Article feedback/Version 5/Feature Requirements

This page describes new features to be developed for the Article Feedback Tool Version 5 (AFT V5), during phase 1 of this project (Oct.-Dec. 2011). Other features for phase 2 (Jan.-Mar. 2012) are only referred to here in outline form. Check the new AFT V5 project page for more information about this initiative. For a preview of what these forms and pages might look like, read below, or, which include simple wireframes for key touchpoints, as well a project plan and other useful exhibits.

The technical design of the AFT will be posted here in coming days.

Overview
Key features for phase 1 of AFT V5 will include:
 * new feedback forms
 * calls to action
 * feedback page
 * moderation tools
 * expanded feedback form

In the first phase of this project (Oct.-Dec. 2011), we will create and test four different types of feedback forms:
 * Option 1: Share your feedback - Did you find what you were looking for? Add a comment
 * Option 2: Make a suggestion Suggest an improvement, ask a question, report a problem or give praise to the editors
 * Option 3: Review this page - Rate this article. Add a comment or suggestion for improvement.
 * Option 4: Edit this page - Help improve Wikipedia (call to action, for comparison purposes)

We plan to A/B test these four options against the current rating tool, to find out which is most effective for engaging readers, supporting editors and improving article quality. We will also test them against the absence of any feedback form, to be further described in the metrics section.

We plan to develop more features in a second phase (Jan.-March 2012), based on first phase results. We are starting a wish-list of features for that second phase and will link it here shortly.



Technical (non-functional) requirements

 * The AFT V5 shall be developed on top of the existing AFT implementation (MediaWiki extension), preserving its current functionality, e.g.:
 * Ratings from feedback items are not counted after 30 days (but continue to be stored so that they can be retrieved on the feedback form)
 * Feedback tool can be disabled in user preferences for registered users
 * Source control requirements:
 * Core - use v1.18 (REL1_18)
 * Extensions - from trunk
 * AFT being developed as an extension, forked (not branched) from trunk



Feedback functionality
For each article, the following feedback items shall exist:
 * Text comment (we may also want to track number of words or characters)
 * Comment tag, one and only one of: (option 2 only)
 * Suggestion
 * Question
 * Problem
 * Praise
 * Ratings - numerical, on a scale between 0 and 5. The following rating criteria shall exist:
 * Overall rating
 * Trustworthiness (current and expanded forms only)
 * Objectivity (current and expanded forms only)
 * Completeness (current and expanded forms only)
 * Writing quality (current and expanded forms only)
 * Yes/No Answers (option 1 only)
 * Commenter's source of knowledge on the subject (pre-defined options - current and expanded forms only)

For logged in users, feedback should be posted under their user account. Any registered user may only have one feedback record per article. New feedback from a user on an article he already posted feedback on should replace the previous feedback record for that user and that article.

For anonymous or logged out users, feedback shall be posted with their IP address. ''TBD: how to limit additional feedback from anonymous users? Time window? Session-based? None? - FF: we don't know yet how to deal with this. Also note that we plan to store IP addresses for all users, not just logged out, and that the last two digits of the IP address may be used to decide which form to display to the user.''

All feedback records shall be time-stamped. All feedback records will also include the number of yes or no votes from other readers rating each post, as well as whether or not that post has been featured, hidden or just listed.



Feedback form interface
The feedback interface appears on every article, as the current AFT does (unless disabled in user preferences). There shall be several options of the user interface, for A/B testing. Ultimately, one option will be selected for production use. The following 4 options shall be implemented (A, B, C, D), in addition to the current version (E) and a sixth option (F), where we will not display any feedback form at all.
 * During the first testing phase, new feedback forms will only be shown on a subset of articles in the english encyclopedia (e.g.: Obama). They will not be shown for articles that are newly created, or which do not include any significant content.
 * The feedback form option to display shall be selected randomly, to give an equal chance to all 6 options to be selected. (This would be determined by looking at the last two digits of the IP address, so we can place users into buckets for longitudinal studies: 0 to 16 goes to bucket A, 17 to 33 goes to bucket B, etc.)
 * All feedback forms will be displayed at the bottom of the article pages. We are discussing the possibility of adding a vertical 'Feedback' button on the right margin of the browser window, which could jump link to the form at the bottom -- or eventually appear as an overlay at the same level as the button).



Option 1


This variation is a feedback form. The important parts of it are: Additional elements:
 * A yes/no question. (the yes/no shall be mapped to 4 and 2 overall rating, respectively - we will also record the yes/no answer in a separate field).
 * A comment box (multiline).
 * Help button (link to static page or FAQ with tips on how to give feedback)
 * Links to feedback page and privacy policy
 * Post button



Option 2


This variation of the feedback form focuses on the text comment and its label (tag).
 * The title of the form shall reflect the currently selected label ("Make a suggestion"/"Ask a question"/etc)
 * Label selection (default selected is suggestion)
 * Comments box (multiline, with different prompt depending on selected label)
 * Post button (caption shall reflect the selected label).
 * Links to the feedback page and privacy policy



Option 3


This version of the feedback form provides the users with the ability to give an overall rating to the article (see rating functionality above), and a comment. Labels/tags input are not provided on this form.



Option 4


This variation does not provide feedback options. Instead its a direct call for the readers to edit the article. The "Edit" button takes the reader to the article's edit page. The "learn how to edit" link takes the reader to editing help hub. Only registered and logged in and anonymous users shall be able to edit the page. For anonymous users the edit button shall be replaced by the usual login/register options, while still maintaining the "Edit" call to action. This option will not be displayed for articles that are protected or semi-protected.



Option 5


The current version of the Article Feedback Tool will be one of the options we will give to users during the test in December.

