Negative Feedback

[meSingh]

How do you handle negative feedback given to you forum?

I have never got any negative feedback but i think that if i get negative feedback i will first talk to that person and will find the reason why he/she is giving us a negative feedback and will try to solve that problem with my best efforts.

But some webmaster just gets angry and ban you instead of resolving that issue.

I recently was told to post on a forum but when i see the site it looked me boring a lot and i was unable to force my self to register and post their. When the admin asked me why i did not posted on his forum. I said him what i felt that, His site looks very boring to me, so i was not able to post.

But instead of asking anything that why i said this. He just got angry with me.

What you think was this a good decision that to just get angry and ignore me?
What have you done instead of that admin?

 

[kavin]

When i used to run forums, i listed to negative feedback, as they would help improve our forum and is even better than positive feedback.

But the thing is, i like feedback like "Your site looks boring, perhaps you should change the design... or category selection..".
Instead if the feedback is like "Your site is boring.. Why on earth will someone visit it", i will generally ignore/dislike those feedback as don't say what your site lags, and what issue you need to address. Most commonly, people who give such comments will either be a troll or someone who dislikes you and not man enough to admit it openly.

Negative feedback (with constructive advices) can really help improve your forum. Do listen to them. But when they have nothing constructive, just ignore them.

 

[Nebulous]

You cant please everyone, you cant even try because if you change something to fit one person's preferences, you are probably making others unhappy now.
We try to make changes based on what the majority of members want, thats the only way to keep your sanity as an admin. 😛

I recently was told to post on a forum but when i see the site it looked me boring a lot and i was unable to force my self to register and post their. When the admin asked me why i did not posted on his forum. I said him what i felt that, His site looks very boring to me, so i was not able to post.

But instead of asking anything that why i said this. He just got angry with me.

What you think was this a good decision that to just get angry and ignore me?
What have you done instead of that admin?

I'd probably ignore you too. :lol:

 

[meSingh]

I'd probably ignore you too. :lol:

😛

Well i think he could have atleast asked once why did i said this. Would that have costed too much to him?

 

[dojo]

Well, call my site boring and you're getting your butt kicked, not only banned 😀

Back on topic: I don't usually give negative feedback, though 99% of the forums I see are horribly 'skinned' and looking unprofessional. Yes, I am a witch and have high hopes, but this doesn't mean getting too 'mean'. I try to sugar coat my comments and provide them very clear feedback (re-work the logo, put a fixed layout, change the colours etc.), so it doesn't seem like a negative feedback, but as constructive criticism.

What drives me nuts is when I do take time from my actual job (web designer) and get some annoyed replies and then my advice being ignores. Of course I don't really care in the end, it's not my forum that looks like crap and I do know how to design my skins and run my forums. It's frustrating when people cannot handle constructive ideas, but it's their site in the end, so why bother? 🙂

 

[Naiwen]

I handle it with maturity, and respond to it maturely too and as politely as I can. XDD<br /><br />-- 24 Feb 2012, 13:00 --<br /><br />I handle it with maturity, and respond to it maturely too and as politely as I can. XDD

 

[CyberFreak]

Negative feedback is useful however it depends on if it is constructive. If a user just says something like "your site looks too boring to me and i always can`t force myself too create a account" then it does not help anyone as it offers no way to improve the site. Those type of comments are more frustrating when someone says them to you as you know they dislike your site but you don't know why or how to make it better.

If the negative feedback is explained then it can be quite helpful and beneficial although too much of the negative feedback I see given around in peoples topics on this forum is not constructive.

 

[Naiwen]

Negative feedback is useful however it depends on if it is constructive. If a user just says something like "your site looks too boring to me and i always can`t force myself too create a account" then it does not help anyone as it offers no way to improve the site. Those type of comments are more frustrating when someone says them to you as you know they dislike your site but you don't know why or how to make it better.

If the negative feedback is explained then it can be quite helpful and beneficial although too much of the negative feedback I see given around in peoples topics on this forum is not constructive.

that would depend on whether the feedback is constructive or not. If its just trashing and dissing the forum, yep, it might get the owner's back up. XDD

 

[Kaynil]

Well i think he could have atleast asked once why did i said this. Would that have costed too much to him?

