Why Change-logs are “Radical Transparency” (Open Eyes, Open Minds) #Op #OpenMinds
Recently an outbreak over ranking broke through the site, through some sources we have gained information that Minds plans to change the algorithm again, but that’s not the focus of this blog the focus here is community relationships, and open source transparency (Transparency as in you understand it, Not Transparency as in you can see through it) . Now this blog won’t be to long as I just wanted to get my points across and the importance and need for a change-log for open sourced projects could get me going for a long time.
So true radical transparency is saying your users understand what is going on and keeping this log updated in a clear text, user based way so they can clearly understand. Not a list of anything logged from bugs to feature requests in some code that most users wouldn’t even try to comprehend, that's if they could find what they are looking for in this code development area . Yes true radical transparency means its transparent to the users, not the coders who already understand and see this coded list, opened sourced or not. So when talking radical transparency lets talk at a user base not a coding level. Change-logs are the easiest way to start making a user based understanding on whats going on on the network.
As seen in the most recent uproar on Minds, the ranking, Minds does not keep users informed in a radical way at all, with no listing of major network changes like channel rankings, users tend to feel betrayed by the network lashing out as they have no idea whats going on, there is nowhere they can look to understand changes that may have been made, and when they do finally find out they don’t agree with it, this makes a perfect place for a user based hell storm. The alternative is actually a pretty easy concept, simply making a page with updates that have pushed to the network that will affect the user base at a high level. Things other than “promotional features” although they should also go in the change-logs. Things like algorithm changes that affect the us, the users should be easy to find, and in readable text, you can even include a link to the technical stuff with it ;).
I think that the most recent uproar opened a few eyes to the disconnect Minds has with its user base, one by Minds discouraging activity, and two by them not even informing the users in a easy to find and understandable way. I truly hope Minds is hard at work with its help center and user based tools like the most radical transparent item on the playing board, A user based Change-Log! Thanks as always for reading feel free to comment about the topic :)
Blogs & Information:
Open development builds open sourced
If Your Ranking Sucks Like Me Here Is Why :)