

Ask HN: Why do people (you) give feedback? - bdmac97

Hi guys,<p>I'm trying to figure out what makes people that give feedback tick.<p>As some of you may know, I have started a new website, launchly, that is trying to be a centralized point for new web startups to get feedback on their idea/site/design/etc.  I have been getting some feedback from random users but so far I am not seeing the feedback rates that a site like HN gets (and HN isn't even focused on website feedback).  I'm getting lots of votes (Digg-style) but the majority of my visitors don't seem to be leaving feedback.<p>My question to you, then, is why do you leave feedback on the "review my site" posts on HN?  What is it that draws you to provide feedback?  And on an obviously related note, what WOULD draw you to provide feedback on a site like launchly?<p>Is there some direct benefit to you that I am missing when you provide feedback here?  I provided feedback on sites prior to creating launchly just because I enjoyed it so I guess I assumed that's why others did it but maybe I have missed something obvious.
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e1ven
I give feedback out of a sense of community. I like the people who come to HN,
and I emphasize them.

When someone asks for feedback on their site, I'll usually check their post
history and how long they've been around. If they're contributing and being
helpful, I'm happy to help them in return.

~~~
bdmac97
Great reason. So no direct benefit to you personally is necessary.

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e1ven
Right- The hard part in trying to replicate it is that I don't know the
launchly community, so I don't have any particular incentive to help them.

I don't mean it coldly at all.. It's part of the whole idea of a monkeysphere-
I want to help my friends because I like them, and we are close. When a blog
writer launches a site, like Stack Overflow it is a step away from that-
They're people I know, at least through their writing, but aren't friends with
directly.

Hacker News is one step further- They're people I'm aware of, I read their
comments, and I like their work for the most part. I want to help them
collectively, even If I don't know the person individually.

Launchly.. Is just a bunch of folk. I don't really know them, so I don't have
any reason to help write reviews for them.

It like Babysitting- I would be happy to watch my nephew for a few hours, but
I'm not going to volunteer my time to a daycare.

~~~
bdmac97
Thanks for the additional explanation! I see what you mean and the babysitting
analogy is pretty good haha. So what brings you into a community? You didn't
know people at HN when you started I assume...

Maybe not requiring local launchly accounts (by using Disqus for comments) is
actually going to work against me on the community building side of things?

~~~
e1ven
I joined the HN community because I was interested in the Ycombinator program-
I imagine that most people joined for a similar reason originally.

I've remained a member of the community primarily because I enjoy the
discussion. While I can find the links anywhere, I really enjoy discussing and
debating issues in an intelligent and civilized manner, while learning what's
interesting to my peers.

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ZachS
I think you have to find the right type of people to write full reviews
without incentive. Maybe people would be more apt to review sites if it wasn't
so much work. Maybe you could use a system where people type a couple of words
in review of the site, rather than a huge amazon.com style product review.

You could just put a small textarea up in your top launchly info frame where
people can leave small page specific comments about sites.

Speaking from personal experience, I went to your site clicked around, looked
at a couple of the sites. I did find a few things that I could suggest about
them, but didn't have the motivation to write a dissertation about the
problems.

Hope this helps.

~~~
bdmac97
That does help but I'm still not understanding why you WOULD write up a
review/feedback here but not there.

A bit off the primary topic of but you mentioned a system where people could
type a couple of words in review of the site. Was there something about
launchly that made you feel like you had to write a lengthy review? Feedback
can be any length so you could write something as simple as "Your logo is
crappy and I don't see any market for your service." I mean more in-depth is
obviously more helpful but there's no minimum amount of helpfulness :-)

Can you think of what would have motivated you to provide feedback (of the
non-dissertation variety of course)?

~~~
ZachS
Oh, I see I think I misunderstood your question. HN has points, and it's more
of a two way "discussion." Maybe you should, rather than have comments have
discussions (I know this is probably the same thing given a different name)

As for the second problem, I guess (personally) I see a huge textbox where you
ask for my name, email and an optional website, and I just don't feel
motivated. I think you could have a small, anonymous comment spot that felt
more like a tweet rather than a post.

Oh and as an aside, I didn't realize that you had the comment overlay button
when I viewed a site. Maybe add some words to the icon to make it OBVIOUS for
unobservant people like me?

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bdmac97
Yah, the feedback is threaded for each site just like HN posts are so it is a
discussion back and forth between site owners and those that give feedback.
You can also vote the comments up (with the Like link) similar to the points
on HN but it's probably not as obvious.

The comment system currently uses Disqus because many people already have an
account with them so they don't need another one on launchly. That form you
mentioned is their version of an anonymous comment but maybe it is too
invasive with the name/email/website stuff? I've been considering ditching
Disqus but they bring a lot to the table... I will make the comment overlay
button more obvious, thanks.

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CyberFonic
Had a look at the first four pages of launchly.com. I wasn't near enough
tempted to look at any of the sites. I'm sure that the visitors to that site
are very different to those who regularly visit HN. For me (and that's only a
single data point) HN provides value that matters to me. Launchly, on the
other hand, doesn't hold any appeal nor interest.

IMHO your best way forward is to start a dialogue with those who do visit your
site, ask them what they are looking for, etc. Only then are you in a position
to better provide value for your visitors. It's all to do with _Marketing_.

~~~
bdmac97
Why weren't you tempted to look at them? Were the sites themselves lacking in
quality? Were they not presented well enough by launchly?

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CyberFonic
The content wasn't of interest to me.

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trickjarrett
I provide feedback because I think I have a unique perspective and can provide
insights that the creators and others may not have thought of.

~~~
bdmac97
Excellent reason and that's why I typically do it too (well I have another
reason in launchly now but before that...). Why do you provide feedback here
though and not other places (not launchly specifically)?

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trickjarrett
Because this is one of my favorite online hang outs. It's like asking why shop
at WalMart rather than go to the equally priced specialty store. I'm already
here and I'm interested in helping others in the community.

