Hi guys,<p>I'm trying to figure out what makes people that give feedback tick.<p>As some of you may know, I have started a new website, launchly, that is trying to be a centralized point for new web startups to get feedback on their idea/site/design/etc. I have been getting some feedback from random users but so far I am not seeing the feedback rates that a site like HN gets (and HN isn't even focused on website feedback). I'm getting lots of votes (Digg-style) but the majority of my visitors don't seem to be leaving feedback.<p>My question to you, then, is why do you leave feedback on the "review my site" posts on HN? What is it that draws you to provide feedback? And on an obviously related note, what WOULD draw you to provide feedback on a site like launchly?<p>Is there some direct benefit to you that I am missing when you provide feedback here? I provided feedback on sites prior to creating launchly just because I enjoyed it so I guess I assumed that's why others did it but maybe I have missed something obvious.
I give feedback out of a sense of community. I like the people who come to HN, and I emphasize them.<p>When someone asks for feedback on their site, I'll usually check their post history and how long they've been around. If they're contributing and being helpful, I'm happy to help them in return.
I think you have to find the right type of people to write full reviews without incentive. Maybe people would be more apt to review sites if it wasn't so much work. Maybe you could use a system where people type a couple of words in review of the site, rather than a huge amazon.com style product review.<p>You could just put a small textarea up in your top launchly info frame where people can leave small page specific comments about sites.<p>Speaking from personal experience, I went to your site clicked around, looked at a couple of the sites. I did find a few things that I could suggest about them, but didn't have the motivation to write a dissertation about the problems.<p>Hope this helps.
Had a look at the first four pages of launchly.com. I wasn't near enough tempted to look at any of the sites. I'm sure that the visitors to that site are very different to those who regularly visit HN. For me (and that's only a single data point) HN provides value that matters to me. Launchly, on the other hand, doesn't hold any appeal nor interest.<p>IMHO your best way forward is to start a dialogue with those who do visit your site, ask them what they are looking for, etc. Only then are you in a position to better provide value for your visitors. It's all to do with <i>Marketing</i>.