Survey 2011 - Results and Responses

[CharlieDelta]

Hi all,

Good response to the survey so far. We've got about 20 responses. Last year we got nearly 100, so please head over if you can and spare 5 minutes to complete the 10 simple questions!

http://svy.mk/OfficerCadet2011

I've read through the responses so far and there's lots of great points and constructive criticism. I'll try to post responses here over the coming days and as they come in.

CD

[CharlieDelta]

Here's some responses to some of the comments so far:

Maybe something besides the forum like news or articles or useful stuff to help at college.

We're looking into doing something like this in the New Year. The Wiki hasn't worked quite as well as we had initially hoped, so we're looking at moving to a system where we have articles written by ourselves and submitted by members, as well as regular news on relevant industry goings-on. Watch this space.

... you need to get current cadets talking about it ...

We'd love to get current cadets more involved, but it's difficult. Once people get to college, Facebook tends to take over. Suggestions welcome!

Keep up the good work, I have sailed with several cadets who find the site useful and always point cadets to the site when I speak to them. I wish something like this was available when I was a cadet.

Thanks!

Maybe a lighter touch when it comes to moderation; potential cadets need to hear about the bad bits and not just the good bits.

You're quite right. It's a difficult subject because the companies and colleges do read the site. A member posting a grievance in a public forum can be subject to disciplinary proceedings from their company, and we don't want that for any of our members. Yes, a forum affords a degree of anonymity, but if you have a grievance it should be raised directly with the company. Of course, there are more and less desirable companies, and we don't mind discussion about that as long as there are reasons given and the post is fair and balanced.

If a post is moderated and you believe the moderation was unfair, I would encourage you to discuss it with the moderator concerned. If you're still unhappy, get in touch with me and I'll make a final decision. Remember that the private message function is there if you would like to have a private discussion with another member. It's a bit like being in a pub somewhere - posting publicly is like shouting this out to the entire pub, private messages are the equivalent of the cosy table in the corner.

One thing that I am worried about is my MCA oral exam ... however is there some sort of way to actually 'coach' Deck cadets before their final exam? Tutorials... possibly a few videos.

None of us are really in a position to do this since we're all either cadets, newly qualified, or working at sea. At the same time, we're aware of lots of useful content available on some other websties and over time we'd like to incorporate some of that here. Training is the responsibility of the colleges, and we don't have the expertise that your lecturers do. Sure, we could have a video on, say, how to do radar plotting. But what if we're wrong? What if we explain it in the wrong way? What if you have questions we can't answer?

If there's anything that you're having problems with, please feel free to start a thread about it and members can offer their opinions. Threads like this often attract a number of replies.

So, tutorial material isn't quite do-able right now, but we're happy to host discussions on academic topics. This might even help us attract more current cadets. We're also looking at producing some videos in the New Year, though these would be focused more on cadet life.

good for new starters, but for phase 3 and 5 it's a bit pointless...

Again, suggestions on getting current cadets more involved would be great. The site's nearly two years old and we're finding that as it grows we're having more current cadets return, but keeping them coming back is a challenge because most will just use Facebook.

Gets a bit repetitive.

Such is the nature of the forum unfortunately, since the same thins happen each year around the same times. For example, our visitor numbers grow exponentially in the spring during interview season, climb throughout summer and then drop dramatically in September. Hopefully by getting more people to come back once they're in college we can encourage more discussion about the courses themselves rather than getting there.

I ticked dissatisfied with friendliness as there are a few registered users who treat the forum as a place to grandstand rather than provide friendly, useful advice and I feel they put people off posting.

Quality of content - too many wrong answers posted as fact by people who obviouslt don't know the answer, but seem to assume they do.

This happens in any forum, and unfortunately all we can suggest is replying with the correct information and, where possible, backing it up with references to articles/websites/books etc... If you find anything that is obviously misleading, please use the "Report Post" button and we can deal with it. We encourage debates as long as they're civil. We'll be looking to clarify the rules over the coming weeks to make sure that we're all singing off the same hymn sheet.

There is site team!? Where is this noted?

If you click on "quick links" and "view forum leaders" in the navigation bar you can see a list of the site team. There's four administrators and four moderators, and we can be contacted using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page. We can also be identified by red or green usernames.

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to fill in the survey, this is the first round of responses so I'll be back with more once I've had a chance to look. If you'd like to talk about anything, please get in touch with any of the site team or post on this thread.

[billwillis]

Done.