• Replies 95 replies
  • Subscribers 3 subscribers
  • Views 24255 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related

What's good about this Community and how can we improve it?

Steve Bridger

Hello!

It's been a while since I asked such an open question to all of this wonderful community.

- what do you like about the Communities?

- what single thing can we improve?

- what gets your goat (I mean mean 'what', and not 'who')

- are you an 'answer' person? Why? what do you get out of it (and by the way, thank you for doing what you do)

- has the community helped you get stuff done, and make your life easier? 

- has the community helped you grow your network? Is that important to you? Are we friendly and welcoming?

- what would your #1 piece of advice be to those thinking about posting for the first time?

I'm not expecting you to answer these precise questions. They're simply a guide, a prompt... in case you need prompting :)  

I'm very keen to hear from as many of you as possible. 

Big caveat: I can't promise to implement any of your suggestions - you know, technology & resources and stuff. But I will listen. Listen well, and pass on your thoughts. And you never know. 

Feel free to email me directly at s.bridger@cipd.co.uk if you would prefer not to go public. On the other hand, I do encourage you to share your thoughts with your peers, below.

Thanks in advance!

Steve 

Parents

    • what should the community stop
      doing (and why)?

     


    CIPD staff taking a selective approach to what
    it/they involve themselves in and what they ignore, eg. The Library staff (Ms
    Bland) sometimes responds to threads and sometimes doesn't. - Because it confuses, it sends out an
    inconsistent message and policy that the CIPD will
    respond.

     

    Overly excessive intervention from moderators, this
    is a members forum for members, moderators are too keen to intervene regarding
    criticism or poor publicity, - Because when I compare this with other forums the
    moderators are much more hands off and have a firm, clear, consistent policy for
    escalation of issues and complaints. Communities with a more hands off approach
    develop a more individual personality. At the present time (as Megan says) who
    is 'listening' what can be achieved is all very vague and unaccountable, this is
    not acceptable to members expecting (and paying for) a service with clear
    standards.

     

    It should not run competitions and then offer
    selective free tickets to Harrogate outside of the competition entries. -
    Because it makes the CIPD look like the BBC and demonstrates how the CIPD
    selectively and inconsistently exploit the threads for vanity purposes. It could
    even be said to demonstrate and foster favouritism.

     

    It should remove the excessive number of reminders
    to update ones profile on the profile page "    Why don't you provide a short
    welcome message for anyone visiting your profile page. ", "    Is your profile up to date? Why don't
    you update your     profile now!", "Tell us a bit about yourself " , " You don't have a biography.
    Click
    CTRL + Click to follow link" size="2" face="Arial">here     to create.",
    "    Are you
    up-to-date?,    Take a minute and add something new"
    - Why? I think 6 prompts are enough for anyone including a small
    child.

     

     



    • what could the community start
      doing (and why)?

     

    Instigate a virtual branch and quickly - The
    reasons for this have been stated many many time previously, it should do it
    quickly as it appears that the CIPD are unresponsive to members needs if they
    don't.

     

    It should realise that members do want to use these
    forums to debate with, influence and contact their professional
    association. - The present situation is untenable, significant debates, issues,
    matters pertaining to members relationships with the Institute, its suppliers
    and training bodies are 'left hanging'. That's unprofessional and unresponsive -
    members aren't allowed to behave, so why is the CIPD?

     

    It should add the members name to the emails that
    are generated as a result of community postings. - As the members name isn't
    included this generates another login to the thread to read who made the
    contribution thus distorting the number of views.

     

    It should start crediting photographers for their
    photographs in every posting - at the moment its hidden - Because sooner or
    later professional photographer will complain and demand compensation. The CIPD
    credits other photographers so this policy is inconsistent.

     

    It should integrate more with People Management -
    because the interface is very clumsy at the moment and it should implement
    Anna's ideas about jobs     http://www.cipd.co.uk/community/subjects/subject/discussion.aspx?PostID=95476 - why? Because its missing a trick and falling behind and
    failing to deliver to its members, it also feeds into my second para
    above.


