A more efficient suggestion process anyone ?

[Nemrav]

Most game forums, including the ksp forum i have found to not have a very efficient way of dealing with suggestions....

what i'm proposing is in this discussion, we define how it could be better organised and so that the mods/devs/admins have a better way of sifting through ideas...

my first proposal (you can post your own) is...

We get a dedicated mod to sift through the suggestions every 1-2 days

have 3 sticky posts that only mods can edit, the first being "devs have agreed on this happening", "devs are uncertain", "not happening" and "already suggested, to be looked at", using colour text to indicate the reception of the idea and keeps the amount of extra posts to a minimum (he edits his previous post whenever possible)

An idea only sits in the suggestions category for a week while debates go on, then the moderator takes the idea as it is and posts it in the "already suggested, to be looked at" if not already there, then deletes the post from the main sub-forum (every 1-2 days)

Only other thing would be for people to actually look at the already suggested posts !!!

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Feel free to post your own ideas, what do you think of mine ?

[TMS]

This assumes that the mods know what the devs intentions are, and that the devs actually read this forum.

The forum is mostly for playing the "already suggested" game.

[Rowsdower]

While myself and the mod team are always working to "take the temperature" and take note of the hottest topics and best, most creative suggestions to bring to the devs, an improvement on sifting through all the many ideas is always welcomed. Keep them coming

[Nemrav]

Maybe there could be links to a mod which should, temporarily fulfil the suggested idea ? (if an idea is suggested over and over again)....

Thanks, for posting , in any forum its an honour to get a reply from a person who has a position such as yours.

[minerman30]

I would think that this thread would succumb to its own problem and not be noticed by the devs.

Rowsdower, please notify them.

[jwenting]

hmm, an AI bot that automatically deletes any "suggestion" or "discussion" which suggests or demands (which most of the "discussions" turn out to be) something on the what not to suggest list would be a great improvement.

Would also get rid of 95% of the threads on this forum.

[kBob]

The "what not to list thing" is just very annoying, it leaves newer players out in the cold and as players gain experience they may have a change of opinion or better ideas about the topic but can't suggest them: it's bad enough as is don't make it worse.

[Atoning Unifex]

The "what not to list thing" is just very annoying, it leaves newer players out in the cold and as players gain experience they may have a change of opinion or better ideas about the topic but can't suggest them: it's bad enough as is don't make it worse.

I disagree. The WNTS list, and the already suggested list, is there to encourage new (and old) forum members to review what has already been said so as not to repeat/rehash things that have already beed discussed many times before.

I admit it is difficult. When I have a 'brilliant' idea I must suggest only to find it in one of the mentioned lists, it is disappointing. However when I read the suggestions that have come before and i see that it is basically my idea I see that repeating it wouldn't really help.

Perhaps every suggestion should be a poll allowing readers to vote with a standard set of choices (yes, no, in part, don't care) to the ideas without having to actually comment, if they don't want to. I've skipped past many suggestions purely because I couldn't be bothered to write a response - not that they weren't good suggestions, just I wasn't motivated enough to comment. If I had to simply click a choice I'd be more inclined to do so.

[kBob]

Well if they did a better search engine (and yes you can do a site: in an external engine but not many do or know about it and it's a bit awkward) then maybe, but still if someone wants to discuss something again and other do to what is the harm, no one else need read it if they don't want to but every person may have something to contribute. Take the ban on female kerbals for example, since then they have announced that there will be an educational version well if I was in charge of buying educational software I would not buy KSP until they include female kerbal names as I'd know this will turn off some of the female students...but can post a topic about this?...no.

[jwenting]

The "what not to list thing" is just very annoying, it leaves newer players out in the cold and as players gain experience they may have a change of opinion or better ideas about the topic but can't suggest them: it's bad enough as is don't make it worse.

you mean it's annoying for you because you have a pet "WANNA!" that's on the list and now you can't spam it a dozen times a day using alt accounts until the devs think you're in fact thousands of people and implement it.

[kBob]

jwenting: Actually no. Nobody is forcing you to read or comment, my reasons were clearly stated.

Edited February 16, 2014 by kBob

[Dodgey]

My understanding of the purpose of the WNTS is that it allows new ideas to be noticed, example, of we didn't have the WNTS the forum would be full of the same idea over and over again. Also it isn't a blanket ban of ideas on the list, I've seen many a discussion about how ideas on the WNTS could be implemented, with input from the mods as well. kBob could you please elaborate on how the WNTS leaves new players out in the cold.

