The "loop" has arrived. What does the community think about it?

Question

According to plan, SE Inc. has released a lengthy blog post about "the loop", and their vision of a new "community feedback" system. Or something:

TLDR; We’re going to be sharing our product development process with you, from feedback loops to timelines. We’ll be doing so through our new series – The Loop. You can give us your thoughts on what you’d like to see us do by filling out this survey: Through the Loop. We’ll also be releasing Moderator Training and some new feedback mechanisms to help us form decisions as we grow.

What does the community think?

And in case you want more specific "boundaries" for your answer:

• Do you see that "the loop" can work and lead us to a "place" that works for "us" community?
• If so, how does your vision "on top" of "the loop" look like?
• If not, what are your main objections?

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_{I understand that this question is pretty broad, but honestly: the topic itself is pretty "broad", and I do think: broad discussions are going to happen anyway. So why not "bundle" that stuff in one place. And as soon as more distinct topics arise, those will surely be addressed in distinct questions.}

Answer 1

Looks like they are trying to shut down dissent.

Note how the last few big changes were not posted on Meta. SE staff gets destroyed by downvotes and criticism on their horrible ideas. They don't want real feedback anymore.

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Unless we contact their employers and convince them of the imminent threat to the SE network their money, this place will turn into another internet dumpster in a few years and we will be completely unable to prevent it.

Answer 2

If possible, I'd like to see another question in that survey, along the lines of:

9. Is this your first time giving feedback to Stack Overflow, the company?
   • yes
   • no, I have previously:
     • written on Meta (site-specific or general Meta)
     • used the "contact us" link
     • (other applicable)
   • prefers not to reply

I think it fits within the "new feedback mechanism" to gather some info about the before/after. I'd really like some stats about how much "new, fresh" feedback there is.

Plus it might inform unaware people of the previous feedback mechanism in place.

Answer 3

Long-time users can be surprised by things changing out of the blue for reasons they don’t understand, ..

So can short-time users. It wasn't so long ago that SE was insisting that people who do not regard themselves as traditional she or traditional he should not feel excluded, and to ensure that, promulgated a Pronoun Policy (since somewhat modified) and demoted and libeled one of SE's most respected moderators (still not corrected.)

And that mess (The Mess) goes on.

Now the first question in SE's latest missile to the troops asks: are you a she or are you a he?

What happened to inclusivity? Are gender-specific pronouns now OK? Is Monica going to be reinstated? Was The Mess just a bad dream?

Answer 4

What does this have to do with "We're rewarding question askers?"

The recent blog post which announced the change in reputation gains for question upvotes hinted at the release of this feedback mechanism, but I somehow got the impression, from both the context and comments here that you'd, like, give feedback to people who are relevant in that discussion: the people asking bad questions. A nice start on the path of working with the community is trying to fix issues we want fixed, like the flood of low-quality questions, rather than giving us a new feedback mechanism which won't even let us point that out.

That blog post is hence fairly misleading, and I was hyped because I thought we'd get better moderation tools and instead we get a message that the company will cherry-pick people who will give them advice.

Answer 5

I'm fine with this...this gives us some insight into what their plans are and how they're planning on improving Stack Overflow.

I should quantify this - from the announcement this looks like it concerns Stack Overflow at large, as opposed to the rest of the Stack Exchange network. This makes sense since that's what keeps the lights on the network on, and is easily the most influential network site by several orders of magnitude, no matter how you wanna slice the data.

From a value perspective, it's logical to invest into something which will provide more money or pay for other investments elsewhere. To put it in another way, there's no reason to spend $1,000 on a pet project when you can't make rent.

To answer the questions you posed...

Do you see that "the loop" can work and lead us to a "place" that works for "us" community?

It can, but there's a lot of calcified views out there. The big thing to balance (and this is a hard thing to balance) is that there are at least three perspectives to keep in mind at any one point in time - the community who uses the site (asking questions, getting answers and that's about it), the community who maintains the site (upvoting, downvoting, other moderation activities) and the company who, somehow, has to keep the whole thing paid for.

The issue I see is that there's a lot of noise in with the signal. I get that not a lot of us are happy that the company kind of disappeared on us for years at a time, and a lot of change has happened. I'm no stranger to that sensation.

However, the problem that needs to be solved is not an easy one - how do we make this community work for users who just want answers to their questions, users who want to maintain and encourage good questions, and the company who has to keep the lights on? On top of that, how do we balance the perspectives of all involved parties who have an obvious stake in this whole matter such that everyone can walk away feeling satisfied?

That's a process that needs time and effort and commitment from all parties involved. There's no silver bullet for that.

If so, how does your vision "on top" of "the loop" look like?

The big thing is that there will have to be compromise on all sides. The group of curators isn't always going to get their way, nor is the company or the group of others who ask questions, get answers and disappear. It's going to take time, and it's going to take a lot of energy to see and effect real change.

But it'll be slow. Not a lot of people are going to be satisfied with "slow", but I don't see this moving any faster than that.

Answer 6

Let's face it, Meta.SE is dysfunctional for communicating with SE staff (and also for SE users who are not hugely familiar). No matter what SE staff post, the community is going to pile on and mercilessly yell at them.

It's a hostile and toxic environment for SE staff, and it's plausible that OH&S regulations regarding mental health come into play. SE staff have taken steps to involve the community in a somewhat-democratic way that reduces the harm to their own mental health.

It's not fantastic, but the days of SE staff being our chums are gone. It's better than being ignored entirely.