Dear Steve & Alex,

Thanks for yet more useful feedback. To attempt to answer/amplify on the questions posed:

REGISTRATION

It’s a challenge. And ‘forcing’ is a word that puts up red flags as that is not what we’re about. The majority of respondents to this Forum obviously have a problem, whereas our research suggests most of our potential audience are comfortable with it if they sense it is bringing them something or is done with good reason.

In our case, this is mainly the localisation facility… and security. These are both applicable to a major percentage of the site and its functions.

In the case of the former (noting your suggestion, Steve), without it we can’t locate your rough ‘area’ to tune the site next time you visit. Which means no local info on recycling, JunkkXchange, etc.

In the case of the latter, it means things can get hard to keep under control.

For instance, I don’t recall at the outset being asked to register for this Forum, though there looks to be a cookie now as it automatically had my unique sign-in name in the box. I presume this means I could post some not very nice things and sign it as someone else (as an experiment let me try to change the signature I use in the box to Peter/YaaBoo Junkk Male and see what goes up. If it corrects it then this is a function worth investigating).

While it may be possible to trace back if someone complains and issue retractions, etc, the damage will have been done. We’d prefer that people are required to be who they say they are from the outset.

This also applies to ‘Suggest’, where irresponsible people could (I stress, could) try and do something ‘unfortunate’ with a listing. Registration will make them think twice. It’s not so necessary for ‘Search’ as people are just looking, but then this is where we have been told we need t&cs to guard against MacDonalds' Coffee-spilling grannies, which has been covered.

We will however look again at ‘opting out’, but this may be logistically complex and also clutter back up the already cluttered opening page(s) with too many options.

The ‘travel bookers model’ suggestion is a good one, which we obviously considered and is worth revisiting. But that would require re-entering the required area each visit, which seemed to frustrate people for other reasons. Then again it does faciliate looking at other areas (note you can radiate out in 10 mile increments using your control page). It’s a question of which is the optimal default. Ho hum.. ‘You can’t please all of the people..’

Maybe it’s a matter of explaining ourselves better, but then we are faced with the fact that more text means more clutter.

HOME PAGE

Redesign underway. Search and Suggest are actually on the home page but have been shunted down way too far by all the other gubbins, which was a mistake for such prime functions and is being addressed.

PR ON FRONT PAGE

This is there while we have yet to launch, and so any public visitor is a happy, though welcome, accident during our testing phase. Those who do visit on purpose are by invitation and will be interested in the PR coverage. This ‘self promotion’ will move to another section of the site in favour of items of more direct use to the public. That said, as Alex (who I hope has posted his egg-box idea... you may get the undying appreciation of the music community for it!) has agreed, people do seem to get reassured that there is such coverage and we will certainly share it if we feel it moves our story along. It also serves to keep those we most need at the moment – the media – happy that we appreciate their interest. Sort of ‘returning the favour’. But the point is taken.

GOVT BACKING

We were boosted at the start by backing from our local Chamber/Business Link and a few others, for which we were/are very grateful. Mind you, they were looking to create jobs and opportunities in media/IT within a rural economy, and we’re hoping to become poster boys/girls for just such an enterprise. And we were, are and always will be on the hunt for any more we can find!

Our experience so far has been that most funding is either for ‘widgets’ (funders seem more comfortable with backing the making a ‘thing’ than supporting a more nebulous ‘service’) or for ‘not-for-profit’ or ‘charitable’ enterprises in this area which, for various reasons, we decided not to pursue. These included a desire for independence and a belief that a profit-based model would make us more customer end-benefit and results-oriented, and less focussed on targets, process at the expense of product and worrying more about the next bit of funding rather than finding the next customer and/or business opportunity.

We’ve also been at a few events where as the commercial ‘pariah’ we’ve been sleeping on a mate’s sofa and grabbing the tube in, while the worthy folks were popping up to the hotel room after the banquet. And with some conferences costing thousands of £’s and some subscriptions/memberships hundreds it is a major problem with no revenue as yet.

But then no one can fire or reassign us for not being ‘on message’. And we can have fun without worrying if ‘them upstairs’ have a sense of humour failure. This whole area can be taken a bit too seriously, even if it covers very serious issues.

I’d like to think all local councils will support it. Some are already, with more joining up as our message spreads. All we ask at present is that they spend a small amount of time working with us to ensure the local info for each postcode is comprehensive, accurate and kept updated. In this way they help us help them by becoming an accessible, trusted resource for this valuable aspect of the site. And once we do have a regular readership on a localised basis, they can help themselves, and our business model, by engaging with our advertising opportunities to share pertinent messages as part of their normal media campaigns. This of course applies to the Govt. as well, with COI initiatives. We’d maintain that a ‘Recycle Now’-style message (with a link to an incentive, or at least interactive follow-up) on Junkk.com would be much more targeted and effective than almost any other medium.

But then we would say that, wouldn’t we :)

signed: Peter (or someone doing a good impression of him)
Junkk Male, Junkk.com