[kBob]

I'm not sure how many ways I can put it but here goes:

A lot of "I don't dare mention this" type of posts. A lot of people saying "You just mentioned a banned topic better move on we can't discuss it." New players come in see the banned list and decide they can have no say or don't see the list or misunderstand it and post and get closed and discouraged--thinking their opinions are valueless.

Yes sometimes banned topics do get mentioned again but that is just a level of inconsistency: how can a person know if it's ok or not? Were a government to do this it would be censorship, but of course a business can do what they want, but if you solicit new ideas, comments and suggestions while at the same time saying "oh except for these" it's a poor way of encouraging people especially newcomers-- sure you'll get some repetition, but those threads will die out on their own unless they spark new interest and have new angles that might be interesting or arguments that suddenly make people say "Hey now that's a good idea."

Remember another thing we are not supposed to do is resurrect old threads so if we pull up something on the topic realize something import was left out or can be seen in a different way (I mentioned one simple example) we still are not allowed to voice an opinion or bring it up, so hmmm makes one wonder if it is really worth spending time in the forum.

One possibility might to be to make all suggestions a poll, if you think there are too many posts this might encourage people to be able to participate by voting yes or no without needing to actually comment, but leave the poll open indefinitely (or closed if the idea has been implemented)--this would allow new comers to feel like they got to participate and in the end that is what you want to encourage-participation it's where some good ideas will come from, if you want good ideas from the community and that's kind of the point of being in Steam early release.

In closing: I again ask who is making you read all the posts if the topic is boring then don't read it (moderators excepted but then that's the job they volunteered for)? This is my third try so I'll move on now.

[Nemrav]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/69830-The-WNTS-List

The WNTS and already suggested lists are an outdated method of filtering ideas.. read the idea in the link, its a pretty good one..

I'm mainly here to post another possible orginisation, to filter out suggestions, probably a much simpler method.. here goes :

The first ting to do is create a discussion thread for all of the over suggested ideas, sticky them, give them a voting poll with "yes", "no", "maybe" and "yes, but with a little twist...".

Over time, as new ideas gain prominence, an admin will make a stickied discussion thread with an obvious title.. He should encourage people to temporarily find mods till the game gets it officially...

Another thing to do would be having vote checkboxes on spaceport and on popular forum-only updated mods that give admins a number, which resets every 2 updates.. Aswell as a amount of downloads feed, all to note which things people are resorting to mods for....

PLEASE---- WHEREVER YOU DESIRE , POST YOUR IDEAS FOR A NEW , MORE EFFICIANT PROCESS FOR SORTING IDEAS !!!!

[boomerdog2000]

The purpose behind those lists is to prevent people from spamming suggestions that the community, and the devs are already aware of. Discussing possible implementations of those ideas is not prohibited. Saying "We want this!" with no thought or planning is prohibited because it would clog up the forum with spam. Resurrecting old threads is allowed if you have something valuable to add to the topic. Also those lists would probably work better if people actually read them.

Now back on topic. The current system, while not perfect, seems to get ideas to the devs, thanks to moderators. The poll idea might work. Allowing people who don't necessarily have anything to say about the topic still support its implementation.

[Moonfrog]

I would simply like a single reply by a mod. Either say, I've read this and its rejected. Or I've read this and I like it, will be adding it to the game. Or although we like the idea, we won't be adding it to the game for some reason.

That way we can just move on to other ideas. The issue to me is simply feedback. Noone really knows if there suggestiosn are being taking seriously, whether writing them is a waste of time or not.

[coolitic]

This assumes that the mods know what the devs intentions are, and that the devs actually read this forum.

The forum is mostly for playing the "already suggested" game.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[sal_vager]

The devs do read it when they have time, they are often just too busy, not just with KSP but their home lives as well, many are in relationships

[Nemrav]

That's why they have dedicated mods (guess who's considered one) as their eyes and ears on the forum..

If you guessed sal_vager, or the Komunity manager you won !!!

Would Nova-Siliko be considered our second best after the official eyes n ears of the devs, as he was a dev at one point.. he does seem a little more open/active as to what the devs were planning, at least before he left for reasons unknown to me..