User Satisfaction Survey: A Follow-up Announcement

[SCS 7,537]

 
Back in December 2013 we announced the MLP Forums User Satisfaction Survey, and I am pleased to announce that it has turned out to be an enormous success: we received 586 responses. We are very happy to receive so many, but at the same time we were unprepared for how much work this would truly entail. Getting all that we want to get out of this survey to improve the community as well as staff operations has turned out to be a tremendous undertaking.
 
The MLP Forums Survey Management Team currently consists of eight (perfectly sane) individuals: Dawn Rider, Jamiequadbike, Aquila, Artemis, Flipturn, Thereisnospoon303, Aureity, and me. Feld0 also assists when he is able to do so. We have been trying to divide the massive amount of work that goes into processing all of the responses among ourselves, which has proven to be challenging to say the least. We all have other duties here, whether they be as part of the PS staff, moderation, or administration, on top of real life responsibilities that come first. In complete honesty, I am sorry to say that I personally have not made time to work on the survey in months: I have school and other responsibilities to attend to in real life, and when I am on MLP Forums I have my moderation and Q&A staff duties that I find often consumes all of my attention for extended periods of time. 
 
However, with summer break coming up several of us, including myself, will have a significantly increased amount of free time, and we will start making further headway in the survey work as a result. Assuming Aquila survived all those finals.
 
Due to the amount of time it takes to effectively process survey responses and the amount of time it would take to discuss and implement improvements as a result, we may be extending the wait period between each survey to one year. However, we have not yet reached a final decision about this. Once we do, a notice will be appended to this topic.
 
Additionally, as a reminder, everyone who supplied their email when taking the survey will receive a personalized response from someone in the survey team. Please bear with us if you haven't gotten yours yet, we are still working on it.
 
In conclusion, I would like to make a few remarks about the nature of the survey, and its future. The survey was never meant to replace current mediums we have available 24/7. People are always welcome to post suggestions, comments, and concerns they have about this site, the community and/or the staff in the Feedback & Suggestions forum section. Questions can be posted in the Site Questions & Tech Support forum section. Any disputes regarding specific moderation actions you have received, or any questions or concerns you do not feel comfortable posting publicly, are welcome to be sent in as a support ticket.
 
Rather, the survey is intended to add to the mediums we have available to ensure that everyone here has an awesome a time as possible. The survey is intended to be a supplement to the Feedback & Suggestions forum section in that people can post specific comments, concerns, or suggestions they have there any time, while the survey can provide more of an overall picture of community satisfaction over a long period of time. Therefore, while participating in the survey is most certainly encouraged, you don't need to wait until the next time it's open to share what's on your mind. You are more than welcome to share your thoughts in the various mediums we have available all the time. The survey is just one more thing we are doing to help us more effectively measure how people feel about the community and what the staff does.
 
As time goes on, the survey, in conjunction with our other tools and efforts, will be used to do our part to make MLP Forums as wonderful as it possibly can be.
 

 
If you have any questions about the survey, please don't hesitate to ask them here.

[King 5,625]

consists of eight (perfectly sane) individuals: Dawn Rider,

Sane? Speak for yourself...

Edited May 15, 2014 by Dawn Rider

[RrVPfX9cPtw59FpC 1,304]

Awesome! I thought you guys gave up on those xD
I'm glad you're listening to feedback. It definitely says something good about the site

[Evilshy 5,090]

>be staff

>fill out surveys about other staff

>give no fucks

[Adorkable 2,737]

 

Seriously though, that was a long post. However, I'm anxious to hear when the surveys will once again be available, can't wait to do my first one! ^^

[XxConfusedUnicornxX 834]

Whoo hoo! Can't wait to take it again soon.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

 

I brohoofed this wall of text for this picture alone Look at Rarity with her princess crown on, and her bawoons She looks so beautiful, and she's having a good time, too

 

Oh...um, good work! Keep it up! 

[Batbrony 16,055]

Glad to hear an update on this guys, and I completely understand if surveys need to have a year between them!  It was nice that originally the community was able to decide on a survey every 3 months, but in hindsight that was probably always wishful thinking given the nature and hurdles of RL responsibilities.  Just having one survey alone per year puts this community head and shoulders above most other online forums of a similar nature.  God's blessings and good luck with all your responsibilities as your schedules begin to open up and you get more time to jump into these surveys headfirst. 

Edited May 16, 2014 by Batbrony

[GhostPony750 959]

Oh great, I kinda forgot about this survey thingy. (I don't remember if I added my email tho, I guess so...)

 

I'll be waiting for the results. I'll forget about waiting for the results too.

Edited May 19, 2014 by GhostPony750

[Adorkable 2,737]

(I don't remember if I added my email tho, I guess so...)

 

Oh. are we supposed to add our Email to something?

[GhostPony750 959]

Oh. are we supposed to add our Email to something?

The survey was anonymous, and at one point they asked to imput our email if we wanted news about that survey. But I don't remember if I entered it actually. o_O

[Adorkable 2,737]

The survey was anonymous, and at one point they asked to imput our email if we wanted news about that survey. But I don't remember if I entered it actually. o_O

 

Oh okay, thanks!

 

Where do we input our Email at? ^^"

[SCS 7,537]

Oh okay, thanks!

 

Where do we input our Email at? ^^"

 

There's a field at the beginning of the survey to enter it in, but it's entirely optional. The survey is not open at the moment though, and we probably won't open it until the beginning of next year.

[Adorkable 2,737]

 we probably won't open it until the beginning of next year.

 

 

Well that's okay then, thanks for answering my question! ^^

[King 5,625]

It was interesting reading through peoples responses. They were quite varied but from initial looks we were able to put together some points that a large number of people would like to see improved, so its looking like it will be incredibly useful in shaping the future of users experience on the site.

[Fluttershyfan94 5,742]

The moment of truth is upon us, anyway great that something's happening with the survey results.

[Yellow Diamond 7,575]

Let me be clear: we are not using this survey as a way to design an algorithm intended to target our mortal enemies. Not at all.

 

I think we can still get a lot done even on an annual basis. I suspect the volume of feedback will only grow as MLP Forums similarly increases in size. The replies are certainly enlightening, but as SCS said, it takes a lot of time to comb through them all.