Proposal: start doing something with suggestions

[yummyporkchops]

Pardon my tone. It is not my intention to sound pretentious, but I would like to voice my opinion regarding the current management of suggestions.




This is not a personal attack towards any developer in particular, but to me, I find it very counterintuitive to have a suggestions forum when half of the time they are either:

1) Overlooked by developers, or
2) Moved under "Implemented Suggestions" and sit there for years on end.




When I say overlooked, I mean two things. Either developers don't bother leaving a reply, or a few reply with something on the lines of, "I can see this in a future update," yet the thread remains under suggestions and is eventually forgotten, because newer posts push it back 50,000 pages. /s

Either you take suggestions or you leave them. If there's a low possibility of a suggestion being taken in consideration, or if you know you will not take their suggestion, then clearly notify the OP (and participants in the thread) of your decision and do something with the post. Lock it, move it, do SOMETHING to let people know that suggestion has been rejected. Otherwise, people may begin thinking their suggestions were overlooked/ignored and will end up making duplicate posts due to the lack of DIRECT COMMUNICATION.

Moving a suggestion under "Implemented Suggestions" because you plan to have them implemented in the future is inaccurate and misleading. Until you've actually made the change in the game, it is, by definition, not implemented. Perhaps there could be an additional category for suggestions taken in to consideration, because those are very different from implemented suggestions. By doing that, you will effectively reduce the number of complaints and snarky comments regarding the time it takes for you guys to get shit done. You cannot claim an idea to be implemented when it hasn't been, then not expect people to badger you on what seems to be a lack of productivity.

Thank you for your time.

[Meandrina]

While I understand your point, many of the threads are reviewed, noted, and passed along like a giant game of telephone.
Question... would you rather the ones who actually implement the suggestions spend their time implementing things or replying and organizing threads?

[yummyporkchops]

While I understand your point, many of the threads are reviewed, noted, and passed along like a giant game of telephone.
Question... would you rather the ones who actually implement the suggestions spend their time implementing things or replying and organizing threads?

...I might be wrong, but I think I understand what you may be implying.

To answer your question, I would choose the former. Of course, that's my assuming there's a specific team of people tasked with the implementation of suggestions, and another team that tends to the general feedback and organization of threads.

If many of these threads are reviewed, noted and passed along, then that requires dependable communication between all members. How long does it take for these members to reach a definite conclusion? And when a definite conclusion is reached, is this information clearly relayed back to the OP?

Now, if the same people that implement suggestions are also the ones replying and organizing threads, then I would argue for a better division of labor because what we have now is very inefficient. If the problem lies with being "understaffed..." I am no expert, but perhaps there should be more of a coordinated effort towards marketing for more volunteers so it'll become more appealing for people to join the team?

[Meandrina]

Currently suggestions are passed up, reviewed, some implemented, some tweaked and implemented... and by the time that is all done people have forgotten where the idea came from. I can't speak fro how the process is handled, I know I have just messaged some of the thread links. There could be a better process for passing things up and noting where the idea was from..but it will probably be left to the person who passed the information to report back to the OP...if they happen to remember.

There is a group of volunteers, called GameInsights, that is starting to pick up steam to organize suggestions. I know they collect from discord servers; I'm not sure if they are collecting from forums also. I can ask.

[yummyporkchops]

Currently suggestions are passed up, reviewed, some implemented, some tweaked and implemented... and by the time that is all done people have forgotten where the idea came from. I can't speak fro how the process is handled, I know I have just messaged some of the thread links. There could be a better process for passing things up and noting where the idea was from..but it will probably be left to the person who passed the information to report back to the OP...if they happen to remember.

There is a group of volunteers, called GameInsights, that is starting to pick up steam to organize suggestions. I know they collect from discord servers; I'm not sure if they are collecting from forums also. I can ask.

That's completely understandable. If they happen to also be collecting from forums, then that would definitely peek my interest.

This may sound strange, but I sometimes make the mistake and think of people with higher authority to be "more than human," if you will. I hold them to very high standards, and if I somehow feel letdown by them, whether it's a fault on their end or simply my excessive expectations, I slight them subtly without even realizing it. Even though the bitterness is always short-lived, I apologize for my demeanor.

......Anyway, thank you very much for addressing this concern of mine!