Hi everyone,
This past two years have seen many suggestions by our readers and TOC members about improvements which TOC could or should adopt.
As we go into the new year, we would like to invite you to give us your ideas, suggestions, feedback and criticisms, so that we can improve further. TOC is after all, your platform. We are just the facilitators. J
We hope to collate a list of your feedback in the next one month or so. The editors and members of TOC will discuss them, see if they are viable and implement them if they are so.
It heartens us that so many of you have, either here in the comments sections or through private emails, taken the time and effort to feedback to us.
Thank you.
For simplicity, please do post your suggestions here under this post.
Alternatively, you can write in to us at theonlinecitizen@gmail.com and we promise that we will reply to every email sent to us.
Thank you.
With utmost appreciation,
Andrew Loh
Deputy Editor
The Online Citizen
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This post will be moved to “TOC Extra” later on to allow feedback to continue.
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Hi,
I would like to see a proper forum/message board here as it is clear that many of the ‘comments’ posts of articles have become ersatz message boards spawned wide ranging discussions. I’m sure a proper forum/message board will be very well received by all who partonise this site.
Cheers.
A few humble suggestions:
1. Feature interviews with members from Alternative Parties to give them the opportunity to reach out to a wider audience.
2. Email interviews with those overseas (Francis Seow, Tan Wah Piow, etc.)
3. Interviews with PAP Ministers (they should know to expect questions that the MSM journalists are afraid to ask).
4. Your articles are always timely, but they get moved from the main page too soon. So having a “Top 5″ ranking for articles that are “Most Read”, “Most commented”, etc. may help those who do not visit often enough.
5. Finally, Good job, keep it up!
how about print some TOC t-shirt and organize come volunteer work like helping some poor old people collect boxes to sell?
Agree very much with Coolie.
As a sidenote, a forum may not be optimal as this is the easiest way to look for comments tagged to an article. Users should instead refrain from going off-topic.
and t-shirt sold donate to people who need them?
Repost as earlier post didn’t go through….
I’d really like to see video conversations or lectures that shares concepts like Democratic Education and Roles of Civil Societies for educational purposes especially not the newly initiated.
An example is this video conversation with Howard Zinn on History.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMt7cFFKPeM
I would like to see TOC protect the privacy of its readers and persons who post comments in forums, and not reveal things like IP addresses for reasons political or economic.
First of all thanks for the good job TOC! I think you all have done Singapore proud and must have some sleepless nights at time as TOC went to HLP on the minibond saga.
I like to see TOC evolving into a non-bartisan interest group i.e. it will highlight certain grouses in the society without attacking any political party. The Green Party in many countries though advocating for environmental issues have gone political somewhat but I don’t blame them as sometimes to achieve something concrete you need to do it on the political platform.
I am unsure how comfortable TOC will be to take charge and highlight certain misgivings in our society? There are many of such issues now in our country but no one there to spearhead the initiative. TKL by leading the way for the minibond investors is surely a very fine example. It may take a few more TKLs here to let the country see that there is indeed strength in unity. I am not talking about a revolution here but doing things within the legal framework and also not merely making a mess of thing. Be a loud yet firm voice for the country.
TOC should have at least 500 readers by now on a daily basis if not more. It certainly has attracted the average Singaporean who may be non-partisan or not. More importantly, it provided an interesting platform for all to air their views however eloquent or not.
I am based in Sydney and as you can see my heart is very much in Singapore. I followed events closely by monitoring such sites for views and news. One can never get much out of the ST these days.
I can only see TOC gaining much more influence for the next two years. For the sake of Singapore, I hope that this site will not be closed down when events go out of hand (according to the authorities).
Keep up the good work Andrew and many more who work behind the scene.
I am sure you can achieve much more if you dare to confront uncharted waters. TKL has taken the first brave step. The rest is up to us.
Some very good an innovative suggestions already. Here are my contributions.
1. Interface:
a. Topics to be segregated and group according to their subject matters:
i.e. Home News, Financial News, Environmental News, Quotes, Special Interests etc. etc. and place these at the top of every page, not just the Home page as it the case now.
b. Drop-down navigation and search format instead of List format (too much scrolling required, very inconvenient for finger scrolling on laptops).
c. Topics with similar subject/content matters to be placed as an add-on to the existing one already posted for discussion. This is to prevent the same comments being written all over the place.
(In other word, at any time when a subject matter has a new twist or has an update, it is better for it to follow within the same thread instead of a separate thread. Discussion can then be continued without making the same points all over again in a new thread).
