How Can Mamapedia Improve? We Would Love to Hear What You Think.

I really have to agree with the request for a functional search engine. Even when I search for simple key phrases, the results are frustratingly random. Would there be a way to tag questions so that the search engine could function more efficiently?

The ability to do more personal Social Networking through the actual site....I love the fact that it is all question based......But there are times I really would just like to be able to vent.........and not have to have it in the form of some nutty question.

Being able to add and upload photos would be cool also.........

I mean I could go on and on.....But beggars cant be choosers:)

I have not hung around here so long because of the sites awesome additions or added things....I am here because the advice is good. The company is better...And some of the best people I know I met from this place....There is not too much more from that you could add.

I wish it wouldn't make my computer run slow. NOTHING runs my computer slow except this site.

Dawn

Please, please, PLEASE do NOT closely tie this site to Facebook or I will quit using it all together. I do not like Facebook and I do not have a Facebook account. I have a variety of personal reasons why I do not like nor use Facebook (not the least that I think FB will eventually run its course...) and I would prefer to keep it that way. In fact, I don't belong to any social media account and that's just fine with me. I love to comment and answer/give posters relative and pertinent information but will not be able to do so if the site goes completely over to FB/some other social media. I belong to another site that is strictly/only uses FB, and I am not allowed to post any of my thoughts. I hate it.

The ability to underline or bold or italicize would be immensely helpful and allow us to get across our messages without having to resort to CAPS or "quotation marks." Adding color or emoticons might be an issue, depending on your Web site's typesetting/ease of use.

Sometimes I will go to read a comment--and there is no "Share this," "Send a Flower," or "Report This,"--or there's only "Share This" or "FB Share." That makes it difficult to send a Flower when there's no button to press.

I don't need a Social chat room, so that doesn't concern me.

I like the idea of "grouping" Flowers to the particular post so that 1) we know how many flowers/likes our post received and 2) clicking on that combined post will let us see all of the flowers and we won't have to click on each and every one to see who sent the Flower.

Thanks for the chance to give you some feedback! I really like this site.

1. Spell check

2. The ability to tag a topic to easily come back to it later (ie - come back tomorrow and see all of the responses)

3. Ability to report a poster and not just their post

4. An actual search engine.

Thanks for asking!

I'd love for "flowers" to be more efficient. To go to my inbox and see I have 12 flowers .... it takes me quite a few minutes to click on each one and find out for which question I received a flower. Plus, did they send me a flower for a creative answer, or because they agree, or because i made them laugh? Perhaps a "funny fuscia" or a "creative carnation" or "I agree azalea" would make flowers more fun.

Underline/Bold/Italics

Putting the person's profile picture next to their name. That way, when I go "eh which one is Jo? Oh wait no. I was thinking of Riley. Which one is it who's political views I like? I can't remember. Oh wait, there's their picture in their profile. That's who I like. Cheryl." It'd be a lot easier (especially with people who have names like "Momof4" and "MomofBoys" and "Momof4Boys") we can keep them straight with a picture they upload or a picture (clipart) that you have available for them to choose from.

Flowers - drives me nuts to get a flower from "Kate B" (for example), only to have to click 3 or 4 times to figure out that Kate B is really "SillyMom75". Why not have it say that SillyMom75 sent me a flower?

That's all I can think of for now. THANKS for giving us an opportunity to share our ideas!

When I look at the list of "My Answers", I would like to see the no. of flowers I got listed by each answer. Kind of lets me know if my answer was on point or not.

I've also often wished that we could hop on a chatroom, but then everyone would be in there and no one would "ask questions", lol. So not sure about that one.

I think when a question is updated, it should somehow alert the responders that something has been added which would make ETAs and SWHs more useful.

There should also be an easy-access and visible FAQ section to cut down on the most-asked questions.

Also I wish there were something like 'flowers' that we could 'give' to the question-askers for a question/post that we particularly like.

When using the search engine (which SUCKS), the results should be in chronological order with most recent first.

I would like to be able to manipulate text by using bold, italics, underline, change font, change font color, etc.

It would be nice to have an i-phone app!

Spell Check!
An alert when someone updates the SWH on a question I posted.

I like mamapedia a lot. One thing though. Stop with the censoring. If someone does not like an answer they can move on.

It is frustrating to tell someone the truth as you see it then get your response pulled. I had one pulled recently but got lots of flowers and messages pertaining to that one response by moms who told me they were glad I had the guts to say what they were thinking out loud.

When a person asks a question on a public forum they are opening themselves up to getting responses that are opposite to what they want to hear. One mom told me thank you for doing that. She was glad to hear what I had said in my comment to her.

She knew she had to make some changes and my comment helped her realize how off center she was. Hopefully she is doing better now.

We are grown ups, not children, well, sometimes I do think certain posts are made by teens or kids trying to start something. But generally we are all adults and can take what a post says or leave it.

Oh what a can of worms you are opening here.

Have a seat, lets talk. :p

First what a rude comment to make.

I digress...

I think most of the things I would love to see would require a new platform. I don't really like this one but I like the people here so you are stuck with me. :)

The thing is when you ask a question and get a few responses you realize you missed something, you may have worded it wrong. So sure you can change your OP but what about the guy who posted first? If they change their response, no one reads it. I think the dialog you get on a message board is more fluid. You post a question, you get responses and then you respond. Some even allow you to quote and answer and respond to that.

The reason this works better is you are quoting not attacking. When you go back to look at see well J. W is full of beans, even if they didn't say I am full of beans it feels like an attack, ya know? It is like why was I singled out by that person? When it is the norm to quote and then say what you agree or disagree with it just feels normal, not a one of.

Volunteer moderators would be great!!! Especially on the weekends when all the foolishness takes place. I am sure there are few grown ups here that would keep us kids in line. :p

I will have to think of some more and get back to you. :D

Oh yeah! Sorting would be soooooooo wonderful. The limited sorting abilities is, well, frustrating.

Move the friend request button further away from the send a private message button!!!! My god, every time I get a friend request I think who have I pissed off now! Then I wait for the nasty PM saying I don't want to be your friend!!! RAARRRR!

Spell check would be nice. Also to be able to format answers with underlines, bold, maybe color.

Better control of flaming and trolls.

I would love to be able to sort the items I search for by date. I try to search for topics before I post something new and would love to read the most recent items first rather than wade through what appears to be random order... Thanks!! Love the site though!

It would be awesome if there was a "Next" question button instead of always having to hit the back button or the back to recent questions button.

It would be so much easier!

ETA: There should be a way to report a PERSON and not just the post. Like for repeated Trollers etc.

I would LOVE to be able to respond to specific comments and know that the person will receive an email about it do that the conversation can go further. Thank you for asking! I love this site'

I would love to be able to comment back to some of the responses. SOme ask questions that make sense, or I didn't think of putting that in the question.

Go back and look at what Mammasource was

I could look up questions based on Breastfeeding ALONE or PreK related questions etc. Sure, the poster would "tag" what the question was about, however it was easier to find topics you wanted to discuss and ones to stay away from.

Moderators would be good as well, the place gets crazy over the weekend with trolls and more liberal comments made - hence many regulars are gone on sat/sun.

Spell check would be appreciated, but not required.

The ability to discuss (like a message board) would be nice. Seeing as there are many posts below that I would rather just add to.

EX:
CupcakeSweet
Body of post
Reply K. M
Yes, I agree the ability to block would be nice :) and move on.

Then I could do the same to JoW replying that a new platform would be nice.
Check out Yahoo! comments or Hulu's discussion boards for an example.

I like the flowers, but I can not stand having to click on each one there are days where I log in to 20 flowers and only 10 show per page. I enjoy seeing who I have thoughts in common with or who appreciated my time/effort better than a simple thumbs up, but going thru 20 first thing in the morning gets crazy.

I think even if it were separated by categories where there was a discussion area, then a questions area. I think a discussions area would be handy becuase sometimes we just want to post things we find important to share with each other and having to do questions gets annoying, that is where our JFF's would go too.

So, maybe a difference between the Mamapedia, I need HELP area and a mamapedia I need a BREAK area, and another area for the Blogs - that I personally get no use from, the "Home" page is just garbage for me. In addition I never go to the Timeline area nor the voices or lists.

