Survey Feedback

First, thanks for taking the time to complete the survey and offering detailed feedback. I want to take some time to address some of the common issues brought up in the survey.

The effects of social media on the NewsBoiler sites has definitely thrown a wrench in the heat algorithm. We want people to link to stories because we want people to find our communities, but we do not want sharing to artificially alter the sites - and adding 100+ degrees to a story none of the members give a rip about definitely does that!

Moderator - all Moderator jobs are temporary to some degree. Eventually, people move on, and occasionally we discover it isn't a good fit and a Moderator is replaced. Obviously, that situation can be hard for everyone involved so we do try to choose wisely. :) I had a couple people in mind for the job here on 11x2, and the survey results pointed pretty clearly to one individual of that group. I guess you'll know more on that later!

Of the current Moderator candidates, all of them are active contributors - which is essential for helping with the site - and participating in the Contributor Contests. Because Modship is unpaid, a Moderator is not DQed from contests. However, if they use their Mod powers (approving all their submissions, failing competing submissions, restricting the competition, for example) to alter the results of the Contest they would be un-Modded, banned from NewsBoiler permanently, and probably shunned by society at large. I bring up this un-fun topic because I think it's better to discuss it frankly. This is a close-knit group and being above-board will save us a lot of crankiness.

Contests: Sounds like we'll have more Manager contests! This one can be hard to quantify, because it isn't just about spamming approvals and reports. So don't expect to see a simple "top scorer" reward here!

Community: By and large the responses indicated enjoying the community, but there were a few words like "disrespect" popping up. This is the internet and we're not perfect, but I hope you guys are reporting offensive stuff so that Moderators and I have a chance to review it.

Site Update: There is a large update coming that will address all of the problems that you mentioned in the survey, either directly or indirectly. Yes, it's the update is that big.