Tracking Praise and Addressing Concerns

Posted Wed, 04/21/2010 - 19:03 by Layal

We're always tracking what people are saying about us on the web, tracking praise, and learning from criticism, and letting people know we're watching and listening.
I thought it would be good for the community to see how these things are addressed, so here is a recent response that I wrote to this blog:
New Political Documentary

My response:

We here at the Nonprofit Commons would like to inform you that we have a very diverse community consisting of worldwide nonprofits and their enthusiastic volunteers and supporters. Hence the various ways in which our tenants express themselves, by sending you objects as you tour our areas, and the various ways in which they present themselves in their offices and the common areas. 

We apologize that the streaming radio station in our networking party area was not to your liking. Our residents use the music and the monthly party in that area to attract people who may want to meet members of our community in an informal manner at a time other than the weekly meetings. People who work for nonprofits still need times where they can relax and get to know their community, and meet new people.  

As a humorous aside, its not my type of music either, so I listen to other radio stations when I attend the parties. But many of the members of the community seem to enjoy it, so it works out for all of us.

We can assure you that our tenants take their work for their nonprofits very seriously, and at least 40 to 60 people attend our weekly meetings. 
Our purpose here is to network, collaborate, and learn from each other. We also feature guest speakers from time to time. 

Everything that you see in our community was donated or built by a member or a supporter. If it did not have real world impact, no one would participate in it. Its sole purpose is to give everyone something to take back with them into the real world. There are also many people who utilize Second Life to overcome physical and geographical limitations as well. 

Here is a blog I wrote about the impact that working in the Nonprofit Commons, which is owned by TechSoup, had on me: Social Innovation Awards Blog

And here are our latest visitor statistics: 
Second Life in Numbers

You are more than welcome to attend one of our weekly meetings, which occurs at 8:30am SLT every Friday. There, you can meet the people who make this great community what it is, feel free to speak to any of them and ask them about what they do.

www.nonprofitcommons.org is our website, where you can read blogs about what is happening at the nonprofit commons and other nonprofit related events around Second Life. 

I really hope that you will visit once again, and learn more about us and what we do. I appreciate your criticism and we will examine your comments and see how we can make our sims more user friendly for visitors. 

Thank you, 

Layal Rabat

So, everyone, what do you think of the blog that was written, and what do you think of our response to it? Would you have handled it differently?

Let's discuss!

Comments

But there's no one there!?!

by Anonymous - 04/21/2010 - 19:31

How many times have I read that? *sigh* I get so frustrated by the comments from people who spend so little time in a new medium before they write up some long, scathing review about it. For whatever reason Second Life seems to bring this about in droves.

I always think about my own reaction to most any new medium. It almost always takes me a while to warm to it. Facebook grew on me as I found more friends from ages past and others I couldn't or wouldn't keep up with in other ways but it didn't happen in an hour, or even a day. I'd fully admit that just learning my way around something new takes more than an hour for all but the most simple things and for all but the most simple understanding.

For me personally Second Life has inspired me to start my own nonprofit. It has gotten me free website hosting from a friend I've never met in real life. It's gotten me new work, new friends, new connections who know what's possible when you don't make quick judgments without fully exploring.

And maybe that's it. Maybe these people who make such quick judgments are the same people who do that in real life? I don't know but I'm glad to be among people who are willing to experiment and play with new tools and new ways of doing business.

I wrote the blog post . . . some feedback

by Anonymous - 04/26/2010 - 03:54

Hi, I've been invited to read the replies and post.

First, thanks for taking the time to read the blogpost and respond to it. That's going further than many organizations would.

I'm glad to hear the area is more active than my forays into the Nonprofit Commons suggest. (Not sure when SLT actually is or what it's based on, so I don't know if I can actually attend a meeting, which would be very interesting.)

I don't think my judgment was too quick, though - I was aware that it was one afternoon's foray, but that is probably more time than many people will give anything new, particularly something web-based. A few of my concerns about downloads, etc. may have been addressed by longer study, but that still doesn't really get to the seemingly overt emphasis on consumerism and an overly looksist default avatar. Those (along with the music choices) set the 'tone' and communicate volumes about what a visitor should expect. Since that tone appears to be at cross-purposes with the ultimate goal, it seems that some revision is in order.

And for credibility, I would expect a sort of vetting of the organizations before I donated any money in this way. There were a lot of "Donate Now" points in my visit, but nothing to demonstrate to me (as a potential donor) that I would be giving to a legitimate charity. That should be standard for any organization asking for donations in SecondLife.

 

Many thanks to Brownrice Internet for hosting the NPSL site.