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Author	Topic: Make time for the little improvements	Post a Reply Back to Topics

kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Sep 21, 2011 3:16:55 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse I realize that the GasBuddy team is probably working feverishly on "big stuff" like smartphone apps, but I think it would be a good idea to allocate some dedicated time -- maybe one day every two weeks -- in which the developers set aside their normal assignments and complete as much as possible of the "easy" work. These would be the items that are completely non-controversial, and ideally can be implemented in a matter of minutes. This would be a good way to "throw the users a bone" -- we could see some visible progress even if most of your time is being spent on behind-the-scenes improvements. (Suggested protocol for GasBuddy members: if you have a specific improvement that you think would be a candidate, do not post its description here, as a message in this topic. Instead, use a separate topic where people can discuss advantages and disadvantages. If the consensus is that it's "all good", and it seems clear that it's likely to be "easy", then post a message here containing a link to the candidate.)

kwzh

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San Jose

Posts:20,643
Points:3,681,490
Joined:Jul 2001

Message Posted: Sep 21, 2011 3:16:55 AM

Ignore kwzh Report Abuse

I realize that the GasBuddy team is probably working feverishly on "big stuff" like smartphone apps, but I think it would be a good idea to allocate some dedicated time -- maybe one day every two weeks -- in which the developers set aside their normal assignments and complete as much as possible of the "easy" work. These would be the items that are completely non-controversial, and ideally can be implemented in a matter of minutes.

This would be a good way to "throw the users a bone" -- we could see some visible progress even if most of your time is being spent on behind-the-scenes improvements.

(Suggested protocol for GasBuddy members: if you have a specific improvement that you think would be a candidate, do *not* post its description here, as a message in this topic. Instead, use a separate topic where people can discuss advantages and disadvantages. If the consensus is that it's "all good", and it seems clear that it's likely to be "easy", then post a message here containing a *link* to the candidate.)

