2194 upvotes, 33 direct replies (showing 25)
This will probably be buried in the depths of this thread, but as someone who is a steward and community advocate at Slickdeals, I thought I might be able to relay some of the insight we've garnered as we've built our community.
I was one of the original founders, former CEO, and now the Chief Product Officer and as such I've had the opportunity to put a lot of process in place, as well as help ask the right questions whenever we do things. Naturally all communities have their nuances and differences, but in the end it boils down to respect. Respect the community: honor your users and content contributors for the work and effort they do.
Often this results in us taking a tradeoff in what we call "Technical Debt vs Community Debt" where instead of creating friction for our users, we take on a technical burden instead. For instance, we launched a redesign recently, and instead of forcing everyone over, we maintained a classic version of the website, and told ourselves that we would maintain two versions of the site for the foreseeable future, and do our best to improve the redesigned version to the point that it compels people to switch ("lets make it so much better that they willingly switch").
1. Is what we're doing impacting the way the community uses the website? How does it impact all the different types of users: casual users, frequent visitors, lurkers, content contributors, power users, etc.
2. Are you moving someone's cheese? Are you changing something that users are very used to or have been conditioned to? Is there a way to transition it smoothly?
3. Does it impact the way our mods use the website? How about our editors, or other internal staff?
4. Does it impact the way our content contributors use the website?
5. Does it impact the integrity, trustworthiness, or authenticity of our brand, content or community, even if its just the perception of such?
6. Does it impact the sense of community, their sense of ownership, pride or involvement with the website?
7. Are you addressing the needs of the community, especially ones that were explicitly requested? Did you make a tradeoff? If possible, can you address both your goals and the communities needs at the same time? At the very least, do not ignore what your community is asking for.
8. What do you anticipate the negative feedback to be like or about? How will you respond to it?
9. Are you releasing a "complete" product (is it finished?), if not: what is missing and why did you choose to omit things?
10. How are you communicating these changes or reasons to the community? Did you solicit their feedback before, during and after the change? We've learned that communication is key: frequent and open communication. Users may not always agree with us, but they are usually reasonable and will at least understand it if you explain why you need to do something. One of the best ways to manage change, in my opinion, is to solicit that feedback and actually act on it quickly. You wont make everyone happy, but the fact that you listened, considered and ultimately acted lets the community know that you're listening and working -with- them.
11. What is the plan immediately after the change? Who will handle interacting with the community, collecting the feedback and making action items for them? Do you have resources set aside to quickly respond to the user feedback and fix bugs or issues as quickly as possible to minimize the risk/impact to the community?
Admittedly, we're not perfect either, but we've learned over the past years that if you're willing to engage with your community, they can be pretty cooperative and understanding, so long as you actually put a good faith effort into taking their feedback, listening to their concerns and being responsive in a timely manner. And as you probably noticed, since /u/ekjp actually communicated here, the nature of the responses overall is markedly less hostile - because once you connect with someone on a personal level they become much more reasonable.
Edit: I don't deserve the gold, but thank you kind stranger! But one more thing I'll say is that the community is vocal in threads like these because they've invested into this community and they feel a part of it. View people's feedback as passionate (even if it's harsh) because they care, and because they want things to improve.
Comment by slickdealsceo at 06/07/2015 at 19:54 UTC
671 upvotes, 11 direct replies
One more thing: our business is successful because of a handful of content contributors.
I'd imagine the majority of your visitors are lurkers or just commenters, and a small percentage of your active contributors (who are likely also the most vocal) contribute the majority of your popular content.
That being said, we must not fall into the trap of saying that these vocal proponents are a small minority: they may be if you look at it at a pure numbers standpoint, but if they are your core contributor base, you cannot just dismiss their needs and concerns.
Comment by [deleted] at 07/07/2015 at 01:21 UTC
63 upvotes, 2 direct replies
This is totally irrelevant....but SlickDeals was the website that got me interested/inspired in affiliate marketing back in 2007.
I knew I couldn't compete against you guys, as you were really big....but I took my limited knowledge of setting up a website and threw up the freebie version of Invision forums and got ~1,000 members (mostly spamming Craigslist for new members). The site never took off (Admins revolted against me, took all my members, and I learned at that point that I was not Internet Jesus Christ), but Google did show some love for some coupon posts that I made and flash forward a year or so and I was making $30k/mo.
