaud them for doing well at their jobs. I require no explanation that defends the Moderator’s actions because I understand why they make certain judgments and why they make these decisions. I will not be making suggestions, submitting Support Tickets or anything like that. This thread is just plain feedback to help the Mods see what is happening.

 

I’ll start off with this: There is a problem, and more specifically I have a problem. It is unknown to me whether others experience this so I may be the only one that has this problem. When I come onto this site I want to converse with other MLP fans. MLP and its Brony content creators inspire me to also create content. Content creators often need feedback and support by others in order for their content to improve. When I want this feedback I go to the forums and make a thread. This is my goal most of the time whenever I’m in the forums.

 

It is twice in the past that I’ve been denied feedback. One of them is old, and another just occurred today. A review of mine was converted into a comment, and a thread about a blog I wanted to start was just locked. For the review I was referred to blogs, and the blog thread was suggested to be made into a status or blog entry. When the references are given to me that’s where the problems start.

 

I just want to clarify the opinion I’ve formed is based on all the time I’ve been here on the MLP Forums. This opinion is that forum threads are the primary location that users browse and it is also the most effective way to get feedback. I’ve tried statuses and blogs. With Blogs I received virtually no feedback whatsoever. On statuses I only get feedback 1 out of every 10 statuses which is 10%. A method that results in 10% feedback and 90% nothing is not an effective method for acquiring feedback. It is for these reasons that I primarily use threads. When I use a thread I receive feedback 100% of the time. With the feedback in the forum threads I’ve been able to improve some of my drawing artwork as well as learn of good debate points to discuss with others. These two things are a part of many things that help this community grow.

 

This is why I prefer to use threads. To have my threads locked or redone as a comment discourages me from being productive here. The alternatives that were suggested to me were ineffective and detrimental to my goals on this website. Bottom line: I cannot receive any constructive criticism or positive feedback to help myself become a better content creator because what is deemed appropriate as a thread is subjectively contradictory to my content-related threads. Content such as that found in Octavia’s Hall are the only types of content allowed to flourish amongst the forum sections and any other such content like my blog post and review will be locked or outsourced to blogs/statuses. As a result only parts of the target audience can see and respond to this content (provided if blogs/status sections actually did provide that).

 

This is not a problem I’ve had on other forums but I guess this site certainly isn’t just any forum. It’s just unfortunate that as a content creator I am being deprived of productive interaction which really shouldn’t happen on a forum. In the end I don’t blame the moderators, but I have to say that because of how parts of the site function it is unlikely that I can achieve my goals as a content creator on this site. Sadly I realize that not much can be done about this, I just wanted to raise awareness. Maybe you guys will brainstorm other ways to make this work in the future or maybe you’ll just stick to what you’ve got and improve upon it. Maybe this was to get people to think or maybe I’m just venting (I can’t tell). Either way it doesn’t really matter to me. I’ll use my time doing other productive things and try my best to avoid getting locked or moved (whatever works to get myself by). Here's to feedback 8)

 

-Captain Brony saying TTFN (Ta-Ta-For-Now!)

[Fubz 300]

If you're meaning this, then there was no content there. Threads asking for feedback on content are never locked here (unless they go skee-wiff). This place is pretty much known for that, I don't think there's a problem.

[Captain Brony (MG11) 218]

If you're meaning this, then there was no content there. Threads asking for feedback on content are never locked here (unless they go skee-wiff). This place is pretty much known for that, I don't think there's a problem.

Asking for content is still a method of productive interaction between the content creator and the target audience. I was not allowed this, and since it was locked so early there was no telling how much input people could've given me. This input may have changed how I will format/organize the blogs, the parameters/rules of what I will deem is acceptable to discuss, and since the post was even there those who saw it would actually be aware of the blog making it easier to get input in the blog section should anyone who participated in the thread were interested in the blog.

 

A lot of opportunities are now gone.

[Clarity 3,094]

@@Captain Brony (MG11),

Yeah, I get the gist of what you're saying. Having a long review of, perhaps, an episode be shoved into a thread and forgotten in the midst of other posts can be frustrating. And I find that usually blog entries are ignored unless they are by popular members or include something particular attention-catching such as an "I'm leaving" post. An episode/MLP review is not one of them.

 

However, as a general rule on this site, threads that lack content for discussion are locked. You requesting for feedback is indeed better suited to a status update (which, ironically, can be more effective than blog entries sometimes). There are an abundance of members on this site; imagine if every single one of them made every little review they ever did into a thread, and added another thread for feedback. This results in too many threads, possibly screwing up the server.

 

I suggest you create a blog entry about your reviews and advertise using a status update. Advertising with threads... just clutters it up.

[Shift 4,272]

I really don't get what you're saying. You could have posted a status and gotten a lot of suggestions as easily as you could of made a thread, and it would have saved a lot of data. You could of also written a blog or messaged friends for advice.

 

Maybe i'm just being ignorant about this kind of stuff? I dunno.

[Captain Brony (MG11) 218]

However, as a general rule on this site, threads that lack content for discussion are locked

 

The content for discussion from that thread would've come from the feedback itself, as does any thread centered around a question.

Which brings me back to my point from earlier that what is deemed appropriate for a thread is subjectively contradictory to the threads I make regarding such content. But I already know nothing can be done about this.

 

 

 

I really don't get what you're saying. You could have posted a status and gotten a lot of suggestions as easily as you could of made a thread

 

Again, 1 times out of 10.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Captain Brony (MG11)

[Fubz 300]

A better way to go about it would be to first actually create something for whatever you're doing then ask for feedback on that and on how you think you should move ahead.

 

It'll be better in two ways as firstly it won't get locked and secondly you'll have some personality and originality from your pieces which is the only reason people will follow you. You don't ever ask people on exactly how you're going to produce something at first, that's boring, they'd probably do it themselves then. You decide what format or parameters or whatever the hell else you were saying.

 

The reason it was locked is because that preliminary discussion should really be in your head or with a couple of friends. Anyways you can ignore these last two paragraphs as they're off the point. Please don't reply to anything but the first paragraph as I won't even read it.

[NavelColt 22,878]

The method of organizing content that the staff use on our site is largely aimed towards personal VS discussion-based, especially in the major discussion boards like Sugarcube Corner, Show Discussion & General Discussion. While your post is no way invalid in any way, the fact of the matter is that the way the staff choose to organize content leads to personal questions and things often being refereed to statuses and blogs.

[Captain Brony (MG11) 218]

You don't ever ask people on exactly how you're going to produce something at first, that's boring, they'd probably do it themselves then. You decide what format or parameters or whatever the hell else you were saying.

I know that I choose the parameters, what I'm saying is that I can't predict every variable. Multiple variables whether they be social, contextual, or visual allow the creator to best format something so that their creation's impact reaches the desired result. User input can present/create a new variable that I had not previously thought of, in turn now that I know that it exists I can better format my content more effectively to reach the desired result whilst preventing certain problems from arising.

 

And yes what you said in the first paragraph was exactly what I thought of a few hours before I saw this.

 

The method of organizing content that the staff use on our site is largely aimed towards personal VS discussion-based, especially in the major discussion boards like Sugarcube Corner, Show Discussion & General Discussion. While your post is no way invalid in any way, the fact of the matter is that the way the staff choose to organize content leads to personal questions and things often being refereed to statuses and blogs.

Thank you for posting this feedback.

I understand why you need to do things this way, I know that my problem can't be fixed. I feel better now knowing that a mod has looked at this.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Captain Brony (MG11)