I agree that a notification would be great when someone updates their posts, like SWH or Edits
- K. M just updated "Crazy MIL's" (linked) check it out.

Plus, NOTHING bothers me more than clicking a flower and seeing that there is NOTHING THERE! I get it was pulled or removed, but keep the title or something so I know what got removed for crying out loud!

The search engine is a very COMMON thing, I have even tested it out by putting in an EXACT title of MY OWN post and can not find it!

I would also like to be able to search a name with out having to find them in a previous post or on a friend's list. Ex: Sorry Cupcake but your name is what I am seeing ;) Cupcake is referred to in a post about another post and I do not have her on my friend's list. I should be able to go to the search engine and type in CupcakeSweet (or cupcake or sweet) and find HER profile and go from there to find the references and get up to date on the situation. Sometimes people are referred to because we know they have been in a simmilar situation or know they would have a very vaild opinion like Reily J. on Adhd - I see her as one of our experts on the subject OR I just want to look up an old post from Cupcake or Reily J and they are not on my friends list, but I know it was their post.

Another addition at the bottom could be simmilar questions OR other questions asked by this user. So I post a question about my MIL and at the bottom or on the side under the Recently Asked is More questions by K. M and or More questions about this topic. Listed are my most recent 5 questions (because often questions pile on previously asked questions) and or 5 other questions about MILs.

Okay, I think I am done for now, I think I said much more than I intended to.

ETA I agree to keep this away from FB, another anti FB mama here and I would be really upset if it were to go that way, see AnnC's post pretty much agree with her first paragraph regarding FB.

* SPELL CHECK!!
* The ability to respond to a specific comment, both as the person asking the question as well as a person responding to a question. For instance, a question might have 40 responses, and the top couple may say "I agree with soandso". Everyone has to try and find soandso's post in the middle of all 40 to see what was said. It would be great to see that soandso made a post, and five people could reply on THAT comment saying they agreed. I hope that makes sense.
*A SMART PHONE APP!!!!!
*It would be nice to have "groups" you could join to meet up with other mamas that you have things in common with. For instance, single moms group, foster parent group, special needs moms group, Mormon moms group, whatever. I know there are other websites that do that, but I like mamapedia! :)
*It would be nice to be able to "tag" people in responses as well.

The single best improvement I could think of would be the search engine. It is TERRIBLY inefficient. We should be able to limit our search to our own geographic area, if needed. It would also be nice to be able to file the questions under topics;

Diapering
Breast Feeding
Bottle Feeding
Table Foods
Time Management
Weight Loss
Discipline
Medical
Sports
Crafts
School Issues

etc...

ETA: yes, would LOVE an app for the iPhone/iPad

ETA2: Yes, for the flowers, it could be more like a Facebook style, where at the end of your answer it can say something like, "12 flowers" and if I click on where it says "12 flowers" it will just list the user names of the people who sent the flowers to me (visible only to me, not to all of MP).

1) A functioning search option.

I know MP was originally debating between a wiki and google platform, but something went horribly wrong.

I answer about 50-100 ADHD Q's every year. Yet, if I 'search' ADHD, maybe 1 comes up from the past few years, and the rest are random ones from 2007, 2009, etc.

2) a way to search our own answers. Those of us on here for 5+ years have 10s of thousands of answers. They are literally impossible to scroll through.

3) categories. Lost in the changeover was the clicking on a category that tagged Q's for easy reference (school, sleep, etc.)

4) A way to delete old flowers. I don't have a lot compared to some, but with 25,000 ... That's still far too many to delete them one by one

5) the iPhone (and other mediums) is awkward. Ads pop down and take up the whole screen. Preventing navigation.

6) a 'threaded' or 'mobile' list, so that hot topics can be discussed, and late night Q's don't get lost (can get bumped up)

Like everyone else on here for ages, I love this site. It seems, though, that when it went from regional to national and into the 'pedia format that some things that had been discussed to be part of the changeover were never implemented, or only partly implemented.

i agree with the search engines. I also agree that it would be helpful to be able to respond to comments under a post so that person gets notified you responded to them, so there is more of a dialogue and others can read and comment on that particular comment. I hate when I respond to someone in my SWH and they take it as an attack because they take it as I'm calling them out instead of J. responding to them

Nice can of worms you've opened. The ability to delete flowers quickly would be great. Also, since most of us on her would like to remain anonymous, I'd love the ability to delete my history (answers & questions). If a family member stumbled upon this site, they could piece things together easily if all that history remains under my ID.

Thanks for all you do for this site!

Thanks for being receptive to my request C., I appreciate it. I apologize for assuming you are a paid employee and speaking with you more curtly than I would with other members of this community.
____
A search engine that functions, a staff that we can reach with questions - in the past I've been given a standard issue reply and it's seemed that employees are outsourced (thanks for your email address!), and a way to search through our own answers and questions (like e-mail sites have), or more quickly move backwards through them.

In addition to being able to more easily report trolls... It would be nice to have the ability to BLOCK certain members from PMing us--- Clicking "report" only deletes their message.
Or it would be nice to have options such as not receiving any PMs or allowing only friends to PM us.

It would also be nice to have the post collapse or do some type of "ignore" function to posts that we have no feedback for. That way we can see more of what we're interested in.

The chat room is another good one. I don't think it would stop people from posting but, perhaps it can be made available during the weekends when there is a lull in post traffic. Typically in chats you can designate who you want to chat with so no one would be subjected to a conversation they dislike.

ETA: Also when we get answers it would be nice to know which question has the new response without having to go through them.

As others have stated a better way to look at your flowers, moving the friend request button, a better way to report a poster rather than just the post and a way to BLOCK certain members from messaging you and even commenting on your post. I get so frusterated and tired or certain snarky people replying to my posts and/or reporting me when others seem quite fine with my vent or question. It seems that some people who may be more snarky than others get more power by reporting and getting things pulled that really arent worth pulling, if we could just block them from out posts there wouldnt be as big of a problem. THANKS for taking the time to ask us for our input!

First and foremost, I love this site! I have learned a lot here and also feel like my advice is valued among the community. Three improvements that come to mind that I would like to see upgraded is having the flowers categorized by posts, so I can see who was sending a flower for what and also a quick way to delete them. The other day I had flowers that took up 3 or 4 pages, so it took awhile to go through all of them. I wish I could highlight them all and delete.
Also, some of the topics are really interesting which lead to wonderful responses on the thread. I wish there was a way to actually converse with each other beside just giving a flower or having to re-edit the comment.
The last thing I would like to see is receiving an alert of some sort via email or message in my inbox when someone gives a SWH update to a topic I commented on. Sometimes I wonder what happened after all the advice is given and it can be hard to find sometimes or I forget.
Thanks!
A.

I would like to be able to type in a person's name & be able to go to their profile/recent questions & replies. Currently I can only get to those who are my "friends" quickly. There are so many who aren't my "friend" but I love to read what they've written because they always give thoughtful and helpful advice.

I agree with the others that I'd like to see how many flowers were received to each of my responses to know if the majority agree/appreciate my response.

I love Mamapedia! The only real criticism I have is that I HATE it when someone asks a question, gets responses and then deletes it with a dot, number, or letter!

I would like to be able to add a picture sometimes. There are a lot of questions about how something looks, so it'd be nice to see it before responding. That might open up a can of worms, but it would be handy.

Yes, the "flower" option needs addressing. I have over 300 "flowers" that I've let accumulate because A: It takes too long to click through each one to see who agrees with my response and B: There is no quick way to empty that inbox of flowers.

I also agree with needing spell check and if you can have font options to express what you are saying so you don't end up with hate mail over something that was taken wrong since you can't express emotions very well online.

Also, if you can belong to more than one city. I travel back and forth to my home state and can definitely be of service to locals there as well as to the ones in my current state I reside. You should have a drop down box for you to choose vs. having to change your entire profile to answer a question that was specific to another state.

I am begging for an Ipad app.. The ads, block so many of the controls!

I agree, I would love to be able to clear up my 580 flowers that have been on here since it was mamasource.. I guess as moms we are used to cleaning out the old stuff.

I think the other moms have done a great hob saying the other things that could improve Mamapedia..

Thank you, L. A.

