In the business of theology it is hard not to be controversial - Jurgen Moltmann

Sunday 19 August 2007

怎能如此 :: an open letter to click comments

Dear Mr. Krates Ng and everyone from postreach.com,

         Earlier today (19 August) I entered my own blog only to find that all the click comment buttons (icons) were gone, leaving me to wonder what had happened to your project.  A few hours later, they all came back, but in a drastically different form.

          You are free to imagine that it is an improvement in your service to patrons.  The reality, however, is a downgrade.

         By adding a frame around all the buttons and beside them a funky monster with a big hand, you have in fact made Click Comments intrusive and obtrusive.  It is no longer slim and cute.  

          Also, by trimming away some buttons, you have narrowed the choices of the readers. Most notably in my case, most of the clicks that I've got are the HEART.  Apparently you have made the (incomprehensible) discretion to merge those HEART clicks with the INSIGHTFUL clicks.  What a joke!  How can you merge these totally different categories into one?  Can you not tell the difference between being touched at heart and being enlightened with an insight? 

          To say that I am upset with the changes is an understatement.  I am angry. And I cannot figure out any reason why you have to cut back on the number of buttons.

          To your credit, I notice that you have added the possibility of clicking negative comments, which is a good move.  Nonetheless, as for now I will not do anything until you give us back our HEART buttons.

          Wish you all the best possible wisdom and discernment you need in developing this project further.

Disappointedly Yours,

Yam

.................................................

吳先生及postreach.com仝人:

          今天(8月19日)本網誌內的 『按圖達意』按鈕無緣無故失蹤了數小時,後來再度出現,卻已面目全非。或許閣下以為這次變動是改善了對用者的服務,卻沒想到其實是一次倒退。

          你們在按鈕週邊加上了邊線,又在它們旁邊放了一隻大手怪物,徒然令 『按圖達意』變得礙眼,不再小巧可人。

          另外,你們又把一些按鈕撤掉了,無形中限制了來賓表達意見的選擇。以我這個網誌來說,我一直得到最多的反應,是 『觸動心靈』,你們卻自作主張把它跟 『有見地』合拼了,真是貽笑大方! 怎能把兩個完全不相關的類別綑綁在一起?你們難道真的不明白,心靈被觸動和理智上覺得欣賞是截然不同兩回事嗎?

          我對你們這次改動,不是遺憾,而是憤怒。(明白它們的分別嗎?)我完全無法理解,為甚麼非要減少按鈕的數目不可。

          話說回來,我知道你們也加入了讓人表達負面意見的按鈕,這肯定是好事。然而在你們恢復那 『觸動心靈』的按鈕之前,我不會改用另一套按鈕組合。

          祝願諸位慎思明辨,致業務蒸蒸日上。

失望的飲者

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

【Before I posted the above post, I have sent a shorter email to ClickComments about my complaints. Shortly after I posted the post, I received the following email response from them. Yam】

Hi Yam,

We apologize for upsetting you and your friends. It was not our intention to upset you. We were getting feedback from readers and users that there were too many icons and that they were getting confused, which lead to less interaction and clicks on clickcomments. That is why we reduced the number of icons.

The existing clicks you had on 'touched my heart' were added to your 'cool stuff' count. So they aren't 'gone', they just moved. This is a temporary solution. What we are planning to do soon is to let you customize ClickComments
completely. That means you will be able to choose specific icons, rename them to be relevant to your audience, and even to upload your own icons.

Please bear with us for now with the current set of icons. We hope
that you like the recommendation feature that we added.

We appreciate your feedback and hope that you will keep using
ClickComments while we work on the new features. Never hesitate to
tell us what you think and feel free to contact me directly.

With best regards,
Hans

Yam 飲者 said...

Hans,
Thank you very much for your response. Much appreciated.
I agree that the way to go is to make the icons customisable. Hope you get that out soon.
One thing you should take note: I find you have merged my 'touched my heart' clicks into 'insightful', not 'cool'. I do not consider that merge appropriate.

Best regards, and hope you keep up with the good things.
Yam