Kudo an idea where the status is Needs Clarification

Bud

If an idea has been flagged as Needs Clarification, then users can’t kudo the idea when it’s in that state:

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/save-join-for-recall/idc-p/1247706

I like that idea, understand what the person is asking for, and want to upvote it. But I can’t because the upvote button is greyed-out. And I likely won’t remember to go back upvote it — when it eventually gets changed to open.

In my opinion, just because Esri is looking for more information, it doesn’t mean the rest of us should be prevented from upvoting it.

Could that behavior be changed?

Thanks.

DaraBurlo · ‎01-19-2023

Hi @Bud,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Needs Clarification was designed this way because typically we don’t understand the context of the idea. That said, we’ll explore this post and discuss with the product team if they are open to using a different status instead for this case.

If there is a scenario of an idea where you feel like it should not have a Needs Clarification status, we do encourage you to post a comment on the idea with your own feedback. Alternatively, you can post a brand new idea in that exchange and provide a link to the related “Needs Clarification’ idea. This will help bring attention to the topic and we can always merge and consolidate posts as-needed.

wayfaringrob · ‎04-10-2023

I would argue closed ideas should be upvotable as well. Esri staff close plenty of ideas without real justification, quashing any chance users have to show the popularity that is needed to move some things along. Kudo-ability should be independent of the idea status.

Bud · ‎04-12-2023

Similarly, you made a good point in a related post:

…the lockout on upvotes when the status is anything other than 'open' serves to cut traction when it's most likely to get it.

DaraBurlo · ‎04-20-2023

Thanks for your additional thoughts, @wayfaringrob and @Bud. I see the points you’re making and get why you’d want to make the case for Ideas that had been previously closed; particularly where you feel our Product teams may not have given something full consideration. It’s understandable where that impression might come from.

Votes on Ideas are one of several components used by our Product teams when determining which new features to develop. Votes primarily serve two needs. They help Product teams reviewing lots of Ideas filter for those that indicate widespread impact. Votes can also impart some weight when there are more actionable Ideas than development resources allow in a given release.

How quickly an Idea might be closed or the number of votes on it doesn’t indicate incomplete consideration. Our Product teams place a lot of value on customer input, and ArcGIS Ideas are one of our best places to get that. Quite often, the person closing an Idea isn’t able to expand on the “why” since details can involve proprietary information.

In the end, our team wants to serve customers as best we can. We’ve currently opted to block the option to add more votes to Closed Ideas because we believe them to have been thoroughly considered, freeing up additional focus for our teams as they work on delivering quality improvements more quickly. You raise a good question, though, as to whether some old Ideas should ever be brought back for reconsideration. Things can change: What isn’t doable at one point in time can sometimes be a different story later on. It’s feedback we’ll have to think on over here as we strive to enable the best balance of processes and outcomes for users.

Bud · ‎04-24-2023

Here's an example of an idea that was potentially hurt by being stuck in the Needs Clarification status for a few days. I suspect that it would have gotten more upvotes when it was initially created if kudos weren't locked.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/virtual-attributes-ad-hoc/idc-p/1277087/highlight/tru...

AlfredBaldenweck · ‎03-16-2024

(I was sure there was already an idea for this but I can't find it. Feel free to merge if there is).

In short, the first like 24 hours seem to be the most important for an Idea getting upvoted. If an Idea is marked as "Needs Clarification" during that time, that Idea misses out on potential upvotes because no one can do them and also they won't remember to come back when the Idea actually does get clarified.

The other thing too is that sometimes clarification is given and the status remains with no further discussion from Esri staff asking for further clarification or assigning a different status; I once had to poke again a month after clarifying asking for the status to be changed.

Letting people vote on a "Needs Clarification" Idea would help a ton in these Ideas getting any traction; I myself have encountered several Ideas that I would LOVE to see implemented but I can't vote for them because they need clarification.

wayfaringrob · ‎03-26-2024

@AlfredBaldenweck well stated. There are times where users really understand and agree with what's being proposed but they're completely shut out by Esri's omnipotent suggestion quashing. As you say, sometimes you can fight to open things up but there's usually a finality to it. For a forum that aims to be democratic, the corporation has a thumb on the scale here.