2. News Coverage:
a. TOCtv to expand and handle news coverage in a structured format.
b. TOC interviewers must ask the same question in different ways when interviewing the public, or to ask as many people as possible. The idea is to be able to pick out the ‘nicer’ ones for broadcast. There must be some sort of editing before the news video is rolled out.
c. TOCtv to include a news reader, like any news station does, to present the main points TOCtv wants to convey.
d. TOCtv to include light-hearted topics like football scores updates or any sports updates that may be of interest to viewers and readers.
3. Engagements:
a. Have a code of conduct, prominently displayed, for bloggers, especially partisan ones, to be more accepting of views and comments that goes against their inclinations and beliefs, or, counter-comments that challenges their stands and comments.
b. Personal attacks on fellow bloggers is a no, no.
c. Bloggers must see TOC as a forum that strives for constructive engagements for the main purpose of making Singapore a better place to live in.
4. Others:
a. refer to Coolie’s suggestions in post #2.
b. refer to Dr. Albert’s suggestions in post #3.
Add on: can expand beyond TOC T-shirts to all sorts of small and effective advertising items – i’m sure you can think up something.
These are some of the things that pops into the head for now.
All the best TOC!
- Allow thumb up/down for images of Ministars, MPs, opp party, or whatever to show popularity level. This will help the citizens know their MPs, and also help those VIPs to improve their public image.
- Show large scale face image of ‘popular’ political figures for printout. Good for those who prefer throwing dart to whining, complaining, cursing and swearing.
First of all, I would like to thanks the TOC team for all their hardwork. Together with ST and ChannelNewsAsia, TOC is one of those websites that I would visit daily. Of course, I am also a fan of YawningBread and MrWang blog, but YB and MW offers only their personal views on current issues, whereas TOC have a team of writers with different expertise.
Suggestion wised, my main complain is the hassle I find in reference to old articles. For example, when I am reading a latest article and if I want to reference to an old article, I would need to open another window and find the article. Currently the right panel under “Main Stories” only carries 4-5 current news. It would be great if there is a ‘+’ button to expand or collapse the box to view maybe the past 20 articles. It might be even better if the articles can be group by date and we can expand the date to see all the articles for that particular day.
Once again, I want to thanks TOC for offering a different take on the current affairs. TOC certainly filled a void created by our State control media environment. Hope you guys can expand your team further and offer more critical views on all current affairs.
Cheers…
I second what gemani (and probably many others) have suggested on the interface:
1) Have more appropriate classification. E.g. the recent posts on the US Elections can be tagged as “Foreign News”, and I think a clearer distinction can be made between “News” and “Opinion”.
2) Since number of articles have been increasing, older articles get squeezed out of the main focus pretty quickly. A better interface is in demand: I suggest taking a few ideas from major news websites.
3) The box in the main page, “Your Views”, highlights recent comments, but given the increased traffic, things get flushed down pretty fast. I suggest listing the top five (or whatever number appropriate) recently commented topics, and not the comment themselves (so if a topic gets two comments, it still appears only once in the list).
4) A very minor issue, but if you guys have lots of spare time and manpower to burn, the interface do overlap a little bit in my browser (e.g. some words in one box may flow out to the next box). That’s probably because I use Firefox in Linux. But very minor issue.
As for content, all have been good so far, though I’m hoping more on:
1) “Alternative” opinion. And by “alternative”, I meant alternative to the prevailing mood of the internet: articles in support of the government. I don’t want TOC to be just the mirror image of MSM (same partisanship but on the other side).
2) This is tough, but I wonder if it’s possible to arrange some sort of a debate or dialogue on current issues. I think streaming it live is too much, but I certainly don’t mind Youtube videos. You know, something like bimonthly debates on recent issues and articles with inputs from people of different political allegiance.
and we all netizens can even help you to grow if you need to recruit anymore members and if financing is the issue, I think all of us should not have any problem in contributing our part to keep you guys going strong, am I right singaporeans? . . . . . .helloooooo! OMG talk about $$$ all disappear liao! typical sg
I second the forum/message board thing. Actually, I think the ST Forum one is quite good to emulate. … except for the lack of moderators, and ease of creating new accounts.
To build up the community, maybe a Shoutbox can be implemented. basically near real time chatting while on TOC.
Here is some suggestions for the layout:
-> Consider a kind of ‘photo album’ layout for the main content panel. Instead of stacking the sections on each other, give each section a tab (if possible).
-> Include a list of related topics at the end of each blog post
-> Move TOC TV up above “Elsewhere on the Net”
-> Even better, put ‘Elsewhere on the net’ in a scrollable box so that it takes up less space.
Regards.
1. Interface:
a. Topics to be segregated and group according to their subject matters:
i.e. Home News, Financial News, Environmental News, Quotes, Special Interests etc. etc. and place these at the top of every page, not just the Home page as it the case now.
b. Drop-down navigation and search format instead of List format (too much scrolling required, very inconvenient for finger scrolling on laptops).
c. Topics with similar subject/content matters to be placed as an add-on to the existing one already posted for discussion. This is to prevent the same comments being written all over the place.
(In ther word, at any time when a subject matter has a new twist or has an update, it is better for it to follow within the same thread instead of a separate thread. Discussion can then be continued without making the same points all over again in a new thread).
- gemami (#9)
This makes a lot of sense, but does TOC have so many writers that cover so much aspect of news? I think a better alternative is to have standardised subject tags for each article. So if the article covers the credit crisis, it will have the tag credit crisis attached to it, so when we navigate, we can identify articles based on the tags. This is an approach used at http://www.blogspot.com
With regards to comment thread, is it possible to break down the comments automatically into a number of pages. For example, limit 30 comments per page. It is similar to how the Economist.com display its comment thread.
16) smallvice585
sure, why not? sounds good too. thanks.
3) Dr. Albert on November 14th, 2008 2.06 am
how about print some TOC t-shirt and organize come volunteer work like helping some poor old people collect boxes to sell?
Volunteer work is good but we have to realize the limits of a small entity like TOC. It can’t be all and do all.
This will draw the much needed TOC resources away from its core operation of bring up matters concerning the society.
However, people who are interested in ideas of volunteer work like helping some poor old people collect boxes to sell? should organize among their friends and family to get the ball rolling. We should all agree the point is:
Starting some social activism among Singaporeans, just like Mr Tan Kin Lian. It does not matter if it is under TOC or not.
13) tiredsingaporean
if financing is the issue, I think all of us should not have any problem in contributing our part to keep you guys going strong, am I right singaporeans? . .
Sure, as much as we can help, why not?
I would like to see the interface expand and streamlined. Stories get stashed away to the archives from the front page too quickly.
YA I agreed with some here that a chat room will be good as it allows real time connection. Those who have alot of time to kill can go to the chat room to discuss about politics or social issues. The most I can click on to TOC is probably about an hour a day even though I have typed in several comments and read through some others. It will be cool to allow TOC regulars who need to register themselves to have access to a real time chat site for political discussion.
Are TOC able to get in touch with overseas political sites like ours? If you can do a link up it will be great. I know US and Australia have several political sites like TOC. We can then criss cross political websites to gain more from what others have commented. It may be good even to share on each other sites!
Suggestions:
1) Compile all video clips in a section. i.e. create a section that hyperlink to all articles which come with video clips.
2) Can public give donation to TOC under the Acts? I’m sure there are many people want to donate which they see TOC as an “alternative media”. The money that collected can buy equipments or stationary items, e.g. videocam, printers
3) I would like to see TOC provides a “live report” by using digicam with blog function. (Personally, i don’t see the need for editing). This can be divided into Part 1, 2, 3 or more if necessary. TOC can edit in a later stage and thus no need to rush, lor. Overall, i would like to see TOC “overall in-charge” of all “live rallies report” in the next GE.
4) Expand the TOC media team and call for a recruitment exercise.
i will like to see a weekly panel of analysts (not necessary professionals) giving their views on current issues in Singapore….a kind of debate to be facilitated by TOC
2) Can public give donation to TOC under the Acts? I’m sure there are many people want to donate which they see TOC as an “alternative media”. The money that collected can buy equipments or stationary items, e.g. videocam, printers – ZL (#22)
Printers? If TOC becomes a newspaper, it automatically becomes state-controlled, thanks to the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act. Your suggestion clearly underlines the vacuum of alternative media in Singapore, which TOC somehow has evolved and perceived to take up this role.
Gemami did mention in his response to PAP Anonymous on another thread about the forgettables. There exists a need for an alternative media depository that keep track of Singapore happenings and development. Is anyone here has a good awareness of state policies pursued and implemented by PAP over the last 43 years? What succeeded? What failed?
My brain is telling me that the mainstream media in Singapore has been over-hyping the success of the PAP for many years. I recall David Marshall (Singapore’s first Chief Minister) once described the Straits Times as prostitutes of the PAP.