It allowed me to quit a very shitty job in an unsafe neighborhood and totally and completely changed my life. I had no college degree or no other opportunities prior to getting into affiliate marketing.
Went on to make a few million over the next few years until Penguin hit in 2012 and wiped me off the map.
I'm still doing affiliate marketing, but nowhere near the level of success that I once had.
So.....thanks?
Comment by [deleted] at 06/07/2015 at 23:05 UTC
169 upvotes, 2 direct replies
You have my vote for new CEO of reddit, good post
Comment by itwasquiteawhileago at 07/07/2015 at 02:10 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I will say that although I don't care for most of the new changes, I can certainly appreciate your process for change. By contrast, look at Cheap Ass Gamer. They made some large changes fast, and I swear the site has gone downhill since. I used to frequent CAG as much as I did/do SD, but rarely do they ever have posts that SD doesn't. I actually think a good deal of the main content contributors migrated to SD at some point.
I can't even remember when I last logged in to CAG, but I still check SD multiple times a day and have for the past decade or so (holy crap, has it really been that long??). I haven't even visited FW in many years because you guys offer such a superior product/experience. Whatever you're doing, it's working, so anyone that doesn't listen to you would be foolish. Kudos for nailing and improving on a working formula for so long.
Comment by johnturkey at 07/07/2015 at 11:11 UTC*
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We often sit down and ask ourselves the following questions, in no particular order or priority:
```
Is what we're doing impacting the way the community uses the website? How does it impact all the different types of users: casual users, frequent visitors, lurkers, content contributors, power users, etc.
Are you moving someone's cheese? Are you changing something that users are very used to or have been conditioned to? Is there a way to transition it smoothly?
Does it impact the way our mods use the website? How about our editors, or other internal staff?
Does it impact the way our content contributors use the website?
Does it impact the integrity, trustworthiness, or authenticity of our brand, content or community, even if its just the perception of such?
Does it impact the sense of community, their sense of ownership, pride or involvement with the website?
Are you addressing the needs of the community, especially ones that were explicitly requested? Did you make a tradeoff? If possible, can you address both your goals and the communities needs at the same time? At the very least, do not ignore what your community is asking for.
What do you anticipate the negative feedback to be like or about? How will you respond to it?
Are you releasing a "complete" product (is it finished?), if not: what is missing and why did you choose to omit things?
How are you communicating these changes or reasons to the community? Did you solicit their feedback before, during and after the change? We've learned that communication is key: frequent and open communication. Users may not always agree with us, but they are usually reasonable and will at least understand it if you explain why you need to do something. One of the best ways to manage change, in my opinion, is to solicit that feedback and actually act on it quickly. You wont make everyone happy, but the fact that you listened, considered and ultimately acted lets the community know that you're listening and working -with- them.
What is the plan immediately after the change? Who will handle interacting with the community, collecting the feedback and making action items for them? Do you have resources set aside to quickly respond to the user feedback and fix bugs or issues as quickly as possible to minimize the risk/impact to the community?
```
Ripped off from: WHO STOLE MY CHEESE... Stupid book
Comment by ecsa0014 at 07/07/2015 at 00:40 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
If I'm not on Reddit I'm most likely on Slickdeals. The higher ups at Reddit could learn a lot from you guys.
Comment by tacodawg at 07/07/2015 at 03:33 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Hot damn, that was a fantastic post and it even made me check out your website which I've heard about but never been to. Seems like a great website but I didn't appreciate the email address popup upon entry. I'm probably the minority who can't stand that type of thing but maybe make it for the second link clicked? It was just an invasive first impression.
Comment by [deleted] at 06/07/2015 at 23:04 UTC
14 upvotes, 2 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by bmx5 at 07/07/2015 at 05:34 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Often this results in us taking a tradeoff in what we call "Technical Debt vs Community Debt" where instead of creating friction for our users, we take on a technical burden instead. For instance, we launched a redesign recently, and instead of forcing everyone over, we maintained a classic version of the website, and told ourselves that we would maintain two versions of the site for the foreseeable future, and do our best to improve the redesigned version to the point that it compels people to switch ("lets make it so much better that they willingly switch").
The Slickdeals community is awesome.
However, can you comment on mobile slickdeals redesign feedback?[1] It seems like there are just pages and pages of people asking to leave the old mobile site up. It didn't seem like it stayed up too long and that conflicts with your statement above.