Option 6
The last option we will give to users during the test in December will be *no feedback form at all.*

Editing your feedback
The user shall be able to go back and edit their feedback for the article, as per current functionality and with accordance to the requirements outlined in the feedback functionality section above. Only one feedback post per user per article.

Image to be added later on.



Calls to Action
After readers post their feedback, they will see one of these calls to action:
 * edit this article (for unprotected pages only - anyone can edit, even if they are not logged in)
 * take a survey (link to survey page) - this call to action may be postponed for a week
 * sign up or login (if logged out) - this call to action may be postponed for a week
 * get email notifications (if my post is used) - this call to action may be postponed for a week


 * Note: We may start the test in December with only the 'Edit' call to action for the first week, but expect to add more calls to action later on.

Edit this page


This is one of several possible calls to action to be displayed after the feedback had been submitted. We may start the test in December with only this call to action, but will plan to add more later on.

We are proposing a new design here, inspired by an earlier design by Brandon Harris.

Take a Survey


New image will be added later (thumbnail of current version is provided here for reference).

This call to action may be postponed for a week, so we can focus on the first call to edit in our first tests.

We may also want to make some changes to the wording of the survey, to reflect some of your new project goals and user interface.

Sign up or login
Image to be added later on. This call to action may be postponed for a week, so we can focus on the first call to edit in our first tests.

Get email notifications
Image to be added later on. This call to action may be postponed for a week, so we can focus on the first call to edit in our first tests.

Other calls to action
Other optional calls to action we are considering for phase 1.5 include:


 * discuss this article
 * view feedback page
 * learn how to edit

Specs to be added later on, if we decide to include any of these in phase 1.5.



Feedback page


The shall display a list of the feedback items for an article, as shown in the preliminary wireframe image above.

Registered users will be able to see all the posts for this article, as well as sort or filter them, and vote on whether or not they are helpful. Editors and administrators will also be able to moderate the feedback page, and feature, hide or list feedback posts.

The actual nature of the comments we receive from readers (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, what users actually comment on, etc.) will influence the design of the feedback page, so final development of the feedback page will likely occur once the first feedback forms have been tested.

The feedback page shall support navigation functionality for the comments list:
 * Filtering ('Show: ...') - predefined set of options:
 * All - unfiltered
 * Most Relevant (show Featured first, then Top Rated with comments, then Most Recent with comments - this would be default listing)
 * Most Recent
 * Top Rated
 * Featured
 * With Comments


 * Special Filters (for editors/administrators only, see below)
 * Feedback posted on Talk page
 * Feedback that has been addressed
 * Feedback flagged for abuse
 * Feedback by Editors/Admins
 * Feedback by Registered Members
 * Feedback by Anonymous Users


 * Sorting ('Sort by: ...') - predefined set of options:
 * Date (similar to most recent, show the latest post first)
 * Article rating (if available, including Yes/No from option 1, rating from option 3, and average from current version)
 * Feedback rating (yes/no votes by other members rating this post)
 * Feedback form version (for editors/administrators only)

The list shall display up to 25 feedback posts by default (this number could be changed based on user feedback, but no need to give user control of number of posts right now.) A "Show more" button at the end of the list shall load additional posts, same amount, and, again, display the "show more" button at the end of the list.

Each item in the feedback page list shall display:
 * Logged user name (or IP address) (link to user page)
 * Overall article rating (or 'Yes/No' answer: 'found this article helpful' for option 1, average rating for current version)
 * Timestamp (show 'x days, hours, minutes ago' -- all the way up to 48 hours, then just show date and time)
 * Comment (up to 500? words, then click 'More' to see the rest)
 * 'More' button showing feedback details (from expanded or current form, collapsed by default)
 * Vote on this feedback post, with prompt such as 'Is this feedback helpful?' with 'Yes/No' buttons (or up/down arrows = +1/-1), providing the ability to vote individual posts by other users up or down. Also need to show the number of up and down votes.
 * Report abuse - a text link for any user to flag offensive comments, spam, etc. Also need to show if abuse has been reported for this post and how many times.
 * Moderation tools in right margin (see below) - available only to moderators/administrators.

The feedback page shall also support the following moderation tools for each post, visible only to editors and administrators:
 * Feature (Star icon?) - in phase 1 of the project this will promote the post to top of page, as well as include a 'Featured' label next to post.
 * Hide (Trash icon?) - mark the post as hidden. (functionally, the comment is not deleted from the database, just not displayed unless a specific filter is selected, as well as including a 'Hidden' label next to post for editors.)
 * List (for changing the status of 'featured' or 'hidden posts' back to normal 'listed' status)
 * Check-box to indicate important items that have been posted manually to talk page ([ ] 'Posted to talk page')
 * Check-box to indicate items that have been resolved (e.g.: '[  ]  this issue has been addressed.')
 * Diff link (e.g.: '152 edits since this post' - links to a comparison page showing the difference between the article at the time the feedback was posted and its current version.)
 * Editor note? (free-form text field only visible to editors)
 * 'Post' button to accept note and/or moderation changes?

Nested comments - For future versions of this tool, this page's functionality shall support nested comments (that should be reflected both in the database schema and in code infrastructure), but this functionality should not be available in the interface for the first phase. The infrastructure should not impose limits on the depth of the comments tree. If such limits are to be introduced at later phases of the project, they shall be set in the code/configuration.

Expanded Feedback


For later stages of this project, we are considering an expanded feedback form, which could let readers suggest specific improvements, rate article qualities or share their expertise. The preliminary wireframe above assumes that an expandable/collapsable text link enables users to display this form ('Tell us more').

If time allows, we will try to include such an expanded form in phase 1.5. Otherwise, it will be addressed in phase 2 of this project.