I have been a member of Doo-yoo for two years now, and have seen the site grow and rewards change. Most of the time the site is useful, with interesting opinions on products and topical issues. I have also seen the email magazine develop and evolve, unfortunately meaning that users now get less personal messages then before.


The biggest problem I have had with Doo-yoo has been because of the changes to better the site, which i recognise can only improve the quality of opinions. My problem is communication. When I started the conditions on writing opinions were different. The main one is that they could be shorter. I had several of these shorter opinions that were eligible when they were written. When I took a routine check of my opinions earlier this year I was surprised to see that one was locked. My only other experience of this locking was when a friends was locked because of swearing. I immediately emailed the guide for the appropriate part of the site.


The next day I received an e-mail saying that the guide didn't know why the opinion was locked, and refering my query to another member of staff. The next day I was told the opinion was locked for being too short. It also said I should have been notified that this was about to happen in order to give me a chance to put any problems right. This never happened.


After I made staff aware of this problem they were very swift in putting it right. The opinion in question is now active and has been adjusted to meet the new guidelines. However, the next month the same problem happened with another opinion. I again received no email to inform me that i needed to make changes. I cannot make any changes because they dont go through.


Most of the time the site is easy to use and very informative. The staff are very helpful when you come across a problem. However the same problem over communication of problems from their point of view does not s
eem to be happening. It makes it very difficult for members to know how to improve their opinions or correct any mistakes when they are not told of the problem and given a chance to rectify it.