1: http://slickdeals.net/f/7782557-new-slickdeals-m-mobile-web-site-launching-all-you-need-to-know
Comment by EzDi at 07/07/2015 at 03:24 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I just have to say, bravo.
I'm one of those guys who always switches to classic view so I can click "simple" and see the last couple days' (whenever I checked it last) worth of top deals in a quick skim. I know I won't care about 98% of the deals out there, so it's great. From my experience with other companies (google, or worse, here) I expected there to be a tiny amount of time before I was told to "deal with it". But it's been what? 8 months now?
And that's why I've been using your site, and only your site ever since dealnews went to the bloated view like 6 years ago.
I will say you have search issues as well (when I'm looking for a specific thing). My guess is it 'OR's my search terms together instead of 'AND's. So I end up using google to search and sometimes get deals from your competitors (so you don't get any affiliate $). OR is easy to do manually (with 2 searches) AND is not.
Comment by thatshowitis at 07/07/2015 at 03:57 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Reddit and slickdeals are in my top 5 sites (ones I refresh all day), so thanks for lending some constructive criticism on running a user-driven site. I hope your clout will get them to listen.
I really appreciate letting your users keep the old format. What really annoys me about the new format is that the [Grid, List, Simple] buttons are hidden under the unlabeled preferences control and you can't save your changes unless you login. So, I usually login and just keep the old style. I also had some bad experiences with autoplay video ads and blaring audio when trying the new format.
Comment by eritain at 07/07/2015 at 15:07 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
If RedditCorp doesn't take this **massive platter of clue** to heart, they have no business being in social media. Herein is not just the emergency medicine for Reddit in acute crisis, but the entire plan of cure, recovery, and rehabilitative therapy for a potentially terminal case of disconnected arrogance---presented by /u/slickdealsceo on a doily with a lovely arrangement of edible flowers on top. Practically doing their job for them. Now we'll find out if explicit instructions were what they needed to clean up their mess.
Comment by MrDrumzOrz at 06/07/2015 at 23:12 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
This is markedly less hostile? I don't know what comments you're looking at but 50% of these are just demands for her resignation.
Comment by Tosticles at 07/07/2015 at 03:24 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Just wanted to say, thanks for keeping the old design option. I check in on SD daily, and the change ability to revert back to classic kept me checking in. It just makes more sense to me over the typical backcountry outlet style picture wall format.
Comment by mjh215 at 07/07/2015 at 02:13 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I'm on Slickdeals as much as I'm on Reddit, and have been a member even longer. As for the redesign, I really really detest it for my desktop. ;) Sorry, nothing about it is appealing to me. But I appreciate everything else you've said here.
Comment by Jotebe at 07/07/2015 at 00:20 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Man, I really love slickdeals. Please take all of my money.
Comment by SanctimoniousBastard at 07/07/2015 at 05:23 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It's hilarious how Reddit is getting a huge windfall of gold over all this ruckus, because people buy gold to agree emphatically with those pissed off with the site. The irony!
Comment by I_Has_A_Bucket at 07/07/2015 at 13:57 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We love you, slickdeals!
I'm a power user / contributor over there and I agree that you guys are doing all the right things. Thanks for being awesome. :)
Comment by Garod at 07/07/2015 at 19:13 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
What you mean run Projects and do Change Management like any other normal company does?
Probably asking too much of Reddit...
Comment by FormerFastCat at 07/07/2015 at 00:09 UTC
2 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Great advice, but just out of curiosity, why would you so willingly give away your intellectual property with that post?
Comment by unveiledtruth at 07/07/2015 at 05:34 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Apparently Ellen Pao skipped steps one through eleven. Especially and in bold italic: steps five through eleven.
Comment by [deleted] at 07/07/2015 at 14:02 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
lot of good advices. I've took note of them. don't expect them to do the same but your effort had been noted :)
Comment by Saarlak at 07/07/2015 at 11:54 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Dude, you want a job at Reddit as newCEO? I'm getting the vibe there just might be a vacancy opening up.
Comment by HappyNacho at 08/07/2015 at 05:13 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I had never heard of Slickdeals. Checking it out right now because you sound like an AWESOME CEO.
Comment by boobookittyfuck69696 at 07/07/2015 at 04:42 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Are you moving someone's cheese?
LOL you watched the same video I did.