I *hate* the new “Did this topic solve your issue?” feature

If you're using Safari choose 'View Source' in the View menu.
By scrolling through the page you will see something like this:

Did this topic solve your issue?

<input id="jive-rate-yes-6" type="button" value="Yes" class="jive-rate-button" onclick="location.href='thread.jspa?threadID=727077& threadrate=1&messageid=3507905#3507905';return false;" title="Click to mark that this topic solved your issue.">
<input id="jive-rate-yes-6" type="button" value="No" class="jive-rate-button" onclick="location.href='thread.jspa?threadID=727077& threadrate=2&messageid=3507905#3507905';return false;" title="Click to mark that this topic solved your issue.">

M

17' iMac 800 MHz, 768 MB RAM, 200 GB HD, DL burner Mac OS X (10.4.8) iTunes 7.0.2

So that's how you do that. Genius.

I like to sort of quote myself, it adds spice to my conversation. ;~)

Count me in for the "No" camp.

I don't contribute much here anymore, but felt compelled to check this forum after reading the announcement.

I hadn't got as far as finding that the buttons purport to do the same thing, I was just baffled by the

Clicking the Yes or No button removes the text

removes which text? I assumed the 'feature' was something to do with improved archiving, but I'm begining to think it's a halfbaked idea that went live accidentaly.

I should have guessed you'd all have got here first.

Hi tuttle, Hi ~bee

Hey, Stuart! I was just wondering about you not two days ago! I hope things are well!

Tuttle

Infinite loop, perhaps?

cStu !!!
What a great surprise !!
Does this mean you're going to be coming here more often?
Boy, that would be great!

You can count me into the couldn't care less group (so far numbering one I suspect).

I don't think as far as the users are concerned this 'feature' adds anything to the Discussions other than clutter and a meaningless phrase that must have been concocted by committee, but it also seems very apparent to me that the reason it makes no sense to us is that it's not for our benefit in any way.

Since we have no clue where our clicks get counted and what they are counted for, I can't see much point in complaining that it doesn't make much sense. The announcement makes clear in the usual qualitative manner in which Apple communicates with us, that clicking any or all of these buttons is for Apple's benefit, so we undoubtedly will discover in the fullness of time from some tweak or something here, but no wisdom forthcoming from Apple, what it was all about. Or not.

I just think it's quite amusing that as time goes by, these Discussions fail by an ever-wider margin to meet the standards of user interface design that Apple seem capable of bringing to everything else. In place of the stringency we see employed in MacOS and the various apps, the Discussions seem driven by the wooly notion that the more clutter that can be fitted in, the better we will all love it.

Apparently, Apple, we don't love it. Not at all in fact. There, is that good enough feedback for you?

Tuttle
I wonder about myself too, sometimes. I'm fine thanks how's yerself?

~bee
hehe
with a welcome like that I'd be a fool to stay away
I have to note though that everybody seems to be rather good at sticking to the point, which was never really my style. You, on the other hand are a bit of a mainstay here, by all accounts. I know where to come if I get stuck ;~)

Cheers
Stuart

The lack of meaningful communication about purpose is the nub. Here is a USER to USER Forum, where the USERS are expected to hit buttons without any good reason being supplied. The distracting clutter I can live with but I hope a better scheme, with purpose explained, duly appears.

Yo, Stuart... where the fek have you been?

RD

If users respond to an obtuse question, how can that tell Apple anything useful? Some are going to confuse this with the old per post points system; others will click "no" prematurely, before a topic has received any answers; & still others will randomly click an answer just to get it to go away.

If there is no perceived benefit to users, what is their motivation for answering truthfully, or at all?

More to the point, assume Apple's motivation has something to do with product improvement or modification. Does it make any sense to base this on feedback that is largely meaningless?

still others will randomly click an answer just to get it to go away.

Count me among those. Some people can leave the TV buzzing along in the background of their lives all the time. I can't--drives me nuts. So do the pointless (as far as I can tell) statement+buttons at the bottom of every single post. It isn't just visual clutter, it is intrusive, confusing, ugly and interferes with the usability of the forums for me. I find I am reluctant to click on just any thread to check it out (and maybe discover I can help) because my eyes will be assaulted by this "feature." So I just click on the ones I'm sure I can help with, immediately click the YES button to remove the offensiveness, and then read.
Francine


Francine
Schwieder

All I can tell you is that I can't tell you what it means or why it is being done - hence whatever I have to say on the subject of the value of this new addition is based on a perception which in itself has no value since I don't know what on earth it's for.

That's why I'm pretty much in the couldn't care one way or another camp. I don't particularly look at these buttons or notice them because they don't mean anything to me and I don't have any wish to click on them, nor any need to since I've never yet seen any 'topic that solved my issue'.

I'm not even much curious what it's for. I'd prefer Apple to get these Discussions running well than add clutter and extras that likely hinder that very thing, but I also assume that there is some intelligent design behind the Apple Discussions as a whole, and that therefore as much as these buttons and that bizarre phrase have no meaning or interest for me, they must represent something that was meant to have value to Apple, whether I know what this is or not. I can't help but wonder if this 'feature' will provide Apple with whatever they are expecting of it when they look at the 'feedback' they get as a result of adding them, but that's their problem.

At the user end of this, we're all faced by a simple choice. Click buttons for whatever reason we may feel it appropriate, or not. Pondering their presence isn't a middle option as far as I am concerned - that's the only point I was making.

... but that's their problem.

It's our problem too, if it leads to ill advised changes in Apple products that are based on misunderstood feedback. Our investment of time & money in these products is diminished if Apple doesn't continue to improve them.

assume Apple's motivation has something to do with product improvement or modification. Does it make any sense to base this on feedback that is largely meaningless?

if it leads to ill advised changes in Apple products that are based on misunderstood feedback.

With respect, I can't quite feature how these "Did this topic solve your issue?" buttons could possibly relate to Apple products (i.e., hardware and/or software), feedback on those products, or the modification or improvement of any Apple product other than Apple Discussions itself, which is a creation (or, product) of Apple Support. To think that all of a sudden Apple is going to "modify" or "improve" its hardware or software products by virtue of a generalized consensus of newb to middling computer users randomly pressing "yes" or "No" buttons here is, I think, beyond the realm of possibility (and even rationality).

Whether or not (or why) Apple Support would consider modifying, improving or just dispensing with Apple Discussions based on users' button pushes is probably a more salient question, though it is useless (and against the ToU) to discuss.