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kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Apr 7, 2013 3:31:37 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse (Bump to continue the list with a new entry; as per protocol (#13), the mods have been alerted in advance.) Candidate improvement (bugfix): Link description is inappropriately duplicated as header text.
beale055 Champion Author Philadelphia Posts:1,292 Points:425,475 Joined:Jan 2012	Message Posted: Sep 6, 2012 9:47:53 AM Ignore beale055 Report Abuse Its fine
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Sep 6, 2012 8:12:14 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate improvement: Reply to a topic should set focus (and some related focus issues)
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Aug 18, 2012 1:53:04 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate improvement: reorder Station and Area selector fields for consistency.
marirs Champion Author Phoenix Posts:13,065 Points:2,501,085 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jun 29, 2012 5:07:29 PM Ignore marirs Report Abuse I don't even know what the mobile awards are.
photobuddy Champion Author Washington Posts:1,620 Points:370,255 Joined:Feb 2012	Message Posted: Jun 25, 2012 10:02:57 PM Ignore photobuddy Report Abuse why not tie the mobile awards to the members profile.
marirs Champion Author Phoenix Posts:13,065 Points:2,501,085 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jun 20, 2012 12:24:52 PM Ignore marirs Report Abuse I would be surprised if you haven't noticed that the number of members on these suggestion forums is limited. So getting a concensus has limited applicability to the membership as a whole. At least the opinion polls get a lot more participation. Thanks, Scrapheap. I never noticed that before.
movrshakr Champion Author Florida Posts:1,323 Points:1,448,000 Joined:Jan 2008	Message Posted: Jun 17, 2012 5:26:23 PM Ignore movrshakr Report Abuse . WHAAAAAAAAT? . "Such as when they changed the FAQ to posting cash instead of credit. " . . When did that happen? Thus, I agree with posting more announcements. [Edited by: movrshakr at 6/17/2012 6:30:32 PM EST]
TxJeans Champion Author Tampa Posts:3,532 Points:368,155 Joined:May 2004	Message Posted: Jun 17, 2012 8:23:11 AM Ignore TxJeans Report Abuse It would maybe also help if they provided more frequent feed back on what they ARE working on for enhancements - then we could take those off the plate. And maybe use this more often to communicate: announcements Such as when they changed the FAQ to posting cash instead of credit.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Jun 17, 2012 5:07:29 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse I think marirs could be onto something. If the moderators would list the improvements in a poll that the members could vote on then the one with the most votes would get the work. Then when that one is done, re-poll! [Edited by: scoutmaster at 6/17/2012 6:08:09 AM EST]
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Jun 17, 2012 4:11:51 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse I understand, marirs. But there's still no voting going on. The consensus I mentioned is part of the natural discussion for every topic in this entire forum category. My hope is that it'll be "obvious" when a suggestion meets the criteria.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,541 Points:2,357,105 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Jun 16, 2012 5:01:20 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse The last member poll was conducted on Dec 29, 2009. Past Member Polls [Edited by: Scrapheap at 6/16/2012 6:03:27 PM EST]
marirs Champion Author Phoenix Posts:13,065 Points:2,501,085 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jun 16, 2012 10:05:13 AM Ignore marirs Report Abuse Scrapheap, until you mentioned it, I had no clue what a member poll was. I've never noticed one. Any clue when the last one was? kwzh, granted you started the topic, but the subject is "Make time for the little improvements" and I addressed something directly out of your OP. How would it not be relavent to the topic?
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Jun 16, 2012 12:13:57 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse marirs, the purpose of this thread is to identify the candidates, all in one convenient place. Nothing is being voted on, here.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,541 Points:2,357,105 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Jun 15, 2012 6:25:55 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse marirs - Setting aside for the moment that what you want are member polls not opinion polls, and setting aside the fact that the moderators are trying to cut down on the polls, and setting aside the fact that issues related to the proposed changes are not likely to be worked out by a poll as they are in a discussion forum, is it really necessary to take a poll about a non-controversial suggestion that should only take minutes to implement? Why not just do it? I think the purpose of this thread is to give the moderators a chance to show they care at least a tiny bit about the members ideas. Unfortunately, they don't as demonstrated by the fact that not a single idea in this thread has been implemented.
marirs Champion Author Phoenix Posts:13,065 Points:2,501,085 Joined:May 2005	Message Posted: Jun 15, 2012 4:02:14 PM Ignore marirs Report Abuse Just a comment about non-controversial, all good, easy items. I think the best way to determine this would not be in the forums, but in using the weekly vote. For items that GB believes it can change or upgrade but would like to find out what the members think, the weekly vote would be the ideal place. This would get thousands of votes, where as the forums get input from 2 to 20 members. Let's say its even 100 members, and I seriously doubt that, it's miniscule compared to the number of members.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: May 24, 2012 5:40:46 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse This topic makes much more sense and is 1000% easier to read than the similar one CK started.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: May 24, 2012 3:20:15 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate improvement: Price graph axis labels, part (a).
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: May 11, 2012 3:17:38 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate improvement: Font variants (highlighting) in the forum
SUVFan Champion Author Columbus Posts:13,902 Points:1,631,625 Joined:Oct 2008	Message Posted: May 1, 2012 10:50:18 AM Ignore SUVFan Report Abuse Candidate improvement: Could we ignore individual topics?
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Mar 9, 2012 3:01:37 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate improvement: Fix Article submission guidelines.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Jan 28, 2012 5:16:29 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate improvement: Allow longer URLs in links
LakemontPark Veteran Author Pennsylvania Posts:279 Points:153,195 Joined:Aug 2011	Message Posted: Jan 14, 2012 7:14:53 PM Ignore LakemontPark Report Abuse Clearly my suggestions make sense since people post the Kero price in the diesel price slot anyways just proves my point
LakemontPark Veteran Author Pennsylvania Posts:279 Points:153,195 Joined:Aug 2011	Message Posted: Jan 13, 2012 3:50:36 PM Ignore LakemontPark Report Abuse I would like to again see all types of fuel prices added also just another little suggestion is to add a credit card type of cards that businesses accept because not every gas stations accepts all types of the major cards some only accept 3 some even only the basic 2 so I would love to see that show up on the price reporting page thanks
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Jan 13, 2012 4:01:49 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Bump to re-suggest the general concept.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Dec 12, 2011 3:07:30 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate improvement: Make it easier to know how home site is changed
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Dec 7, 2011 3:27:40 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate improvement: Do some simple FAQ updates.
