Re: GNOME user survey 2011

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Mon, 2011-08-01 at 17:32 +0300, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 5:02 PM, Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org> wrote:
> > On Mon, 2011-08-01 at 16:33 +0300, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> >> On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 4:24 PM, Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org> wrote:
> >> > On Mon, 2011-08-01 at 12:21 +0300, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> >> >> But what if you get:
> >> >> 2% users answered 'Too many options'
> >> >> 10% users answered 'just enough'
> >> >> 88% users answered 'few options'
> >> >>
> >> >> I repeat, the worst that could happen is that the results of the
> >> >> question don't provide any value, so you wasted one question... big
> >> >> deal. You remove it in the next one.
> >> >
> >> > That is still not useful information. Developers aren't going
> >> > to add options for the sake of adding options. "Users want
> >> > more options? I guess I better hunt through my program to see
> >> > what I can make configurable." That's absurd.
> >> >
> >> > We need to know what users want to change, and (importantly)
> >> > why they want to change it. Aggregate statistics on this, even
> >> > if accurate and significant, are not actionable.
> >>
> >> Oh, so you agree that a lot of options are missing?
> >
> > I didn't say that. And that statement illustrates to me that you
> > have a very strong agenda. I don't think somebody with an agenda
> > can design an unbiased survey.
> 
> If you don't agree that options are missing, then what's the point of
> skipping the question, and going directly to ask what they would
> change? (which I don't see how it can be done in this survey anyway).
> First I would like to try to identify the need for change, if any.

Sigh. I am open to the idea that there are aspects of our software
which can be improved, and that in some cases, improving it means
adding an option. This is a far cry from agreeing that a lot of
options are missing.

You seem to want to establish that we have too few options, so we
can go look for which options we should add. That's backwards. We
should instead look for ways to improve the software, and if that
happens to involve adding an option, add it.

Options are a means to an end. They should never be the goal.

--
Shaun