That is exactly what the admin wonder when they ask for feedback and get this type of answer. He had ALREADY asked why you weren't registering, it is obvious he wanted to know the reason, you cannot force the constructive criticism out of it.

I have tried it. People that give me your kind of answer. When I ask what I could change or to give more detail they give me vague answers like "oh, I don't know". The ones that do know, already have their mind set about my place so it doesn't help "I just feel like you place won't last because it is not active", it won't matter we have 2 years since the place started and good stats. The place is boring and seems dead, visitors like you already have stated not to have interest. Further insiting otherwise just will irritate the person as we will be basically begging and a forced member is not a happy member that will enjoy her/his time.

Either way, we learn to keep it straight. If you want to help a community as a member or guest, don't wait to be asked and suggest or give Constructive criticise from begining, that way it will be up to the staff to take it or not and you can move either way. In either side of the spectrum, you can't expect people to react just the way you want them.

If I can benefit from a negative feedback, I will, if not I will move on. Like you, I like trying to find out why people feel certain way about my forum and encourage me to give me ideas they believe could help the forum. It doesn't mean I will go out of my way for them but I am really starving for feedback and I appreciate every bit of input I get. If you comment was posted in our thread, I'll probably quote it for more detail, but if you didn't answer, I wouldn't ask you again unless I knew you enough from another place to give it a go. From then really would depend how much you'd open about what changes could help.

Some people feel that pointing more than the obvious is doing the staff job. For example "your forum is dead" is fine feedback for them, being asked to give ideas to attract more people offends them because "it is the job of the staff and I am not here to so it". Not very helpful. I already know by now the problem, I am gathering possibilities, not asking members/guests to do stuff for me. :/

 

[GarryRicketson]

If you think my site looks boring, I agree, and thats why I would like someone that, posts something to try to make it more interesting,..but oh well, If you think it looks boring, and don't want to post, or join, thats ok too.
However some sights get so strict and have so many rules, about what you can or can not post,etc,.. Ha!, those are the boring ones, If someone tells me my site looks boring, and why, then perhaps I can point them to a sight they would find more interesting, or add the things that they would like to see, on my site.
Negative feed back can be useful, and turned into positive,constructive improvements.
Just my 3 cents worth. From Garry

 

[IAAM Radio]

Constructive feedback must be professional and offer advice for improvement. Keep in mind, most people give a drive by snip at sites rather than solid feedback. My motto is this, what you say on the net is seen by 1,000s so conduct yourselves in a professional manner, if you bash another site vice offering constructive feedback you only harm your site in the end, for your credibility is on the line as the one who offers the feedback. I have seen here and elsewhere "feeback" that was really intended to make the feedback givers site look better. Funny thing is, better know your stuff because I for one go look at the site of the person giving the feedback and if the same exact issues are there as was pointed out on mine then I simply marginalize you from that point forward.

Feedback should be packaged as if it were being presented in a board room but all too often it's not and most feedback is not well thought out. I read the post above regarding using terms like, "your site is dead..." That is not feedback that is an outright bash. A constructive tone is more like, "activity is important, one of the things I have found to increase activity is..." Says the same thing without being a butt about it. I have found 90% of the feedback I read on promo boards are the latter not the more refined diplomatic professional discourse expected by true professionals.

 

[Nitro]

I try to talk with the person giving the negative feedback to gain some insight on how I can improve the site, which I am always willing to listen to (unless it's just downright trolling).

If I were that admin that just got angry with you, I would have tried what I just written. I don't think that's the way to handle this (getting angry).

 

[Pinky]

We did an online survey I think back last year with an external website with questions for members to put in anonymously which members had given us great feedback but also some negative.

Now I was so glad to hear some negative as we were able to discuss this with staff and see if there is anything productive to do about it.

I agree with some members here that it's no good to say 'it's boring' as that isn't very helpful to the admin owner. If you have some negative feedback it to give then always back it up with some reasoning as to why you are saying it so the admin can look into the 'issue'.

 

[meSingh]

Ok guys i understood what you all mean but will you stop now. Its getting embarrassing 😛

 

[Nuke]

LOL, getting embarrassing?

Everyone has those times, bro.

 

[meSingh]

LOL, getting embarrassing?

Everyone has those times, bro.

I knew that now :lol: