mysociety/fixmytransport — Issue #552: Add a one day delay before the inital message is sent to an operator
Author: paulh8
Created: 2012-01-13 15:50:29+00:00
State: open

Just an idea for discussion. Would it be would be worth adding a short time (e.g. 1 day) between when an issue is reported and when an email is sent to the operator?

This would allow time for ideas and support to be posted which could then be used by the reporter to improve the initial message which is sent. This would encourage more people to get involved in contributing information knowing this could influence this initial contact and would hopefully reduce the number of useless or poor messages which go to operators. It would also allow a check of where the message would be best sent.

The message that is sent would still be entirely at the discretion of the original reporter so I am not suggesting any form of censorship; they would be perfectly at liberty to send their original message idea if they wanted and ignore any suggestions.

The only disadvantage I can see is that people often expect things to be done instantaneously and may not like the delay, but given the long wait for a reply anyway I think the advantages would far outweigh the extra time delay. Perhaps there are other disadvantages I haven’t thought of. Perhaps it could be optional, but suggested as the default. The reporter could be automatically emailed after 1 day to remind them to look at any comments and send their message.