(1) Restore Idea Categories (2) Give Feedback/Updates On Submitted Ideas
(1) First of all, I would like to see a return to separating the Ideas by category. I am most concerned about the Web Indexing improvement Ideas, but it's probably true for other categories. They get buried, and it's not easy to separate them by type.
(2) Secondly, and the main subject of this idea, I would like to know the status of the many good ideas submitted over the years. Again, I am most interested in the Web Indexing improvement Ideas. I hope that someone in each relevant support group has been keeping track of them. It should be straightforward for FS to do what I am requesting in #2.
By Family Search's reckoning, patrons have submitted approximately 33,000 ideas over the years. I have introduced quite a few and have no "idea" what the status of any of them is. Is the "Ideas" section just a place for people to vent, thinking that something will come of their idea - but in reality, it won't? I hope not, but it sure seems that way. We hear that someone looks at them, but I don't see changes on the Indexing side. And I don't see feedback on them as to why or why not. Under the current setup, many ideas come up in conversations on the Indexing Q&A (and did on the old Indexing Chat Group), are never submitted formally, or are presented several times in different ways, diluting their impact. And, they soon get buried by more recent idea submissions.
I suggest that FS focus on ideas from the past few years, aggregate/ summarize, and organize them by category and type (e.g., Indexing). I request that FS present these distilled ideas with an update on their status. That is, whether they will never happen for whatever reason, are under consideration, will happen - with a general timeline, and even "are coming soon."
Please pin these distilled/ collated ideas to the top of the Ideas section or in a different, prominent place for fresh responses from users or simply up- or down-voting. Users' current priorities and needs should become more apparent. This practice could save time and energy from repeating ideas or submitting ones that will never happen.
Comments
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Personally, I was pleased to see the original sections combined, but would even go one stage further and scrap "Suggest an Idea" altogether!
You have already identified the problem of this section. We rarely get any responses from employees or moderators, so just have to take their word that the developers / engineers and (perhaps) members of management teams are coming here and taking note of our suggestions for enhancements and reports of bugs.
There have been some excellent suggestions placed here, but no acknowledgment on whether there might be any plan to implement them, or arguments presented why they can't / won't be used to enhance the program(s).
At least with the other categories of Community there is often a response from a moderator - though often that we should place our issues under this category!
Before "Community" was introduced, I was a participant in the FamilySearch section of GetSatisfaction.com. Whilst employee involvement was "patchy", managers did respond to queries / suggestions from time to time, and that forum ran perfectly well without any divisions into different categories.
You make some good suggestions above - but is anybody listening? Responses to indexing problems has always been a big problem, for instance. I have made several suggestions about indexing processes, but nobody from Indexing ever visited the GetSat website, let alone here. When I have posted comments under "Indexing" (on this forum) I have been told quite firmly that section is meant to be for indexers' queries (on problems in indexing a specific batch) and, again, to put my ideas here. As the problems I have commented on, over a period of years, still persist I can only assume nobody from the "Indexing team" ever visits here, or they just refuse to accept the ongoing problems that are caused by curent "project instructions". But, who knows? I agree that this does often seem like a place to go to get things off your chest, because I never seem to see any enhancements in certain areas (e.g. indexing procedures and the Couple Relationship area of Family Tree) that have been crying-out for improvement for many years.
Even at GetSat I was told not to expect employee responses, as they were busy getting on with their jobs. But surely we can get some reassurance (hopefully with "evidence") that our suggestions and reports are being read and acted upon, where appropriate?
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Oh dear, I just thought, there directly under this topic is one titled "FamilySearch Employee Responding to Search Page Feedback". Then I realised it had been instigated back in September - by former employee, Casey Robinson. The subject matter is the "new" Search interface: hundereds of suggestions (many to revert to the former interface), but still no positive response on any future enhancements that will make users' searches less difficult than are currently being experienced.
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My own view is that very few Ideas are actually looked at or seen by any employees of FamilySearch, whether IT people or management
Perhaps that is due to budgetary reasons in that all employees are so busy on other work duties they do not have time to look, and extra employees need to be employed and are not. Perhaps there is literally no money to appoint extra employees, but I suspect that the management attitude is that they are not needed.
Some years ago on the old GetSatisfaction Forum, a Forum member said that you could only understand FamilySearch's rationale in terms of "Quantity, not Quality". I also consider that FamilySearch believes in the maxim "Near enough is good enough" . With regards Indexing, I suspect the management view is that spending money on making things clearer/easier for the indexer is not necessarily going to INCREASE the number of records indexed, so extra money is not allocated for more programmers etc. I was also surprised to view a video from Rootstech a few years ago, when the FS manager in charge of Indexing said "If you like Italian food, you can be an Italian indexer" [exact quote] which to me indicated that the official view from the top was that anyone could do Indexing. The implication is that no money needs to be spent on improvements.
I have an interest in Digital Libraries and over the years collected together other peoples suggestions about the FS Digital Library, together with my own, and was told on the old Getsatisfaction Form there was a team which was going to work on improvements. Since then absolutely nothing has happened, and in spite of asking questions about this team, I have no idea whether this team did any work or not. However it appears almost certain that no improvements are currently, or for the foreseeable future, being considered. Again, who knows whether this is due to genuine lack of money, or simply lack of management interest. It seems to me that all the priority is given to Family Tree and anything else is somewhat the poor relation.
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After a few years of trying, I have to admit, sadly, that I've pretty much given up on expecting upgrades to the Web Indexing program any time soon; although I continue to make suggestions. I sense a limitation of resources and different priorities being at the heart of it, but I would like to know whether to hold out hope or give up on it. That is why I made suggestion #2. I'm a bit tired of essentially talking to myself and close indexing friends about it. I'd rather know the truth and move on.
Meanwhile, I have developed my own "shadow" system -- wrapped around the Web Indexing system -- that improves my efficiency, lessens frustration, and helps my accuracy. I also enjoy the process and the challenge. I began with the AutoHotkey scripting language (PC-based) and now mainly use the Corsair/Elgato Streamdeck programmable keypad with its built-in keyboard shortcut handling (PC and Mac compatible) and BarRaider's powerful add-ons (mostly PC-based). Together they can do everything from chaining together multiple shortcut key actions to controlling system aspects to manipulating the actions of a mouse - activated by the press of a button or two.
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