RichWLIN Champion Author Indiana Posts:4,084 Points:636,915 Joined:Jun 2011	Message Posted: Nov 13, 2011 7:15:04 AM Ignore RichWLIN Report Abuse Well, I don't know if I'd call this a consensus, but no one spoke out against this suggestion. Having allowed a couple of weeks to expire, I thought I'd bring it back here.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 31, 2011 5:49:47 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse I'm not trying to hijack this topic, Scrapheap. I'm just point out something I don't think most people are aware of.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,541 Points:2,357,105 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Oct 31, 2011 4:24:46 AM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse scoutmaster - Please show some consideration and stop trying to hijack this thread. Sorry for the duplicate post. [Edited by: Scrapheap at 10/31/2011 5:27:17 AM EST]
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,541 Points:2,357,105 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Oct 31, 2011 4:24:08 AM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse scoutmaster - Please show some consideration and stop trying to hijack this thread.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 31, 2011 4:22:04 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse I didn't say a "few" hours of coding, I said hours of coding. Big difference plus you have to take into account testing and fixing errors and glitches. Ever write any code Scrapheap?
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 31, 2011 2:52:40 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse As I stated in the top post, the ideal is "a matter of minutes"; the idea is that we're talking about changes that are reasonably certain to be easy, even though we don't know anything about the source code. If complexities unknown to us make it take longer than that, but still under an hour, I think that's within the spirit of what I'm talking about. The other criterion is that there's effective unanimity that it's a good change. Basically it should have some benefit (even if small), and no negative. "It's not something I would ever use" is not a valid objection (unless you succeed in convincing the originator that it's already handled adequately by existing features, as in movrshakr's highlighting request). "The additional screen space consumed by the feature would make useful stuff scroll off the screen" is a valid objection, even if you think it's a silly one. If someone files an objection based on a misunderstanding of the feature, then explain (in that thread) why it's not relevant, and wait for them to withdraw or expand on their statement. (If they remain silent, you can assume the objection withdrawn.) So far, I've generally waited until about a week after the original submission, or the last negative comment, before posting it here as a candidate.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,541 Points:2,357,105 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Oct 30, 2011 8:08:50 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse I don't consider a few hours of coding to be a major investment. Doesn't seem as though they do any coding for this site any more.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 30, 2011 2:03:07 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse I think what you fail to understand, Scrapheap, is what you deem a little improvement could take hours of coding thereby making it a big improvement.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,541 Points:2,357,105 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Oct 30, 2011 7:49:26 AM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse I backed up my thoughts in the threads for the individual suggestions. Restating them here simply serves to hijack this thread. In my opinion, for suggestions to be included in this thread they should be little improvements (as the title says) and they should be supported by the vast majority of respondents in the threads for the individual suggestion.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 30, 2011 5:41:01 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse OK Scrapheap but if you are gonna state something, ya should back it up. All Sam's Clubs & Costco in PA don't sell mid-grade and a few Sam's sell diesel. People post those grades all the time for these stations as well! [Edited by: scoutmaster at 10/30/2011 6:41:16 AM EST]
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,541 Points:2,357,105 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Oct 29, 2011 6:28:30 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse I am not going to debate any particular suggestion in this thread. The debates should occur in the threads for the individual suggestions. In my opinion, for suggestions to be included in this thread they should be little improvements (as the title says) and they should be supported by the vast majority of respondents in the threads for the individual suggestion. Restricting new members from starting threads and disabling the ability to enter prices from stations not in the MSL seem to controversial in my opinion. As for Only display price fields for fuels with boxes "checked" in MSL, I like jrsva's suggestion in that thread and have been asking the moderators to implement the suggestion every time I report somebody for reporting diesel prices for stations that do not carry diesel.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 29, 2011 4:54:09 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Why is that Scrapheap? Now about this one? Only display price fields for fuels with boxes "checked" in MSL. [Edited by: scoutmaster at 10/29/2011 5:57:04 PM EST]
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,541 Points:2,357,105 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Oct 29, 2011 4:50:35 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse Neither of the last two are little improvements. In fact, they are not improvements at all.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 29, 2011 8:08:50 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Disable ability to enter gas stations not on the Master Station List Restrict newbie from starting threads
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 29, 2011 12:26:03 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate feature: Dual-price flag in MSL
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 27, 2011 1:06:10 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate feature: vertical whitespace in forum
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 27, 2011 12:59:39 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate feature: Change the Learn More link to the drawing
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 24, 2011 3:33:39 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse movrshakr, please post that in a separate topic (see suggested protocol in last paragraph of original message).
movrshakr Champion Author Florida Posts:1,323 Points:1,448,000 Joined:Jan 2008	Message Posted: Oct 23, 2011 2:20:59 PM Ignore movrshakr Report Abuse . I think this was discussed somewhere here many moons ago, but I cannot find it with any search, so here restated... Suggest that whenever either Inbox Buddy Requests or Notifications is 1 or higher (i.e., not zero), change the line's background to yellow highlighting for quicker spotting, higher visibility.
ambius Rookie Author Flint Posts:81 Points:237,090 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Oct 23, 2011 1:04:57 AM Ignore ambius Report Abuse Candidate feature: Make it obvious to always report credit prices [Edited by: ambius at 10/23/2011 2:06:09 AM EST]
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,643 Points:3,681,490 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 12, 2011 3:42:39 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Candidate feature: Move the pull down menus on the map to the top
Archangel00 Champion Author Mississippi Posts:1,697 Points:351,995 Joined:Feb 2011	Message Posted: Oct 1, 2011 12:26:54 PM Ignore Archangel00 Report Abuse "Big stuff" like achievements apparently. Not only now will we have the usual occasional idiots compromising the sites data, now we get to deal with achievement farming further compromising it. Doing a great job there GB team...
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,213 Points:3,251,670 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Sep 30, 2011 5:47:52 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Great idea but it's all about the clicks kwzh. And as long as those clicks continue, changes will come painfully slow.