The arguments being advance about Climate Change are overlooking certain key components which when inculcated within the current equations would provide more in-depth Root Causatives and a more Comprehensive Understanding (by all parties concerned) of the existing conditions. I am a Learned Person who has discovered and been tracking (for 12 years) Root Causatives and End Resultants to Planetary Degradation (not just Global Warming). for instance Avionics and Space Travel have been plagued by “Spot Gravitational Disequilibrium” a Phenomenon which I believe may have contributed to Columbia and Challenger's Catastrophes and the recent Soyuz near Catastrophe, and this same Phenomenon remains a threat to Avionics in certain regions of the Globe. Thus I seek to add value the arguments in favor of advocacy for arresting or combating Climate Change by advancing Comprehensive Planetary Degradation Models. Editors where do I  begin?

J. Arthur Mensah, Sr.

>>Mark: Editors can add tags and keywords to the areas of focus. I want to respond to all of your suggestions in a separate comment, and I agree with every one, but wanted to reply to this one area as it complements Josef’s comments.<<

Thnx Paul. Wrote my gibberish below before reading your note, thank you.

The WiserEarth welcoming message at the top of the index page is perfect, saying all the right things to first time visitors.

1. It might be worthwhile at the end of every Tags/Keywords list to have and "editor" link (or "suggest other tags/keywords") so users can easily click to suggest other Tags/Keywords to the editor.

For Social Entrepreneurship I would suggest to the editor thinking about adding: Muhammad Yunus, Bill Drayton, micro credit, microfinance, micro loans, micro franchising.

2. In the right hand column...

Organizations(278)
Users(53)
Resources(23)
Events(3)
Jobs(0)

Might be nice to add...

Case Studies (though perhaps that is a resource)
Discussions

3. Nit picky (sorry), the Logo is *WISER earth* and in text reads *WiserEarth*, personally I would go with one not both.

4. This is a big one, usability-wise, and I'm making some assumptions here...so if I'm off base, please forgive me.

You will have visitors to the Wiser Earth site, your goal then is conversion to users/people (who create a profile), then your goal is active (repeat) community members.

Personally, I would want to track those numbers each and every day. Now in the past when working with companies like Nextel, Disney & P&G they were not only not tracking their numbers, they didn’t even know what they wanted to track. There are other things you probably already are tracking like volume of "Recent Activity" per day, new orgs, resources, events, jobs, wiki pages added per day, etc. A daily report on the numbers is great, even better if it is something that is shared openly for all members to see.

Please keep in mind I live online with 2-3 browsers open, working in another app, and on the phone...so I may not be an "average user". Hmmm, now that I read that maybe I have ADD...oh, well.

Here's the big one. I've been a member since 07 April 2007 and have returned every day...and know I'm not quite sure what to do when returning to the site. I've edited my profile, so it's fine for now. I've invited a few people and they have signed up and they're here now. I'm not going to download new software to chat, but feel the need to communicate somehow...to connect. It may mean a tighter integration of discussion areas within each AoF, I'm not sure...and this is also just my opinion. But I do find myself going to the "Feedback" section, knowing there is a conversation there, knowing a dialogue will happen.

To the developers I want to say (after you quit cursing my name), I think you have done an outstanding job here. With regards to depth of content, user interface, clean design, information architecture, and so much more...you all have done just incredible work and I commend you. I'm not going to placate you listing all the wonderful things you've done right, but want to be as encompassing as I can be with sharing recommendations and ideas at an early stage here as you are ready to push the "launch button".

When working with the management team to launch "Go To" search site (which then became "Overture" which is now "Yahoo! Search Marketing") one of the deepest and best volumes of insights came from a videotaped well run FTF two hour focus group. It could be worth looking at for Wiser at some stage. (I tend to be more of a "gut" entrepreneur myself...but a well timed focus group can offer some very nice insights)

Seems like letting members build and add words and phrases on top of the Tags/Keywords would be a good idea.

Greetings,

Thanks for all the great feedback. I have categorized it and added it to the Feedback Collection wikipage.

peace
dan;el

There are a load of things that are just incredible about the site. The UI is well thought out and makes sense. The Visualize Network function is brilliant. The 43 areas of focus with things linked to them is very, very nice. The messaging system is nice and streamlined. All that being said I know you are looking for honest, direct, straightforward feedback on the site and user experience...that being said, here goes...

