At first I thought it was just another of those 'ask the intarwebs!' sites where people just twitter or post to each other, but on further inspection I was very taken with the scoring system and the ability to rate the poster's good and bad reasons.
It looks like quite a bit more work to create the question than is usually the case, which might be a disincentive for some - although it will also help them to focus on the issue at hand. The layout is a little confusing at first and god only knows why you made the search box background color to dark grey against a black background - I found myself wondering why there was a search button with no search box until I looked more closely. I think you could use a one line explanation like 'Our members help you rate and discover your options' on the landing page, because it took me a couple of minutes to realize that the stars and ratings were functional rather than mere window-dressing. your 'about' page does this very well, why not use the top two elements from that (title and icons)?
It also wasn't obvious to me that the 'good/bad because...boxes were text fields at first. Stick a flashing cursor in them or something, because they look like headers.
For a site with so few questions and needing a network effect to take off, I'm already impressed and think you're onto a winner here. I would even suggest spinning off a 'pro' version aimed at business or other markets so that professional users who could really gain from this won't have to encounter questions of the 'how does I shot web' variety. Also, find some way to embed it besides the x-posting to twitter, FB and LI. And why aren't you posting 'How can we make CrowdMind better?' as one of your featured questions, you silly-billies!?
Thanks for your review, it is very helpful and I really appreciate it. Looks like the UI needs considerably overhaul given other reviews, so we'll definitely implement your suggestions as well.
Comments
At first I thought it was just another of those 'ask the intarwebs!' sites where people just twitter or post to each other, but on further inspection I was very taken with the scoring system and the ability to rate the poster's good and bad reasons.
It looks like quite a bit more work to create the question than is usually the case, which might be a disincentive for some - although it will also help them to focus on the issue at hand. The layout is a little confusing at first and god only knows why you made the search box background color to dark grey against a black background - I found myself wondering why there was a search button with no search box until I looked more closely. I think you could use a one line explanation like 'Our members help you rate and discover your options' on the landing page, because it took me a couple of minutes to realize that the stars and ratings were functional rather than mere window-dressing. your 'about' page does this very well, why not use the top two elements from that (title and icons)?
It also wasn't obvious to me that the 'good/bad because...boxes were text fields at first. Stick a flashing cursor in them or something, because they look like headers.
For a site with so few questions and needing a network effect to take off, I'm already impressed and think you're onto a winner here. I would even suggest spinning off a 'pro' version aimed at business or other markets so that professional users who could really gain from this won't have to encounter questions of the 'how does I shot web' variety. Also, find some way to embed it besides the x-posting to twitter, FB and LI. And why aren't you posting 'How can we make CrowdMind better?' as one of your featured questions, you silly-billies!?
Overall, excellent: simple but not shallow.
Thanks for your review, it is very helpful and I really appreciate it. Looks like the UI needs considerably overhaul given other reviews, so we'll definitely implement your suggestions as well.