Joel
TS Technical Admin
- Favourite Ride
- Closed season on TST
Hi all,
As you may have seen in the TST February Half Term meet topic there's been a lot of feedback, confusion and anger about what TST+ is, why it happened and what is going on with it.
As a quick reminder, one of the values TowersStreet set out in the beginning was to listen to users' feedback and act upon it, rather than just dictate and lead the community how we wish. Often we get things right, but when overwhelming feedback comes in against something we've done (even if we've always done it), we will act upon it to try and remedy the issue and appease people - because that what we wanted to do differently.
We do not wish to say in response to suggestions of change from users "No - we're not changing that because this is how we've always done it and its always worked!" - because that is how other communities operate, and its not listening to users and their feedback in our opinion.
Naturally we know we can't appease and please everyone - but we can only act on the majority feedback of what we hear. And the feedback from the last Q&A was that there was too many 2 day meets, some with very poor attendance, and people struggled both financially, time-wise and even with boredom to keep attending the seemingly standard 2 day meets.
So we announced some time back that we would trial 1 day meets instead, with an 'optional' 2nd day if people wanted to do something together, rather than being official. Why? Again, to try and please all parties, and it gave massive flexibility to people wanting to go off and do different things, or keep it short and simple and cheap by not stopping over and doing a 2nd day.
So it was arranged in our meet calendar that we would have some simple 1 day meets with an optional 2nd day if people chose - and we would not make any recommendations as people were likely to make their own free choices about where and what they wanted to do for the 2nd day.
Roll around to the meet up organisation thread, and we suddenly get a lot more feedback from some people who don't like the idea, despite obviously it had been announced for a while. Naturally, again, we as a team are very dynamic, and will always attempt to adapt how we do things to the feedback we get.
So we decided to make a recommendation for an evening meal and hotel for those wanting to do a second day. Whilst this has unfortunately impacted a persons arrangements, it was again in response to feedback within the thread, and obviously we'd now take the opportunity to remind you again that its always a good idea to check plans where possible as they can and have previously changed in the past too, especially with sudden overwhelming feedback, before making any final arrangements yourself.
Going forward...
Obviously this is a hot topic amongst the team as we continually receive feedback, and we are trying to create a solution (especially as we've not done this before) that works for the majority of people and the feedback we receive.
Future one day meets will now come with evening/accomodation recommendations, but they are only that - a recommendation.
The one day meet idea is still being trialled for the rest of the season to understand if it truly is a good idea or not, but once again you are welcome to feedback on the idea, and we are continually monitoring and making changes in response to majority feedback we receive - so if you wish to add your say, please do as soon as possible rather than wait until the late on where it can cause further issues. Naturally we'll be keen to hear feedback after the meets too in terms of how people felt it went.
All in all, the team do, have and will always try to react on feedback, and everyone has access to Guest Services to create topics and discussion as a window to feedback and engage with the team. We rarely change things for the fun of it, or to annoy people - only when people ask, and we consider all responses and feedback equally to make a decision that is in the best interests of as many of our users. Equally, sometimes decisions create unforeseen problems, and we try to learn and adapt and make the best of a problem.
Thanks all.
As you may have seen in the TST February Half Term meet topic there's been a lot of feedback, confusion and anger about what TST+ is, why it happened and what is going on with it.
As a quick reminder, one of the values TowersStreet set out in the beginning was to listen to users' feedback and act upon it, rather than just dictate and lead the community how we wish. Often we get things right, but when overwhelming feedback comes in against something we've done (even if we've always done it), we will act upon it to try and remedy the issue and appease people - because that what we wanted to do differently.
We do not wish to say in response to suggestions of change from users "No - we're not changing that because this is how we've always done it and its always worked!" - because that is how other communities operate, and its not listening to users and their feedback in our opinion.
Naturally we know we can't appease and please everyone - but we can only act on the majority feedback of what we hear. And the feedback from the last Q&A was that there was too many 2 day meets, some with very poor attendance, and people struggled both financially, time-wise and even with boredom to keep attending the seemingly standard 2 day meets.
So we announced some time back that we would trial 1 day meets instead, with an 'optional' 2nd day if people wanted to do something together, rather than being official. Why? Again, to try and please all parties, and it gave massive flexibility to people wanting to go off and do different things, or keep it short and simple and cheap by not stopping over and doing a 2nd day.
So it was arranged in our meet calendar that we would have some simple 1 day meets with an optional 2nd day if people chose - and we would not make any recommendations as people were likely to make their own free choices about where and what they wanted to do for the 2nd day.
Roll around to the meet up organisation thread, and we suddenly get a lot more feedback from some people who don't like the idea, despite obviously it had been announced for a while. Naturally, again, we as a team are very dynamic, and will always attempt to adapt how we do things to the feedback we get.
So we decided to make a recommendation for an evening meal and hotel for those wanting to do a second day. Whilst this has unfortunately impacted a persons arrangements, it was again in response to feedback within the thread, and obviously we'd now take the opportunity to remind you again that its always a good idea to check plans where possible as they can and have previously changed in the past too, especially with sudden overwhelming feedback, before making any final arrangements yourself.
Going forward...
Obviously this is a hot topic amongst the team as we continually receive feedback, and we are trying to create a solution (especially as we've not done this before) that works for the majority of people and the feedback we receive.
Future one day meets will now come with evening/accomodation recommendations, but they are only that - a recommendation.
The one day meet idea is still being trialled for the rest of the season to understand if it truly is a good idea or not, but once again you are welcome to feedback on the idea, and we are continually monitoring and making changes in response to majority feedback we receive - so if you wish to add your say, please do as soon as possible rather than wait until the late on where it can cause further issues. Naturally we'll be keen to hear feedback after the meets too in terms of how people felt it went.
All in all, the team do, have and will always try to react on feedback, and everyone has access to Guest Services to create topics and discussion as a window to feedback and engage with the team. We rarely change things for the fun of it, or to annoy people - only when people ask, and we consider all responses and feedback equally to make a decision that is in the best interests of as many of our users. Equally, sometimes decisions create unforeseen problems, and we try to learn and adapt and make the best of a problem.
Thanks all.