1- The index page I think is planned to, and needs to be much more dynamic. If the intent is to build an interactive dynamic site that many people visit every single day, the content on the front page should represent and include some very recent content. People may assume the site is not very active upon a second visit and just go away.

2- Sign up now, it's free...or something like that could have a much higher profile on the main page. More than anything it seems the objective of the site is to get members to sign up (then engage of course).

3- The Browse People page would be much more interesting if it the default was "by Site Activity" and not "by Name". Recent content is much more interesting (and in the interest of the site), than the alpha order by username.

4- Browse People might be much more compelling by alpha first name (or last) than by alpha user name. User name seems somewhat arbitrary, as it seems most people would look up friends or associates by their real name anyway (and I think encouraging the use of real names in a transparent business and online environment makes sense too).

5- Rather than the need do download from among many varieties of chat software it might be worth looking into just using Gabbly for now, with one room generated for each of the 43 AOF's.

6- Adding a "by Recency" link to "Browse Organizations" could be interesting.

7- Digging down to "edit" then "show tools/help" then "Add Links" seems way, way, way deep for users to find and make personal use of what will build the "Visualize Network" function.

8- In "edit" mode, the "Preview" tab is pretty hard to find prior to needing to save content. I would suggest a "Preview" button to the left of the "Save" button.

9- Going from the "Preview" view back to the box to need to the "Save" in the edit box seems a little awkward.

10- When someone sends me a Private Message" it would be nice if a default (that could be turned off) also sent the message via email too. And users would still need to return to the Wiser site to answer.

11- I'd rather communicate with members thru the PM system and not have the email addy so visible, many email scrappers I think can still read the name at name.com or dotcom.

12- When something changes on one of the pages under "My Watchlist" is there a visual clue on the watchlist that will show the user that? If the answer is yes, fantastic. If no, well...there should be ;-)

13- I suspect getting members in discussions within discussion threads is going to be a sticky and nice community feature for members. As I understand it, Wiser content will be "syndicated" and be able to run in an open and shared way on other web sites, will discussion threads do the same?

14- Not sure if this is a practical function yet, but it seems like any internal link under a user profile could be set up as a default watchlist item.

15- Would be nifty to have a "print this" option where users could print any "Visualize Network" page in a nice clean (little other info) environment.

16- Is there a way to for users to be notified of NEW users who say put "social entrepreneur" as the "I am" link. A way for birds of a feather to connect much quicker.

17- The depth and thinking you have all done with AOF and all related things is wonderful. If might be nice to have users select their top 3 things though, just to get focus within the focus...so to speak. In other words they can still list a boatload, like I have...but highlight the top three.

18- This "Firefox 2 & IE7 users, add WiserEarth search to your browser searchbar" has a pretty high profile and might look better in the footer of each page.

19- Might be nice to have an organized way under the user profile to allow users easy input and organized sharing of links to other personal onlne content: Linked In, Delicious, YouTube, Flickr, Skype, etc.

Sorry this is such a boatload of stuff, hope some is helpful.

A few people reported difficulty in finding the show tools when they went to edit their profiles. The link is prominently displayed but what about removing the need to show the tools and help all together. In other words, have the dialog box default to having the tools displayed.

Since the user selected "edit" to get to this dialog box, I think the confusion comes from an expectation to have the edit tools be visible. You can still let them hide the tools, but having it displayed removes another click.

It would be great if you could view the messages you sent as replies. It would also be great if you could save a message as a draft before you sent it.

Hi! Great job so far and props to Trees! ;-) I think the search option (where you can enter keywords, city, state, etc) for jobs should be visible as soon as you click on the jobs link in the left column instead of after using the search box at the top. Also, my picture is either not loading or not visible after it loads. Thanks and continue the good work!

This is a lot of fun, and beautifully done!

Two questions. I like the 'visualise network' function for organisational areas of focus. Is it possible to have a parallel geographical tool?

When people visit the Pioneers of Change profile, for example, they might get the idea that things are happening only in Johannesburg (headquarters location), although the network is made up partly of several local networks. Should I create a separate profile for each of the local networks?

And, if a geographical visualisation tool is added, will it be possible to visualise anyone who is associated with the organisation, as many people could be scattered?

This is wonderful, really...

Also, the google map associated with my profile is pointing to Saskatchawan (the center of Canada??) when it should show London, Ontario. My sister lives in Toronto and her profile (CNash) shows the correct map. Just because my London is the fake one (we also have a Thames river!) doesn't mean it should appear in Sask. :)