     

    It should declare if its managed or hosted
    externally - because that affects how member's view it, and its open and
    transparent.

     

    It should ensure Mr. Bridger puts up a biography -
    see previous sentence.

     

    It should allow posters to edit and deletion of
    posts - Because it will remove spelling/grammer errors and aid clarity. The
    argument for not allowing this is weak, every other forum I use allows edits,
    some of the editing facilities have a time expiration on them which is used to
    preventing 'constant updating' .

     



    • what should the community change
      (and why)?

     

    It should change the issues and circumstances
    related to this thread,
    CTRL + Click to follow link" size="2" face="Arial">http://www.cipd.co.uk/community/subjects/subject/discussion.aspx?PostID=90288    - Because it demonstrates a lack of accountability, poor 
    internal operating procedures, lack of clarity of message and arguably
    represents a failure of the community and its moderators.

     

    It should change the little dancing paper logos, I
    can't identify what they mean as the key is not nearby and even if it was they
    don't seem to add much, I can do without them and can pick out the threads I am
    interested in by the titles.

     

    It should remove archives older than 3 years - 5
    years is too long to keep this data in the present ever changing knowledge
    climate.

     

    It should re-instate guests - the quality of
    debates and exploration of issues has dropped since the moderators took the
    decision to remove them - guest are allowed at Branch meetings and their monies
    readily accepted so what's different? - Because it is vital for survival and
    growth to have an external rather than an internal focus otherwise the CIPD
    loses touch with other's experiences and becomes to self
    congratulatory.

     

    It should appoint some member moderators and member
    discussion leaders - Because it could prove interesting and add another
    perspective.

     

    It should realise there is a difference between the
    website and changing things on that and the community itself, which is an
    abstract intangible concept. Speaking personally I don't feel part of a
    'community', I cant see people, haven't met them - this medium is not
    kinesthetic to make it feel like a community for me. Arguably the branches are
    real communities however they would seem to have a stronger voice within the
    CIPD than this 'community' . For me this is more akin to a question and answer
    machine that's populated by knowledgeable human beings.

     



    • What should the community continue
      to do (and why)?

     

    Continue with its clear uncluttered layout. - Its
    easy on the eye.

     

     

     

    Cheers to Mike for this format of questions - I've
    found it very helpful and incredibly specific - "what's good?" is a vague term
    and forces us to pick out what we like, whereas "what should we continue" seems
    to create more balance and distance on the subject matter. I'll be using it
    myself.

     

     

     
Reply

    • what should the community stop
      doing (and why)?

     


    CIPD staff taking a selective approach to what
    it/they involve themselves in and what they ignore, eg. The Library staff (Ms
    Bland) sometimes responds to threads and sometimes doesn't. - Because it confuses, it sends out an
    inconsistent message and policy that the CIPD will
    respond.

     

    Overly excessive intervention from moderators, this
    is a members forum for members, moderators are too keen to intervene regarding
    criticism or poor publicity, - Because when I compare this with other forums the
    moderators are much more hands off and have a firm, clear, consistent policy for
    escalation of issues and complaints. Communities with a more hands off approach
    develop a more individual personality. At the present time (as Megan says) who
    is 'listening' what can be achieved is all very vague and unaccountable, this is
    not acceptable to members expecting (and paying for) a service with clear
    standards.

     

    It should not run competitions and then offer
    selective free tickets to Harrogate outside of the competition entries. -
    Because it makes the CIPD look like the BBC and demonstrates how the CIPD
    selectively and inconsistently exploit the threads for vanity purposes. It could
    even be said to demonstrate and foster favouritism.

     

    It should remove the excessive number of reminders
    to update ones profile on the profile page "    Why don't you provide a short
    welcome message for anyone visiting your profile page. ", "    Is your profile up to date? Why don't
    you update your     profile now!", "Tell us a bit about yourself " , " You don't have a biography.
    Click
    CTRL + Click to follow link" size="2" face="Arial">here     to create.",
    "    Are you
    up-to-date?,    Take a minute and add something new"
    - Why? I think 6 prompts are enough for anyone including a small
    child.

