Feeding Back (Feedback and General Suggestions for dooyoo)

Member Name: Whitehorse

Product:	Feedback and General Suggestions for dooyoo
Date:	29/06/02 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see op

Disadvantages: see op

Well I started writing this for the 'testing' category that appeared then suddenly disappeared on Dooyoo but I thought rather than waste my thoughts I put together an opinion for the general feedback section.

I just wanted to address some of the various issues that were raised whilst the category was visible to everyone.

LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF OPINIONS POSTED PER DAY
When I first started Dooyoo I remember little about 'Churners'. It seems as though it really kicked in once Dooyoo had their now infamous re-design. This happened to correspond with Ciao making some significant changes in their payment structure (i.e 'haven't we done great - now sod off because we not paying you for much anymore'). I don't know if these two factors are connected - just noting it.

Anyway - with the redesign we were suddenly able to access lists of the last 75 opinions. Personally I really like this function and have used it continuously since it started. The sad side of this though is that it has been abused by 'churners'. Alternatively it could be said that those churning might not realise that this function is actually there - afterall they are usually too busy writing any ol' rubbish to pump up the pennies to really take a good look at the site and figure out how it works but hey ho the result is the same. Those that spend time writing opinions of a decent quality find themselves knocked off the list in favour of 76 words of drivel. This of course results in far less exposure for your opinion meaning less money made.

Now don't jump down my throat here - I know a lot of you write here because you love the site, love to write and money isn't and issue and that's fine. However I do notice there's a kind of shirty attitude at times towards those who do need or want to make money from their writing. I need and want to make some cash here but at the same time I care about the site and I cert
ainly don't want to put my name to rubbish.

I have said in the past that I don't care how many opinions someone writes a day - as long as they of a decent quality then that's fine by me. It has to be said though that I think few of us could write lots of opinions per day that are 'very useful'. For ages I stood against the idea of limiting posts but with the prevalence of idiots leaping onto the site at weekends and writing abusive or pointless opinions or simply copying and pasting which has been the most recent violation, I have changed my mind.

If the amount of opinions that we could post per day was limited to say around five I think that would be more than enough for the average writer to get their teeth into whilst protecting us all from seeing forty-eight opinions all written by the same person. As far as I can see, even the most prolific of writers on Dooyoo rarely write more than 2 or 3 opinions in a day. At least if the amount of posting were limited it would immediately get rid of the problem of some churners. Yes 5 rubbish opinions would be annoying but not as annoying as 25!

I realise that there are some arguments against this such as the fact that if someone is really intent on messing around on the site they could simply set up account after account but this could also be said for limiting exposure in the recent opinions list. Limiting exposure has been suggested as a counter idea to limiting opinions but I feel far more averse to a decent opinion being lost in the midst of Dooyoo.

Perhaps, if posting were limited new members MIGHT stay on the site a while longer and pause for breath after banging off 5 opinions. Oh don't shout at me - I KNOW that not ALL new members do this. I love seeing new members on Dooyoo and always check out the new members lists. We need fresh blood here to provide a constant variety of opinions, believes and experiences - and of course to keep the site alive!
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br>UP THE MINIMUM WORD LIMIT.
I would very much like to see this implemented at Dooyoo. The current 75 words is just pointless. So little can be said in this number of words most often it renders the opinion 'somewhat useful' if not worse. Yes it can be argued that a quick blurb in a magazine is probably a similar number of words but if I want real information about a product or service then 75 words just doesn't do it for me. I am not saying that a 2000 word opinion is automatically better - just that there is more room to manoeuvre.
The current minimum encourages people to dash off poor opinions, writing just the required amount so that can raise pennies in the shortest time. Those members that purely abuse the system find themselves booted but there are still some opinions floating around that are pretty much useless. These just clutter up space and annoy people when they are actually trying to find decent information. Overall it degrades the overall look of the site. I would like to see a minimum word limit of 500 words. Enough to pack in some useful information and not so long that it phases people before they even start.

FIX AN UPPER WORD LIMIT
Well I guess this is a bit rich coming from someone who can happily pour about 3000 words - we are already nearly to a thousand as I type! However, for any professional publication whether on or offline a word limit is always stated. It offers the writer the chance to hone their skills but removing dead wood from their piece and would gives an overall continuity. It can be argued that Dooyoo isn't a professional site however in many ways it is. We are paid for what we post here and even if that is a small amount it can still be classed as a paying market in writer's terms.
I would set the limit at 2000 words - even though I know I've written more on some opinions.

NO PAYMENT FOR NU RATING
This is a very hard one to implement methinks and a bit of a minefield
with how Dooyoo is currently set up. At the moment of course, opinions that are offensive, plagiarised or just taking the you know what are promptly removed. However this leaves a lot of other opinions on Dooyoo that are frankly utterly useless. As I said above, these clutter up the site and make it look rather amateurish in my opinion.
The trouble with not paying for any NU rating is that it is wide open for abuse as revenge raters and general trouble makers get clicking all over the shop. This will simply result in lots of complaints which will be very hard for Dooyoo to deal with seeing as they are already overworked.
I have to say I do find it irritating to think that someone has managed to get paid the same amount as I have for writing drivel. Mind you, that said I realise that quite a few never make enough miles to cash in.
Personally I think the only way to really keeping up standards on the site is to have every opinion moderated rather than posted immediately. Of course I guess that would be utterly impossible. What isn't impossible however it to simply remove any opinion that is less than useful after say one month and not to pay those that are rated not useful overall. This would still mean some moderation from Dooyoo however as again it could be abused. Harsh - yes but then I am thinking from a user point of view. If someone comes onto the site looking for information I can imagine it's annoying to keep pulling up opinions of poor quality.

PLEASE PLEASE CAN WE SEE THE OVERALL RATING IN THE NEW OPINIONS LISTS!!!
This is a big bug bear of mine. If the overall rating of the opinion showed up immediately I would know whether to bother clicking on the opinion to read further. Perhaps showing the first couple of lines of the opinion would also be useful so that it's immediately clear whether it's an opinion that is readable.

MODERATE NEW MEMBERS
I know in a way we perhaps communally moderate the site by
reporting idiots to Dooyoo and offering advice and encouragement to those new to posting. Perhaps new opinions by new members could be placed kind of outside of the main site - in a kind of waiting area? The opinion can be seen and rated by everyone but it does not appear with the others on the new opinions list? That way churners and bored little boys on weekend would have no way to really interfere with the running of the site (even more so if the amount of opinions we can post per day is reduced to 5).

Okay - I think those are my main moans. A few quick whinges are

CoF - I'd like to be able to see all the people in my CoF listed together in one big long list. It's irritating to have to keep clicking over the page to find someone.

Speakers Corner - New opinions should appear on the main list with all the other 'new opinions in such an such a category'. I don't want to have to keep clicking to the community to page to find them. Speakers Corner is a valuable part of the site that offers something to spice up the atmosphere and give us all food for thought. Also it's a place where members get to know more about each other.

A quick - I would like to be able to...

Post opinions in HTML including links and highlights, italics and yes even pictures!

To conclude I don't have any real major gripes with Dooyoo apart from getting rid of those who abuse the site and encouraging quality opinions that are informative and interesting to read. I don't want to read just fact - I want to see the spark of the author in their writing.

It seems as though there are big changes coming to the site soon. I will be interested to see if some of the more predominant ideas and desires are put into practice.

Ooooh look - less than 2000 words ;-)

UPDATE - I'd like to be able to post an opinion without having to remove 58 damned question marks!!! Roll on Aurora

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