Reasons: (there are more but why beat a dead horse)
–Should not be restricted to PLEX Pass users, everyone can have a good idea
–Feature Requests as a process does not work- no one votes correctly, way too many trips down the rabbit hole, etc.
Solution: Features/Fixes can best be garnered from all the forum categories with easily determined metrics:
–Count the number of views to determine a subjects level of interest - how many people care enough to look over the topic
–Number of Comments to determine the impact/importance to users
Those topics that rate high on views and/or comments are targeted by PLEX staff/Ninjas/etc. in their area of expertise for a review of the comments and a determination of what is do-able and the most bang-for-the-buck.
The whole population Votes by views and provides substance via comments. Far better than the current restricted ideas and poor overall process.
I agree it shouldn’t be plex pass required. That said, I personally feel it shouldn’t be forum used anyways. There are plenty of ways to handle features and bugs in a much better way; Bugzilla, JIRA, Trac to name a few. Plex really needs a feature/bug tracking implementation that is accessible to end users since support does not exist (in a traditional sense).
@“don.alcombright” you are right there are better tools but my thought was to use the forums where most people already go. Passively gathering metrics so that no additional tools or processes are required of the variously skilled population.
Perhaps the tools you mentioned could be used in conjunction with the developers once a project/feature/bug is actually in the process of being addressed for their documentation and clarity.
I believe an improved process can focus where the population needs it, resulting in a better app and happier users who feel their input counts.
Solution: Features/Fixes can best be garnered from all the forum categories with easily determined metrics:
–Count the number of views to determine a subjects level of interest - how many people care enough to look over the topic
I may view a topic just to see what it is about, especially since most people do a poor job of giving the post a correct title. Also, I can increase the number of views just by going into the topic multiple times. For instance, while I was typing this response I opened this topic in another tab and added 5 views to it just by clicking on it and going back, clicking on it and going back.
–Number of Comments to determine the impact/importance to users
What if the vast majority of the comments are negative or just trolling?
@rsava thanks for the input covering some items I did not consider.
In regards to view counts, not much can be done concerning multiple views by a single individual but I doubt many folks would do this strictly to change the count.
Regardless of the merit of the comments it is only a trigger for the Guru’s to review (para 4 on the original post). They would determine if there should be any action.
Just trying to improve the app hopefully a step is to replace the existing broken Feature Request process.
@grhiner - And I applaud your effort to fix/replace the current system.
I, too, feel the current system is woefully inadequate. I wish there was something better.
Alas, I think it is a losing battle.
