Reader feedback

Reader feedback lets the people who use your documentation tell you whether a page helped them. It shows you which pages work, and which need attention.

What readers see

At the bottom of every article on a published site, readers see the question Was this page helpful? with a thumbs up and a thumbs down. The question is not shown on a knowledge base’s home page.

After a reader chooses, they can say why by ticking one or more reasons, and add a short comment. Both are optional.

Reasons for a thumbs down

I didn’t find what I was looking for
It’s hard to understand
Code or steps don’t work
It’s out of date
It’s incorrect or misleading
It’s missing details or examples

Reasons for a thumbs up

It solved my problem
It was easy to follow
The examples were helpful

Comments

A comment can be up to 250 characters.

Readers stay anonymous

Feedback does not identify the reader. DocSpade records the page, the vote, the reasons, the comment and the time, and nothing that says who sent it.

Because of this, you cannot reply to a reader through feedback. Do not ask readers to include personal details in the comment.

What you can see

For each knowledge base, the people who write it can see:

Every response. The page, the vote, the reasons ticked, the comment and the time. You can narrow the list by vote, by reason, by page and by time period.
A summary. The total thumbs up and thumbs down, how often each reason was ticked, and a list of pages with the most thumbs down first.

If an article has been deleted since it received feedback, its responses are kept, but the article’s title is no longer shown.

Who can see it

Editors, publishers, owners and admins of the knowledge base. Readers cannot see other readers’ feedback.

Using feedback well

Start with the pages at the top of the thumbs-down list. They are where most readers got stuck.
Read the reasons before the comments. A pile of “It’s out of date” points to a different fix than “Code or steps don’t work”.
Treat a few responses with caution. One unhappy reader is not a trend.
After you fix a page, publish the site so readers see the change, then watch whether the votes improve.