It would be nice to be able to sort the questions by number of responses... sometimes the questions come in so fast that I miss some. I figure that if they have 15 20 answers then they have plenty of answers to work with, but sometimes good questions get lost in the shuffle...

i would like to see a list of people who are on mampedia like a member board where we can look at their profiles maybe add them as friends if we have things in common, maybe have a better looking site this one seems so plain, a birth board where moms that have children born the same yr and month can chat or ask question.

Updates on ETAs and SWHs on posts I have commented on, A separate folder for Flowers than my PM inbox (and a way to group them or mark them as "read"), an improved search option is greatly needed, and spell check would be great! Thanks for asking!

The search engine really needs to be improved!

Otherwise--no issues.

@ILoveMyBoys--I think that already exists--the "next" arrow, doesn't it? Whoops...just checked--I swear it USED to be like that! ???

One feature that would be nice would be able to 'bump' a post back to the first page...so that those of us 'mulling' it over would be reminded...and be able to post more readily...

I will add more, if I think of it...but this post is now 'second page' news...

Just saying...

I would like it to in box me whenever a question I gave advice on gives their update. Very annoying to have to go through all my post to hopefully find an update.

When a flower is sent can we please scrap the "mom" part of "[X] moms found this helpful"? There are a few Dads on this website that I love to hear from. Sometimes a male perspective is just what the doctor ordered.

I'd like to be able to delete a duplicate posting or one that I've reconsidered.

I'd like to delete flowers. I have like 500? and 39 are still new and I can't find them to delete them...lol

And the "search" feature is frustrating.

And about the soda ban, soda's don't make people fat, people make people fat. Banning Sodas is rediculous and will not keep people from being obese. Just thought I'd throw that in there....since I can't FIND the post about the sodas...

Have a form for questions that somehow requires a real and detailed subject line. It is impossible to tell anything when people title their posts "I need advice" or "A question JFF" and so on.

Have separate threads instead of one massive whatever-topic board. Find a way (key words?) to sort things so potty training and marriage issues are not all mingled in one massive list.

Even better, sort this site by age of the kids and/or topics: Separate "lists" or "boards" for questions on kids from birth to five; six to 10; 11 to 13; and so on. Also separate lists or boards for marriage issues; legal questions; recipe/food/how-to/product questions; and so on.

It would be so much more useful for me to go to a board just on kids my own child's age rather than wading through questions about toddlers and in-laws. Or I could check out the how-to/food board when I wanted and not have to wade through questions on exes and mortgage problems.

I know I can do searches but who has time? Having separate lists would be much easier to use. And the search feature here gets complained about all the time, as you may know.

The "lists" currently in use are not true lists based on any common topic or group; they seem to be just randomly chosen threads from whatever posts catch someone's fancy. They are not useful.

How about getting rid of the mama policy. Let everything stay, and adults without thick skin will grow up. I'm 40, I don't need another parent.

I'd also like it if I could prevent people from PM'ing me.

And this place has a terrible search engine. No social media stuff please. Let the facebook crowd be at facebook.

How about using an old usenet interface so that we can actually have "threads." It would work much better in allowing for "conversations."

Instead of flowers, have Agree/Disagree and a different way to track them other than sending them to your Inbox.

1) Have all questions in the daily email - not selected ones
2) When you respond to question have a subsequent responses sent to you.
3) Make it easier to respond directly to someone who answers your question - so that their response is in the message. Sometimes I want to thank someone for their comments and it's easier to send a personal message that contains their answer rather than explain why you are contacting them.
4) Agree with questions and answers being anonymous. I have had people "read up on me" and that impacts how they answer. Sometimes I feel like a trouble-maker with redundant questions.

This place needs to act more like a forum and/or facebook commenting system meaning someone posts a new "thread" and people are able to respond in a conversational way. In other words... I'd like to be able to post more than just once in a thread. Sometimes someone will respond to something I've written since they posted after me and I have no way to respond publicly other than to edit my original post, which interrupts the flow of the conversation.

Also, for everyone asking for spell check, your internet browser should do that for you. Check this out for firefox and chrome: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/17139/check-your-spelling-...

And Internet Explorer: http://www.howtogeek.com/76223/add-spell-checking-to-inte...

That way no matter where you go, you have a spell checker.