What's the point....

[supermum_ms]

Just a thought but after reading through some of the site problems people have identified, i noticed a common theme to the medhelp's responses. Which was basically telling a lot of the posters experiencing site issues, to let medhelp know about their specific problem via the 'help' or 'contact us' located at the bottom of the screen, which begs the question.........

Q: What is the point of having this 'Improve Medhelp Suggestions' forum.....if this is medhelps preferred location to bring up, ask questions, discuss etc any site problem that a user is experiencing, why advice to contact medhelp, when they've already done exactly that?

Keep in mind, some of these threads may have been removed without warning from the active community it was originally posted in and relocated here instead, the action implies the 'Improve Medhelp Suggestions' forum is medhelps preferred location for this specific 'subject', and the disabled community it originated from is in essence irrelevant.

It was mentioned..... "We move these threads to this community so others can see them, and so we can have them all in one place to answer them. Only a few of us answer them, and it's just simply more efficient for us." .....that may well be the rational behind it from a moderators perspective BUT please understand, this very action you have chosen completely denies a community member, from actually getting their specific communities support and understanding!  

note: some of these relocated threads include their specific community leaders helpful advice and ongoing support, at least one questions I know was actually created by a CL but interestingly CL's are no longer identifiable to the mods or anyone in this secondary location and don't forget Community leaders will already have been discussing (sometimes for years) the topic of site issues in the CL Community.  

To choose efficiency over supporting the needs of a disabled community you probably won't understand the complexities of, in my humble opinion, a bit inconsiderate to the bigger picture of providing 'community' support......IF you leave these site discussions in the Multiple Sclerosis community I will be more than happy to continue advising our MS community to let medhelp know via contact us or help and or cut and post the thread and it's updates in this 'Improve Medhelp suggestions' forum, if this would serve your and our needs better!

Cheers...........JJ
MS Community Leader  


    

[Dee1956]

Thank you for your suggestions.  I think the change was such a shock people panicked.  I know I did.  After 8 years this has become like a home a life line for people who want to help others.
I will use "Contact Us" for any problems I have
Thanks again
Dee

[dominosarah]

Could someone please explain what the benefits of this new format is?

[wonko]

I totally agree with supermum.  Why have a forum for suggestions if the response is re-write the suggestions elsewhere?  Clearly moderators read and respond to threads here, so why can't they compile the information instead of asking already frustrated users to jump through another hoop?

I'll comment on another trend:  The responses to negative feedback on format changes do little more than to placate the users and encourage them to give the changes "a chance."  Doubt it will be different this time.

[Lira_MHModerator]

Hi - Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It would be really helpful if you could share some of your specific thoughts via the "Contact Us" link mentioned earlier. It helps us keep better track so we can more accurately communicate with the engineers and designers.

[hrsepwrguy]

This format blows, if it stays I go.

Have a great day

[orphanedhawk]

Emily, I hate the new format.

[Emily_MHManager]

Hi everyone -

Again, if you have specific feedback, please use the Contact Us link.

We are updating the site for a cleaner, more fluid look, and it's part of a larger project that we are doing. We realize that there will be some bumps, but we ask for your patience and if you have any feedback, that it's constructive.

Thanks,

Emily

[Kirstie_MHModerator]

While this is a great venue for communicating ideas for improvement (add this feature, would like a tracker for x, etc), when we have an event that generates much heavier feedback like this, it's very difficult to track in this format.  By sending specific feedback to "contact us," the feedback can be tracked, noting the number of requests for x or y to be changed, in an efficient way so that staff can clearly communicate to our engineers.

[bluebutterfly2222]

My most important request would be to make the name of the person who posed the question, and at least recent responders, as was originally the case, visible in the forums without having to open each item!

[Emily_MHManager]

Hi JJ -

It's not that it's just more efficient for us. It's that it's a better way of tracking bugs and how many have them, and who isn't liking the new features, and how many aren't.

It really does help members in the end. Our team is really small, and we don't want to miss anything, and if it's all in one place, we won't. Every one of your voices is important, and we want to hear it, but if there are several different threads in different places, we might.

If you want to place a thread in MS advising people to use the Contact Us link, I'll make sure it stays. You can also put it in the thread that is there currently.

Thanks,

Emily