A few weeks ago I put out a survey to touch base with the community. Since February, the RSS has worked hard to improve the leadership and moderation of our community...but where we do go from here? How do people feel about the out-of-character work we've done so far, and what's the right balance of continuing to make out-of-character improvements and working on in-character aspects like government, games, and culture? Are we even ready to start talking about transitioning to regular governance, and if so what ideas do people have in mind? And most importantly, how are people feeling about Wintreath and their experience with it? Those were some of the questions I hoped the survey would give insight on.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill it out...everybody who did the survey gave thoughtful insight that was really helpful. However, we ultimately only had 4 responses...this was much less than I had hoped, given that we blasted it on the forums, Discord, and the NS region. That means the results aren't as authoritative as I would have hoped, and speaks to one challenge we'll have to tackle during the autumn: getting people involved with and engaged in what we're doing.
Here are the results and insights from the survey. If you didn't have a chance to do the survey, or you would like to weigh in the the results, please feel free to do so! Feedback, thoughts, and ideas are still welcome, even if the survey has technically ended. You can talk about your thoughts here on the forum topic, the NationStates RMB, or the Discord!
What's one thing that Wintreath is best at?Without fail, every response spoke about the community itself, using words like comfortable, fun, friendly, supporting, and easygoing. That doesn't surprise me at all...the community has long been the best thing about Wintreath, but I'm happy to see that sentiment has survived events intact.
Not only is the community the best thing about Wintreath, it's also the most important thing...one of the lessons I've relearned over the last months is that Wintreath is nothing without the amazing people that make up its community. It's fine to build things, have events, and keep things going, but none of those things matter if there's no community to do those things with. The most important thing we can do is make sure Wintreath remains all those awesome things people said, and most of that involves taking care of the community and the people in it. All other successes will come from that foundation.
What's one area that Wintreath needs to improve at? Please be specific, and feel free to include any ideas for improvement.Only two people gave ideas for this one, and that's alright...I'm glad two other people felt like we were doing great at everything! But ideas for improvement included some of those things that will grow from having a strong community: government, roleplay, and community events.
How do you feel Wintreath is doing with out-of-character matters such as rules, moderation, and community leadership? And why?This is what we've focused on since February, so it's important to make sure we're hitting the mark before we consider moving our focus to other aspects of our community. The 4 people who took the survey rated us at 8.75 on average for this aspect with comments such as "everyone is continually trying to learn and improve", "easiness of moderation gives us a good vibe of a friendly community", and "encouragement and engagement" from leadership.
How do feel Wintreath is doing with in-character matters such as culture/games and NationStates?As the needs improvement answers suggest, people overall feel like we need to do more work on this aspect, with an average rating of 7.25. That's not a
terrible rating, all things considered, but one that I'm sure we can improve on. Suggestions that came included doing more gameside (I presume they mean NS-side) and doing more roleplaying on the RMB. These and other answers suggest that although we've traditionally focused on forum or Discord games, many people in our current community actually play NationStates and would like to see us do more with it.
How safe and comfortable do you feel being your full self in Wintreath?Feeling safe and comfortable is a goal that's directly stated in our new rules and moderation policies...this is another way to ask how we're doing in those areas, but it also speaks to how people
feel about who they can be in Wintreath rather than what they
think. On this measure we were rated almost perfectly at 9.5. The one person who didn't rate a 10 specified that this reflects how safe they feel being their full selves anywhere, and that they feel safer in Wintreath than in most other online places they've been to.
How much do you feel you belong in Wintreath?At the end of the day, we want to build a community where everyone feels like they belong, and in this measure we were ranked a 9 on average. All the reasons for rating were positive (thank you!), and there were no suggestions for improvement on this question.
What do you most (and second most) want to be part of in Wintreath? Do you feel you're able to take part in this area currently? Why or why not?These questions speak to what people want to be involved in themselves...we could do NS card farming, but not if exactly 0 people want to actually do it.
For this question, there was interest in being involved in government and doing co-op events, including "GGD" (I'm not sure what that is xD).
At some point, we will be discussing issues such as Wintreath's constitution and governing structure, with the possibility of modifying the current constitution or writing an entirely new one. Do you have any thoughts about what you'd like to see here up front? Please be as specific as you'd like.Two people answered this one, and I will provide their full suggestions without comment:
- "I think an executive/head of government should exist, with most issued being headed by a ministry (this can use other names). The head of these ministries can be voted in by the people, and they can appoint others to help their work."
- "I'd like Wintermoot to continue to lead, and have the final say on all decisions. This has proven the fundamental strength of this region and I hope this isn't going to change. That said, I think the citizens (anyone who is part of the community in either the RMB, the Forums or the Discord) should be encouraged to become involved in government."
There were no responses to the question asking for any other feedback or suggestions, but of course anyone is welcome to give their thoughts now!
I hope to make this survey a seasonal thing so that we're always in touch with the community and always improving based on your feedback. I hope as we become more active again we'll have more responses...we want to be a community where people feel engaged and involved with, and where people feel safe giving their thoughts and opinions...even the negative ones. For now though, feedback is more than welcome...feel free to give your feedback, thoughts, and suggestions about anything in Wintreath or this survey!