     

     



    • what could the community start
      doing (and why)?

     

    Instigate a virtual branch and quickly - The
    reasons for this have been stated many many time previously, it should do it
    quickly as it appears that the CIPD are unresponsive to members needs if they
    don't.

     

    It should realise that members do want to use these
    forums to debate with, influence and contact their professional
    association. - The present situation is untenable, significant debates, issues,
    matters pertaining to members relationships with the Institute, its suppliers
    and training bodies are 'left hanging'. That's unprofessional and unresponsive -
    members aren't allowed to behave, so why is the CIPD?

     

    It should add the members name to the emails that
    are generated as a result of community postings. - As the members name isn't
    included this generates another login to the thread to read who made the
    contribution thus distorting the number of views.

     

    It should start crediting photographers for their
    photographs in every posting - at the moment its hidden - Because sooner or
    later professional photographer will complain and demand compensation. The CIPD
    credits other photographers so this policy is inconsistent.

     

    It should integrate more with People Management -
    because the interface is very clumsy at the moment and it should implement
    Anna's ideas about jobs     http://www.cipd.co.uk/community/subjects/subject/discussion.aspx?PostID=95476 - why? Because its missing a trick and falling behind and
    failing to deliver to its members, it also feeds into my second para
    above.


     

    It should declare if its managed or hosted
    externally - because that affects how member's view it, and its open and
    transparent.

     

    It should ensure Mr. Bridger puts up a biography -
    see previous sentence.

     

    It should allow posters to edit and deletion of
    posts - Because it will remove spelling/grammer errors and aid clarity. The
    argument for not allowing this is weak, every other forum I use allows edits,
    some of the editing facilities have a time expiration on them which is used to
    preventing 'constant updating' .

     



    • what should the community change
      (and why)?

     

    It should change the issues and circumstances
    related to this thread,
    CTRL + Click to follow link" size="2" face="Arial">http://www.cipd.co.uk/community/subjects/subject/discussion.aspx?PostID=90288    - Because it demonstrates a lack of accountability, poor 
    internal operating procedures, lack of clarity of message and arguably
    represents a failure of the community and its moderators.

     

    It should change the little dancing paper logos, I
    can't identify what they mean as the key is not nearby and even if it was they
    don't seem to add much, I can do without them and can pick out the threads I am
    interested in by the titles.

     

    It should remove archives older than 3 years - 5
    years is too long to keep this data in the present ever changing knowledge
    climate.

     

    It should re-instate guests - the quality of
    debates and exploration of issues has dropped since the moderators took the
    decision to remove them - guest are allowed at Branch meetings and their monies
    readily accepted so what's different? - Because it is vital for survival and
    growth to have an external rather than an internal focus otherwise the CIPD
    loses touch with other's experiences and becomes to self
    congratulatory.

     

    It should appoint some member moderators and member
    discussion leaders - Because it could prove interesting and add another
    perspective.

     

    It should realise there is a difference between the
    website and changing things on that and the community itself, which is an
    abstract intangible concept. Speaking personally I don't feel part of a
    'community', I cant see people, haven't met them - this medium is not
    kinesthetic to make it feel like a community for me. Arguably the branches are
    real communities however they would seem to have a stronger voice within the
    CIPD than this 'community' . For me this is more akin to a question and answer
    machine that's populated by knowledgeable human beings.

     



    • What should the community continue
      to do (and why)?

     

    Continue with its clear uncluttered layout. - Its
    easy on the eye.

     

     

     

    Cheers to Mike for this format of questions - I've
    found it very helpful and incredibly specific - "what's good?" is a vague term
    and forces us to pick out what we like, whereas "what should we continue" seems
    to create more balance and distance on the subject matter. I'll be using it
    myself.

     

     

     
Children
No Data