More than one feedback per project please

January 29, 2007 6:38 PM

Should it be possible to leave feedback for the same project more than once? I left Caffeine_Monkey a piece of feedback that is sure to confuse him, as it was actually meant for a different project.
posted by textilephile to Feature Requests at 6:38 PM (11 comments total)

I noticed my mistake a moment too late, and when I tried to leave another comment to appologize & explain what happened I couldn't. (There was no email in his/her profile) Of course, I'm sure this exact situation doesn't happen often, but I could imagine someone might leave feedback, then a moment (or a day) later have another thought they wish they'd added.
posted by textilephile at 6:40 PM on January 29, 2007

I don't get the whole private feedback thing. Why not allow feedback like comments in the rest of the site? Also, why not allow a second or more comment? meh, we can see who marked it as favorite, who cares? Why, what did they say? I mark favorites more often as bookmarks than any indication of quality or approval, except in comments.
posted by caddis at 7:03 PM on January 29, 2007

I also don't get the lack of multiple feedback. And, as someone who's posted projects and (presumably) never gotten feedback (though gotten votes)... what happens to the feedback? Does the OP see feedback in the thread or is it emailed or what?
posted by dobbs at 7:08 PM on January 29, 2007

Oh, and I think it would be useful to have the comments appear to the OP in the thread but be invisible to everyone else. Once the OP has read a comment, though, s/he can make it visible if s/he is interested in others commenting on the comment to see if others feel likewise. (For instance, if a site's not working in a certain browser or someone thinks the project is juvenile or poorly written or whatever.)
posted by dobbs at 7:10 PM on January 29, 2007

People who don't put an email address in their profile yet post to any section of the site do themselves a disservice imho. textilephile, I'll send a message through the projects to tell Caffeine_Monkey your email was accidental (although, unless it was very general, you'd be thinking that they would notice).

The comments are private because some people don't want a public free for all denigration of their project.
posted by peacay at 7:11 PM on January 29, 2007

stop rubbing off on the drapery.
posted by quonsar at 7:27 PM on January 29, 2007

I don't get the whole private feedback thing.

I don't get that either... I've left feedback for projects and I'd like to be able to see what other people had to say (and for the poster to be able to respond)... Why can't the projects be like other threads where we get to see other people's comments?
posted by amyms at 7:50 PM on January 29, 2007

I didn't even realize feedback was private until after I'd posted a couple. Then I stopped. It's one thing to discuss a website, but it's something else to send what amounts to a private e-mail to its webmaster. Nothing posted to Projects is that compelling.

I'd be curious to know why feedback is private.
posted by cribcage at 8:37 PM on January 29, 2007

I think the private feedback is a good thing—it's there for the poster and the poster alone. If the project is interesting enough to merit a post, then there's the thread in the blue to go crazy in; short of that, let the poster do what they will with the feedback they receive. They can always answer via email (where possible) or in the project itself.

Having open, visible comments on Projects might lead to more of a feedback loop (and, sometimes, pile-on effect) that doesn't seem necessary for a part of the site that is so single-purpose.
posted by cortex at 9:52 PM on January 29, 2007

It's private so people don't feel they have to defend their work or have someone go half-cocked on why their unique snowflake sucks (because someone pissed in their cornflakes that morning). It's private because of the things dobbs and cortex mention -- it's just a little private way to leave a note of encouragement or to spot an error without it turning into a big deal. Also, another reason the feedback is private is that if the project is compelling enough that would cause dozens of people to want to talk about it, it's probably a pretty interesting site that should be posted to MeFi proper anyway and discussed there. I didn't want Projects to take away from the occasional migration of a link to MetaFilter.

The single piece of feedback was to keep things simple -- I didn't want to have to police a few people that might badger someone with nitpicking in a dozen comments. It's rare that you'd need to say anything more than once in such a small private forum.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:06 PM on January 29, 2007

Thank you, peacay.
I hadn't thought of the badgering problem. There are probably more badgerers around here than people with too-quick clicker fingers, and their effect would be more harmful.
posted by textilephile at 3:07 AM on January 30, 2007