Collaborating on Ideas
Collaborate on ideas to support or offer your opinion on submitted suggestions. Users can engage with ideas through voting mechanisms to express agreement or disagreement, participate in detailed comment discussions to provide feedback and suggestions, and report inappropriate content to maintain community standards. The Ideas module fosters collaborative evaluation and refinement of suggestions through community-driven engagement features that enable constructive feedback and collective decision-making processes.
Requirements
To collaborate on ideas, users must be assigned a security role with the following permissions:
- All Entities, Idea: Read
- All Entities, Idea: Create
- Tab Settings, Ideas: On
- App Settings: App with the Ideas Tab must be Visible
Understanding Ideas Collaboration Features
Community Engagement Framework
The Ideas module provides comprehensive collaboration capabilities that encourage community participation in the innovation and improvement process. Users can engage with ideas through multiple interaction methods that foster constructive feedback and collective evaluation of submitted suggestions.
Collaborative Evaluation: Community members can assess ideas through voting mechanisms that provide quantitative feedback on idea merit and support levels.
Discussion Facilitation: Comment systems enable detailed discussions that help refine ideas, identify implementation challenges, and build consensus around promising suggestions.
Content Moderation: Abuse reporting capabilities maintain community standards and ensure that collaboration remains constructive and appropriate.
Accessing Ideas for Collaboration
- Navigate to the Ideas Tab
- Browse available ideas using filtering and sorting options
- Click on any idea title or description to open the Idea Details pane
- Review the complete idea information including title, description, category, and current status
Voting on Ideas
Understanding the Voting System
Voting Mechanism: The Ideas module uses a thumbs up/thumbs down voting system that allows community members to express support or disagreement with submitted ideas.
Permanent Voting: Once a user casts a vote on an idea, the vote becomes permanent and cannot be changed or removed. This ensures voting integrity and prevents manipulation of vote counts.
Vote Impact: Each vote contributes to the idea's overall score and popularity ranking, influencing how ideas are displayed and prioritized within the module.
Casting Votes
To Vote for an Idea:
- In the Idea Details pane, locate the voting section on the left side
- Click the Thumbs Up button (👍) to express support for the idea
- The vote is immediately recorded and cannot be modified
To Vote Against an Idea:
- In the Idea Details pane, locate the voting section on the left side
- Click the Thumbs Down button (👎) to express disagreement with the idea
- The vote is immediately recorded and cannot be modified
Voting Considerations
Strategic Voting: Consider the idea's merit, feasibility, and potential impact before voting, as votes cannot be changed once cast.
Community Impact: Voting patterns influence which ideas receive attention from administrators and stakeholders, making thoughtful voting important for community outcomes.
Balanced Evaluation: Review both positive aspects and potential challenges before casting votes to ensure fair and comprehensive evaluation.
Commenting on Ideas
Comment System Features
Rich Discussion Capabilities: The comment system supports detailed feedback, suggestions for improvement, and collaborative refinement of ideas through threaded discussions.
Community Building: Comments facilitate knowledge sharing and collaborative problem-solving that benefits the entire community.
Feedback Integration: Comments provide valuable input for idea authors and administrators evaluating suggestions for implementation.
Adding Comments
To Comment on an Idea:
- In the Idea Details pane, scroll to the Add Your Comment section
- Click in the comment editor to begin writing
- Use the rich text formatting tools to enhance your comment presentation:
- Text Formatting: Bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough options
- Lists: Numbered and bulleted lists for organized feedback
- Links: Include relevant references or supporting documentation
- Structure: Format comments for easy reading and understanding
- Enter your detailed comment, feedback, or suggestions
- Click Add Your Comment to publish the comment
Comment Content Guidelines
Constructive Feedback: Focus on providing helpful, actionable feedback that contributes to idea development and evaluation.
Specific Suggestions: Offer concrete suggestions for improvement, implementation strategies, or alternative approaches.
Professional Tone: Maintain respectful, professional communication that encourages continued collaboration and discussion.
Supporting Information: Include relevant examples, use cases, or additional context that enhances the discussion.
Comment Management
Comment Ownership: Users can delete their own comments if they need to remove or revise their contributions to the discussion.
Comment Visibility: Comments are visible to all users who have access to view the idea, based on sharing permissions and security role configurations.
Discussion Continuity: Comments remain part of the permanent discussion record, contributing to the idea's evaluation history.
Reporting Inappropriate Content
Abuse Reporting System
The Ideas module includes comprehensive content moderation capabilities that allow community members to report inappropriate ideas or comments for administrative review and action.
Community Standards: Reporting helps maintain professional, constructive community standards by identifying content that violates community guidelines or organizational policies.
Administrative Review: Reported content is reviewed by administrators who can take appropriate moderation actions to address community concerns.
Reporting Ideas or Comments
To Report an Idea:
- In the Idea Details pane, locate the Report option
- Click Report to open the abuse report interface
- In the Abuse Report window, enter a detailed explanation of the inappropriate content or behavior
- Specify the nature of the violation and provide relevant context
- Click Report Abuse to submit the report for administrative review
To Report a Comment:
- In the Comments section, locate the specific comment requiring attention
- Click Report next to the problematic comment
- In the Abuse Report window, provide a comprehensive explanation of the issue
- Include specific details about why the comment violates community standards
- Click Report Abuse to submit the report
Report Content Guidelines
Detailed Descriptions: Provide specific, factual descriptions of the inappropriate content or behavior to help administrators understand the issue.
Objective Reporting: Focus on factual concerns rather than personal disagreements or opinion differences.
Community Standards: Report content that violates organizational policies, community guidelines, or professional standards.
Constructive Intent: Use reporting to maintain positive community standards rather than to suppress legitimate discussion or disagreement.
Best Practices for Ideas Collaboration
Effective Voting Strategies
Thoughtful Evaluation: Take time to read and understand ideas completely before voting to ensure informed decision-making.
Balanced Assessment: Consider both benefits and challenges when evaluating ideas rather than focusing solely on initial impressions.
Strategic Impact: Remember that voting patterns influence administrative attention and resource allocation for idea implementation.
Productive Comment Practices
Value-Added Feedback: Focus on comments that add meaningful insight, suggestions, or relevant information to the discussion.
Constructive Criticism: When identifying challenges or concerns, offer suggestions for addressing them rather than simply pointing out problems.
Collaborative Spirit: Frame comments to encourage continued discussion and collaborative problem-solving rather than shutting down conversation.
Professional Communication: Maintain respectful tone and language that supports positive community engagement.
Community Engagement
Active Participation: Regularly review and engage with new ideas to support community innovation and improvement processes.
Knowledge Sharing: Contribute expertise and experience through detailed comments that benefit other community members and idea authors.
Supportive Environment: Foster an environment where community members feel comfortable sharing ideas and providing feedback.
Integration with Ideas Module Features
Collaboration and Review Status
Voting and comment activity provides valuable input for administrators managing idea review status updates and implementation decisions.
Community Analytics
Collaboration metrics help administrators understand community engagement patterns and identify high-value ideas receiving strong community support.
Notification Systems
Comment activity triggers notifications for idea authors and community members following specific ideas or topics.
Search and Discovery
Active collaboration through voting and commenting improves idea visibility and discoverability within the Ideas module.
Jump to Ideas Checklist
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