With regards to donation, does TOC have a legal structure in the first place? If the answer is no, donation could by done on a person to a person level, but this also means donation cannot be coordinated on a large scale level.
Home printer, to be precious, to print flyers, not newspapers. It’s just an e.g.. $$$ is more practical (for those who do not want to walk the talk), which i agree better be done on a person to a person.
TOC, could includes information on basic legal avenues and the rights of an individual. Property transaction is one market you can look into. HDB schemes for some people who are not aware of with case study report. After reporting case study it will be helpful to see how the problem was solved and what channels were taken to meet success. Many Singaporeans do not have answer, which are valuable information hold by authourities. Hope it helps.
TOC can be better and overtake Shitty Times!
1)expand your reach to also include uncles and aunites who are not internet savvy.
2)have more chinese/malay/indian translation for most important articles
3)increase awareness of this wonderful site
4)allow the numerous comments to break into pages, scrollling them when there are 100 over comments is really tough
5)raise your awareness in uni/jc/poly and sec schools
6)have an online real time radio station broadcast thru internet during peak hours where there can be callers calling in to discuss issues, have a DJ too, will be very interesting and can raise more income thru advert.
7) allow people to have something like a stomp feature where we can post picture and videos to TOC.
We do not need a TOC newspaper or newsletter. We might be contrevening some ridiculuos acts somewhere. Just some simple stuff like bookmarks that can be given away freely at HLP or the tertiary institutions like Sg Polytechnic etc that gives direction for people to come online to TOC. Keep the news online.
2) Coolie on November 14th, 2008 12.56 am
I like Coolie’s 3rd suggestion:
“3. Interviews with PAP Ministers (they should know to expect questions that the MSM journalists are afraid to ask).”
But like it to be unrehearsable and ask in a public environment full of people.
Maybe our public service news people ‘forgot’ to ask some kinds of questions??
TOC can serve as the neutral party – ask what Alternative parties dare not ask and ask what the ‘a’-team ‘forgot’ to ask. I am disappointed by the Alternative parties. All these while this year, there are so many issues. People just want their representatives to ASK on their behalf. How difficult is that? You are registered as political party. What is the REALity of Alternative parties? Alternative parties , can you answer this question?
2) Coolie
11) gtiong
You mentioned about stories getting pushed down too fast. I think this is a problem that the TOC team is actively looking into. In the meantime, I thought I’d point out that you can actually see the archived articles in two ways:
1. Click on the “Read previous articles” link at the bottom of each section in the Home page.
2. Enter in a search query in the search box at the top right of the page. You can even enter in the name of the author.
Just another comment: sometimes, there’s a checkbox that, when submitting a comment, gives the option of receiving an email when other comments come in. I notice that it has gone absent lately. Perhaps that can be brought back? I find it rather useful.
I learn about your site after the Minibong saga and I like it. But I hope you guys will beef up a little on your research. Instead of relying on the official statistics, go and do your own surveys, etc. I know you did some in the past but they are not that methodologically sound. For example, consumer price index, customer satisfaction with government agencies, customer services on the phone esp for govt agencies and banks (“if you press 1, we will not listen to you. Please wait, your call is very important to arse.”)etc, you get the idea, things that concern the ordinary citizen.
Also, focus on some stories of ordinary Singaporeans (not the rich and famous as in mainstream media), those people without a voice in these official mouthpiece.
Email notif and submit to thread comments look to have removed. Why?
I meant subscribe to comments feature is removed
Hi Hongjun,
The feature is back again. I apologise for the mistake as we were trying out some new stuff which affected the comments subscription feature.
It should be ok now.
Regards,
ANdrew Loh
TOC wiki.
Great so far :)
I would like to see a proper forum/message board here as it is clear that many of the ‘comments’ posts of articles have become ersatz message boards spawned wide ranging discussions. – chorus (#1)
I think a forum will have a life completely on its own. I think it is better to have a commentary thread that is influenced and associated to a TOC article. It would be a check to keep this website from being completely against the government as TOC is non-partisan. Every article does not necessary has to align with the Establishment, so are the comments.
I have noticed that there are very few women contributers. Could TOC include a ‘Women’s Issues’ segment for women to talk about issues of the fairer kind? I am sure thare are topics they would love to discuss over like procreation, baby bonus, NS for women etc. Go get them onto the TOC bandwagon.
Gemami
Hi ya I feel that we should include some social/economic issues like how to help the retrenched, single parents, abused husbands, etc so that it’s focus is not just on political issues though that should be the main thrust of the blog.