Recent updates to the suggestion forum, better search and multiple sort options in particular, have drastically improved it's useability. However, the way votes themselves are handled is still extremely problematic. The extremely limited number of votes users get, combined with the way votes can sit in a suggestions for months even after it's hit the first page, stifles the ability of users to share their ideas or support new ideas. I think there are several ways to remedy this that can be used either in conjunction with each other or on their own. Establish a protocol for clearing suggestions. Right now, one of the biggest problems is that suggestions can sit on the front page for months with no response. Users are left wondering if the devs have seen it, are considering it, or if it's already been dismissed and they should move on. All the while, it continues to lock up their vote. If a protocol for evaluating suggestions that reach a certain page or vote threshold, with fixed timelines, were implemented, it would allow users to more accurately gauge what's going on and get their votes back. I would further suggest that this could work in stages (possibly: seen, under consideration, in-progress/queued/rejected). Once a suggestion hits a certain threshold someone will give it a cursory overview and either reject it or mark it as seen. Then after it has been seen for a certain period it'll either be rejected or moved to under-consideration. From there, there could be either a predetermined period or a posted, per suggestion, period after which it moves to either queued/in-progress or rejected. When a suggestion is marked as seen or consideration, votes would be returned, but the tally would remain the same. This would allow users to either move onto new suggestion, without revoking their support, or recommit their vote to ideas that are more important to them. When an idea is moved the last stage (queued/in-progress/rejected) votes are returned and voting is locked, since further votes won't effect anything and there won't be any further opportunities to refund them. Pros Gives users more feedback about what the devs are thinking. Creates a clear and open process and timeline for dealing with suggestions. Lets users get back their votes. Cons Requires active effort on the part of Roll20's staff. Doesn't help people with less popular or buried ideas. Regenerate votes after a period of time. This suggestion is relatively simple. Automatically give people their votes back (without decreasing the tally on a suggestion) after a few months have passed. Pros Prevents votes from being locked up for exessively long periods. Helps everyone equally. Cons Does not provide any feedback. Drastically increase allotted votes and allow users to commit multiple votes to a single suggestion. This one is also pretty simple. Increasing the number of votes increases peoples ability to support or suggest ideas. The second part allows users to show different levels of support, but also helps to balance an increased number of votes against how many suggestions are made. Pros The first part is the simplest suggestion to implement. The second part gives users a better ability to express how much they support any given idea. Cons Without some way to get votes back, simply adding more votes does not fix the problem. It merely delays it. Potential to inflate vote counts and number of suggestions. Personally, I'd recommend implementing all three (of course I would), but the first one is the most important, with some version of the second being a nice addition.
