Availability issue on calendars

[RadarInc]

Say hi

[Vanessa-PartnershipsMgr]

As always @CreatureCuddler a very measured and helpful response with some great feedback. How we best serve our members in terms of managing the forum threads, engagement and moderation is high on our forum team priority list and you will see some positive changes over the coming months.

I think the “feedback and ideas” category was where the internal product team originally envisaged the tracking of member ideas, as well as providing a space/category in the forum where the wider team could engage and feedback. Just recently Product Manager Ben started the first of a regular update thread to notify members of product team priorities, fixes, and updates and this will continue. I am sure they will also read this thread with interest, and maybe we need to discuss and consider whether website suggestions, frustrations, loves and tech threads are steered more exclusively to that category to help with readability.

We will have a chat about this when Angela and my worlds collide next across the time zones and feedback as appropriate.

Thanks again to you and everyone who’s contributed to this discussion.

[CreatureCuddler]

@Vanessa-PartnershipsMgr

Just recently Product Manager Ben started the first of a regular update thread to notify members of product team priorities, fixes, and updates and this will continue.

Where is this? I didn’t see anything?

I think there is space for both. Having the feedback section is needed so users can discuss ideas. But I think a place where ONLY admins can create threads and post updates, which won’t be buried in the middle of a ton of other threads, which can be a source of truth, would be really helpful. Rather than rehashing the review system for the 3498234th time, we could refer to the “Review System Improvements” thread that an admin started which could, IMO, could work something like this:

Initial post

• Summary of the users concerns
• Estimated effort (high, medium, low)
• Priority (high, medium, low)
• Current status (doing user research, in development, in testing, etc)
• Estimated completion date (a VERY conservative delivery estimate so people know what to have in mind other than NOW)
• Potential changes - high level summary of the changes you are considering, based on user input

Updates could be along the lines of:

Currently conducting user interviews to seek feedback and ideas. If you’re interested in participating, respond with a thumbs up to this post.

or

User interviews completed with the following highlights:

1
2
3

Please discuss in this thread: and link to a thread in the feedback section where users can discuss what you heard and where users in the future can go to read past discussions vs weeding through a ton of other threads on the topic.

or

Due to the scope of the change needed, we’ve decided to break the feature into stages. Stage 1 of development has started. Deliverables for this stage include

a
b
c

We estimate it will take x-y weeks for development and testing. If you would be willing to beta test, please respond with a thumbs up to this post.

Please discuss the deliverables for this stage in this thread:

I know that this is a bit more work, but it shouldn’t be a TON, and it might help wrangle some of the discussion and keep it more organized. It would also make it really easy to refer new people who raise old issues to specific threads addressing those issues without the mega threads. It would also give users who are antsy for things to happen immediately a timeline to have in their heads that’s more realistic and maybe get them off your back about why things aren’t happening this second.

FWIW, these are the types of updates I send to MY clients on a regular basis to keep them off MY back when they start getting all up in my space about progress because they have no idea how long development takes. It takes a few minutes to type them up but saves me HOURS each week of having to wrangle clients. “Oh, that’s on friday’s update, take a look: (link to update)”

[anon36831737]

Seminyak - near double six beach? I think I recognise the big building. I was there the other day.

[Vanessa-PartnershipsMgr]

Thank you! All good food for thought.
Here’s the link to Ben’s update (an example of how not everyone sees the important threads

Product Update - March 2022

Hello everybody - I thought it would be good to introduce myself to those who are new to the Forum. My name is Ben and I am a Product Manager in the Member Experience Team at TrustedHousesitters. I have worked in product for over 10 years and strive to build products that customers love using. I have two miniature dachshunds who are cheeky, lazy and love a good tummy tickle. I’m also, like many of you, an active TrustedHousesitters member and love the platform and community that we are b…

[CreatureCuddler]

Yeah, that was great. Having a place where that lives where people can go look for it and it won’t be buried in among a ton of other listings would be really helpful for those who don’t come daily.

[Smiley]

Thanks! I didn’t realise that so it’s good to know

[Kelownagurl]

Deleted because I read thru the entire thread and decided my comment was redundant.

[Jan24]

Its driving me mad trying to find a sitter, sitters really need to pop on there calanders when there not avaiable, really struggling to find sitters too

[Snowbird]

Hi @Jan24 It’s unlikely you’re going to change the habits of thousands of people. It’s far less stressful to work with what is available to you. You can reach the most sitters by having a complete listing with a wide range of photos. I would suggest you embed your listing in your forum username/profile. The odds of finding a good match are far greater by making your listing more accessible.

You may also find this post helpful: Steps in searching for sitters.

Francine
Volunteer moderator

[JackieX]

Hi @Jan24
I will say to you what I said to someone else yesterday (so why you haven’t both been moved to the same thread @Angela-HeadOfCommunity ? I don’t know)
As sitters we can’t positively mark ourselves unavailable. We can only mark ourselves positively available, and that is when the calendar is green.
Struck through is when we are on a THS sit and
White is the default, so depending on the sitter could mean anything. “I’m not available as I haven’t marked myself green” or “I don’t do anything with the calendar so I may or may not be available”

[NigelLovell]

Maybe this has already been raised before and if so my apologies but I am curious to know f it has been considered having an area on the platform for sitters to also post their availablity and the areas where they are looking to sit.

Is there any mileage in this idea? Pros and Cons?

Merry Christmas/Feliz Navidad everyone

Nigel
Barcelona

[DMcat]

I’ve never been able to change my availability on the app and also get numerous invitations to sit. I’m thrilled to get the invitations, but couldn’t possibly ever do them all. What I did instead was to include dates that I’m not available in my bio. That’s helped a lot.

[geoff.hom]

@NigelLovell

I am curious to know f it has been considered having an area on the platform for sitters to also post their availablity and the areas where they are looking to sit.

Hi Nigel. I think every sitter wishes they could indicate where they are looking to sit (besides the vague country listing). The only workaround I’ve seen is that a sitter will change their profile location from where they currently are at to where they want to sit. For example, if I want to sit in Seattle, I’d change my listed location to Seattle, even though I’m actually in Dallas. And I’d include an explanatory note in my profile.