Story Removed. · 8:55am Apr 1st, 2012
I have remove my story from FimFiction.net. I have done this for two reasons: An apparent "Admin Knows Best" mentality, and the lack of user input concerning site management.
Admin Knows Best
knighy (http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/17708)
"Doesn't work. Even if it was the best change ever people would just say no anyway. Sometimes I just have to suck it up and do what I know is best for the site even if I have to put up with 100 people hating me for a while."
Poultron (http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/18075)
"I mean, we can tell you about changes before they happen, but they're still going to happen."
"However, we feel that as more people get used to the new system (which, by the way, is literally identical to the old Tracking system with a new name), they will come to understand why we changed it, and why it is much better for overall site functionality. "
The idea that an admin knows what is best for the site is presumptuous and arrogant. It is one thing to hold an opinion of what is best, but to hold that opinion as fact is wrong headed. It ignores the possibility that that opinion may be misinformed and unduly elevates the opinion over that of others.
It would be right to point out that I do not know what the admin team thinks. I only have what they say and do. The quoted comments seem to indicate such an attitude, and this is not the first time the site has been radically changed without any input from the general user base. The backlash against the merging of story alerts (aka the tracking list) and the favorites list is unsurprising considering the manner in which it was implemented and how we were informed.
A more contrite attitude would go along way to smoothing over user reactions.
---
No discussion with the general user base.
There was no two-way communication between the users as a whole and the admins before site was redesigned.
Readers may be wondering why there wasn't an attempt to solicit opinions from the users base. Let's let knighty and Poultron explain:
knighty (http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/17708)
owndapwn: "We appreciate the time you put into the site, but next time you do something this drastic, can you ask our opinions on it? Or have a beta mode open so we can try it out?"
knighty: "Doesn't work. Even if it was the best change ever people would just say no anyway."
Everyone says no to changes, thus there is no point in asking. I don't recall anyone saying no to the addition of the "Read Later" list.
Poultron (http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/18075)
"Since only a very small subset of our users actually comment on these blogs, they cannot hope to provide a reasonable data set that we can use to influence our decisions. While it's certainly nice to know what our users think about site changes, when we can't reasonably expect ALL of our users to express their opinion on a change, we have to simply make an intelligent decision on our own..."
"We DO value your feedback. We listen to it. But just because we listen to it does not mean that we have to incorporate every single last bit of it. And how can we even be sure that your feedback is representative of the community as a whole? We can't be."
Because not all the users have expressed their opinions of the changes, opinions from "a very small subset" is useless data. By that logic the admin team should not trust their own opinions of the changes seeing as they are "a very small subset" of the user base.
Just because the data set is small does not invalidate it. If the concern is getting an accurate sample, randomly ask people. Fire-off a pm to 20 people once a week with a simple design question like "Do you have separate uses for tracking and favorites?" It should a straight forward thing to implement a random pm button for admin purposes.
But never fear, here comes server data!
"We did not simply go ahead with it without consulting the data available to us and, in essence, polling users."
Looking at data is not the same as talking with people. Data needs to be interpreted thus it is possible to reach inaccurate conclusions. It has been suggested that some people might not have know how to favorite stories. Seems reasonable to me. I didn't figure out how to track stories until after using the site for a week. This is something that raw data cannot tell you. This is why talking to people is necessary in order to get the full picture.
Because getting the full picture is a common problem, there are numerous tools available. These tools include random surveys, self-selected surveys, polls, beta sites, forums, irc, email, and focus groups. There are third party sites that allow you to create custom surveys and polls (such as http://www.acepolls.com/polls/1247876-should-there-be-seperate-story-alerts-and-favorites-lists). All a focus group is is a group of random people who you present site changes to and ask them questions about the changes. Yes it's hard work, but if you want an accurate understanding of something, hard work is what it takes.
In summary, the users weren't consulted because we'd say no, only a few people would give an opinion, and server data is people. The first one is an incorrect assumption, and the last two are examples of poor reasoning. If the admins are interested in an accurate understanding of how the users interact and view the site, they need to do some leg work and talk with us instead of assuming they understand after looking at server data. Surveys, polls, blog posts, and pm's are all tools that are available to them for that purpose.
The attitude of the admins and the lack of communication with users about site issues is why I am leaving FimFiction.
---
If you feel similarly here are things you can do:
Remove any stories you have on the site (and don't post new ones).
Make a blog post stating why you are dissatisfied with how FimFiction is run (feel free to copy mine).
Remove every story from your "Read Later" and Favorites lists
Use other sites to read stories.
Here's are some alternate sites to use:
http://www.fanfiction.net
http://www.devaiantart.com
http://www.ponyfictionarchive.net/
http://www.ponychan.net/chan/fic/
You can still find my story at http://www.ponychan.net/chan/fic/res/75471.html#87787 and https://docs.google.com/#folders/0B6TsnfEuJDLROTUyOTZlNDUtM2YxZi00Y2UxLTljNDctNDc2YWY5YTY2MGZk.
Fuck off then. Have fun.
53149
Color me surprised. I didn't expect a response from you. Especially so quickly.
By the way, nice rebuttal. Pinky Pie telling me to fuck off is pretty funny.
P.S. Why does the word filter change Pink(ie) to Suprise?
53155
I hope you don't think I'm being sarcastic. If we lose a hundred members all it will do is alleviate my headache. I'm so tired of the "they aren't listening, waah waah" entitled mentality. Please just leave already. We don't want you here.
53161
"I'm so tired of the "they aren't listening, waah waah" entitled mentality."
Do you know where this mentality comes from? It comes from people feeling invested in the site. You guys do a great job with this site. I know that this is a labor of love. That's why you guys put up with all the bullshit that comes with running a fan site. You've earned your user base. The thing is, this whole site is full of small labors of love. All the comments, all the blogs, all the stories, people put their time and energy into them.
knighty made a news post about having 20,000 users. That was exciting news. That news post would not have happened if people were not investing in the site. The more stories that are posted, the more new users are drawn in. The more users, the more authors. The more authors, the more stories. Put simply, the more people invest in your site, the more they will invest. If you want to break that cycle, you have two options: Treat the users badly enough that they leave, or shutdown the site. Otherwise you will always have entitled users.
53188
How's this for treating your users badly? Don't come back.
i am so aaaaangrryyy
<---- that's my angry face at what fimfiction is doing. Whatever it is they are doing.
(This is april fools. . . right?
)
53155
I actually read it in Pinkie Pie's voice.
53161
"I don't care about the users unless they all bow down and let me ass fuck them like a little sheep bitch" That's all I saw in that reply. Proper admining right there. This is why you are an asshole poul. People will complain about things on the site as is their right. This is a big site now and have you heard about all the big sites that treat the users like crap? no? That's because those users left.