Notifications to Contributors if Users Leave Feedback

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This is a help page for contributors or users.


Users Leaving Feedback

See the feedback box at the bottom of most pages? Users can leave feedback, and sometimes they report errors or other issues with the content. Users also share positive feedback and may even say how the content helped them. (Users are asked for feedback, but told not to enter personal information or ask specific questions about their personal legal issue that would require a specific answer. Under no circumstances should a user expect their feedback to receive a direct response from an editor, contributor organization, or Clicklaw Wikibooks administrator.

The Clicklaw Wikibooks User Guide includes tips for what makes for useful feedback.

In the past editors and contributor organizations had to manually check for feedback left by users. In 2020, Clicklaw Wikibooks will turn on a feature that sends editors an email whenever feedback is left on a page they are responsible for. (This feature was requested by editors and contributor organizations.)

When Feedback Triggers an Email Alert

Clicklaw Wikibooks administrators will set editors to receive email alerts when users leave feedback on pages they are responsible for. Over the years we have observed that feedback is only occasionally left on a page. Most individual editors will not receive more than a couple emails per month.

The process is automated, and there are two types of email notifications editors and contributor organizations can expect to receive:

  1. alerts for new feedback items
  2. reminders for old, unresolved feedback items

Alerts for new feedback will trigger within a couple minutes of the feedback being left. Reminder emails will be sent monthly if there is feedback that the editor or administrator has not marked as resolved.

What to do with New Feedback Emails

Editors are never expected to communicate directly with visitors, and only asked to consider if the feedback might help them improve the page. In either case, as soon as you've considered the feedback, mark it as resolved.

Emails are sent from wikisupport@clicklaw.bc.ca. The user leaving the feedback does not see the email address of the editor, and the feedback is left anonymously so there is no automatic way to respond directly to a user's questions using the feedback reporting feature.

Want more guidance?

When feedback arrives, consider whether it exposes errors, information gaps, less clear language, etc. Can something be done to help future readers?

Some feedback items will inspire editors to make a change, but most feedback items will not likely result in changes to the source content. Again, in either case, the editor should mark the feedback as resolved once the editor has thought about it and weighed whether or not it requires action. If you are an editor and want more time to think about it or discuss it with other editors, you can leave it as is. It will appear in subsequent reminder notifications.

Clicking on the link to resolve the new feedback item will bring you to the website. If you're already logged in, you will see the option to mark the feedback item as resolved. If you're not logged in, you will see a prompt to log in and then you will see the option to mark the feedback item as resolved.

Have any problems with these steps? Please email wikisupport@clicklaw.bc.ca.

What to do with Feedback Reminder Emails

Much the same as for new feedback notifications, an editor should consider the usefulness of the feedback and then mark it as resolved.

Reminder emails are also sent from wikisupport@clicklaw.bc.ca. These are only sent if feedback items on a page have not been marked as resolved.

If there are no unresolved feedback items, then no reminder email will be sent.

If you receive a reminder email, click on the link to resolve the old unresolved feedback item. This brings you to the website. If you are already logged in, you will see the option to mark the feedback item as resolved. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to log in and then you will see the option to mark the feedback item as resolved.

Any problems with these steps? Please email wikisupport@clicklaw.bc.ca.