MM Questionnaire, sent via email to all members today Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

Dear MM member,

Mosaic Musings is always looking for ways of improving the site for members to allow you to be more involved.  We'd appreciate it if you could spare a bit of time to complete our questionnaire so that we have some idea of what our members think of the site. ALL member feedback is most appreciated!

Please reply with your suggestions as we value the opinions of our members. I will also post this questionnaire in the Cuneiform Chronicles forum should you wish to respond there in public. Could you also indicate in your reply if you give permission for me to post your thoughts in the public thread, and if so, with or without your member name please?


1. How did you find out about MM?

2. What persuaded you to join?

3. How long have you been a member of MM?

4. How often do you log onto the board? If less than once per month, what can we do to encourage you to become more active?

5. What do you enjoy most about MM?

6. What do you like least about MM?

7. Do you find the staff and other members friendly and helpful? If not, please explain why.

8. Do you find the board easy to navigate? If not, what changes would you like to see?

9. Do you have any suggestions for improvements on MM?

10. As an active member, have you at any time read the rules (Terms of Use and forum participation rules) of MM?

11. Had you read them before/while registering or sometime after active posting?

12. Are the critiques given thoughtfully written, constructive and positive? If not, please explain why.

13. When receiving critique and feedback in a poetry forum, does it interfere with your process of improvement for the poem at hand if another member posts their own poetry into your tile?

14. When receiving critique and feedback, does it interfere with your process of improvement to your poem or story if others become involved in an unrelated discussion?

15. Do you have any other comments (especially any which would help us to improve MM)?



Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire in advance!

Lori Kanter aka Cleo and the entire MM staff

Lori Kanter
Manager
Mosaic Musings, LLC
PO Box 39
Stow, MA 01775
USA

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hi all.

The following is the responses from AMETHYST.
Thanks Liz! Much appreciated!
~Cleo  

1. How did you find out about MM?


I was honored to be a part of the first tiles and to watch the boulders and design
come to life!

2. What persuaded you to join?

The famililarity and knowledge of Lori's ability to create, to critique and to inspire, which is what I want out of a poetry forum.

3. How long have you been a member of MM?

From the first idea of it.

4. How often do you log on MM?

I try to log on at least once a day, sometimes when life is getting in my way, I cannot get the time to log on for days or weeks at a time, then I try to catch up. Although, sometimes...with some of my health issues, I find there is too much going on at once and I become confused, or overwhelmed and most often I log in daily to check the same forums, which are mostly the R&M critique, the FreeForm Critique and administration when necessary.

5. What do you enjoy most about MM?

The friendly atmostphere, the Pandora Challenge and the feedback which helps to improve my work. I also feel the variety of poetry/prose is wonderful to fit each person individually.

6. What do you like least about MM?

Too much going on at one time, with too many places to get lost in. But that is easily rectified by knowing which forums I want to participate most and that fits my personal enjoyment of critiquing, reading and posting my own work for improvement.

7. Do you find the staff and other members friendly and helpful?

I can answer this as if I was not on the staffing, because many times and for a long time...I often held the active role of posting infrequently and rarely took an active part in adminstative incidents. However, I have found each of the staff members (especially those that have held the position for a long while) to be welcoming and easy to speak to.

8. Do you find the board easy to navigate?

By navigate, if you are asking finding your way around and/or knowing your way around. No... for me, there is a lot of places, that lead to a lot of places that has yet more places with names I cannot remember sometimes (this is probably due to my health issues..)

9. Do you have any suggestions for improvements on MM?

Not sure... The poets area has just the right amount of things going on without it become overwhelming. I like that. It is easy to keep up with what is going on there. Not sure what suggestions I would offer.

10. As an active member, have you at any time read the rules (Terms of Use and Forum Participation Rules) of MM?

Yes, When they were first posted I read throught them thoroughly and over the past few years, when there had been slight changes or additions I skimmed through them and reread the edits.

11. Had you read them before/while registering or sometime after active posting?

Both.

12. Are the critiques given thoughtfully written, constructive and positive?

Sometimes, but not always. Sometimes the feedback is not as intense and/or as indepth as I am looking for. But the feedback I do receive is always excellent suggestions and ideas on how I can improve. So although there are times I look for more intensity and receive moderate to mild critique, what is offered is always helpful.

13. When receiving critique and feedback in a poetry forum, does it interfere with your process of improvement for the poem at hand, if another member posts their own poetry in your tile?

It offends me if a member posts a poem of their own, instead of offering my critique and discussion about the poem, or when the member posts a poem of their own within their discussion losing the effectiveness of their suggestions and feedback and taken conversation away from the focus of the poem at hand. However, I don't mind a friendly poetic comment when there is the main focus of their post in my tile is critique and feedback to improve that tiles poem, and they sign off with a poetic greeting to say catch you later. I never felt it a positive thing when others posted whole poems of their own in someone else's tile...UNLESS the poem came up in discussion about device or other helpful suggestions to improve the posted poem and to show an example. Even then, it should be invited. However, mild small talk within a full critique of a poem doesn't bother me at all.

14. When receiving critique and feedback in a poetry forum, does it interfere with your process of improvement for the poem or story, if others become involved in an unrelated discussion?

The key word here is UNRELATED. Many times I've seen a conversation that in NO way helps the posting member to better their poem, but the conversation goes into a debate and goes into a full all out discussion and other members come into the thread/tile and never actually critique or comment on the poem, because their focus is taken away from the poem and into the new/primary discussion. I don't mind conversation when it is still on or about the poems improvement and it teaches and includes the worth of the poem. It bothers me a great deal when the conversation begins on subject that is about the process of the poem/story and to help discuss what would benefit it, and then, all further conversations there after tend to lose all the focus of the poem/storys critique. I don't mind if a conversation or debate is specifically about the poem at hand. When a great debate or discussion is started, I am all for taking and creating a thread/tile in a learning forum to discuss at great lengths. This is where we learn, this is where it would be a benefit for all to get involved and learn from. If it is lost in someone poem tile, how can other members read through the discussion and learn from it or gain their own perspective and opinion or join in.

15. Do you have any other comments?

I have seen and participated in many other forums in many places on line and I find that MM offers such a grand variety of interests that fit a variety of personal perferences. I think that opens the membership to a broader audience and the atmostphere is both friendly and inviting which makes it always feel like home.