Update: A grand experiment has come to a necessary end. We’ll soon be removing the instant feedback feature. We’re not sad about it. It was a great idea that turned out to provide us with a lot of feedback and very little context. Making the issue type optional left us trying to puzzle out a particular page’s problem(s), often without success. We’ll continue to strive for making feedback submission as painless as possible, but useful as well. Thanks again for your participation and feedback!
If you are a frequent visitor to the Gustavus website, you may occasionally notice a problem or two. It’s a large website. We try our best to keep things running smoothly, and we make every effort to keep the content fresh and accurate. Despite this intense devotion, we miss things. To be honest, there’s not enough time in the day to inspect every nook, or examine every cranny. That’s why we rely so heavily on your feedback.
Don’t be shy
We’ve tried numerous schemes over the years–the five-star rating system, comment-driven forms with varying levels of complexity–but we’ve always anecdotally caught wind of a silent majority/minority (we’re not quite sure on the numbers) who are unwilling to submit feedback. Now the reasoning probably changes from person to person. Some may feel they’re unable to adequately describe the issue, others may simply be too busy. Either way, problems go unnoticed, when, in fact, they are noticed, but not reported. Now, being busy, introverted computer types, we’re not blaming anyone. We see a problem and we instinctively want to find a solution. This brings us to the latest addition to our feedback eliciting arsenal. For lack of a more creative name, we’ll call it the “flag this page” button.
It’s quick and easy
Its function is simple. You, as a visitor to the website, notice an issue. Perhaps it’s a typo. Perhaps it’s a whole mess of typos, along with some outdated facts, inappropriate images, and a busted layout. Whatever the problem, you now have the option to click the little red button with the white exclamation point that’s conveniently located above the “feedback” button along the left edge of the page. Whew. That’s it. Just click it. See a problem, click the button. We’ll give you the option (at the top of the page) to offer a bit more detail, or “undo” the flag, but you’ll never have to type a thing. The page you are looking at when you click the button will be automatically recorded, we’ll be notified of your eagle-eyed catch, and your diligence will be justly rewarded (with a correction or an update, along with a hearty “thank you”).
Help us make it better
For those of you who have spotted mistakes and remained silent, we encourage you to use this new feature. We don’t mind, really. Often these little oversights can be corrected immediately. Sometimes we need to notify the author and await a response. Whatever the case, the process can’t get started without your help!
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