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General Feedback

This forum is for you to share ideas and exchange feedback with Mountaineers members, guests, volunteers, and leadership. You may vote for or comment on any idea and will be notified of its status changes. Your feedback helps us prioritize projects and improvements for our organization.

We receive lots of great ideas, so please search the forum before adding a new one. If your idea is not yet in our forum, please post it with a simple title and an explanation, and how it could benefit The Mountaineers. If you want to learn more about what we've already implemented and what is up next, please visit our Technology Blog. Thank you for your participation!

Please note that all our courses, events, trips, course-related activities, clinics, seminars, and lodge stays have forms for you to give feedback when you participate. You’ll get an email reminder to do so just after the activity. If your feedback is of urgent nature it may be best to contact the chair of the committee that sponsors that program directly. Not sure who the chair is? Visit our Committee Chair Directory or contact our Member Services Team at info@mountaineers.org.

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31 results found

  1. Publicly accessible API

    As a member of the Mountaineers, I'd love to give back in a way that I have particular expertise.

    It would be great of the website had a public facing REST API for exposing data such as events and classes.

    At least in a read capacity. My particular goal would be to write an Android (and possibly iOS) app to browse the events and what not.

    It would be great to have easy native access to my up coming events, and be able to launch navigation to the event right from the app.

    I have extensive experience writing and working…

    18 votes

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    9 comments  ·  Members  ·  Admin →
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    We receive a lot of offers from IT folks offering to help, particularly folks with development experience. While we appreciate it, our website is not terribly complicated but is incredibly specific to our organization. To effectively play in that space, someone needs to be both a master of our technology stack AND have a detailed and nuanced understanding of the interplay between volunteer needs, user behaviors, and how the backend systems sync and impact each other.


    For that reason, we have chosen to hire staff to run our IT needs even though we have volunteers who could do it, just as we have chosen to hire a CEO even though we have volunteers with executive leadership experience.


    We also discussed the idea of giving a technology committee access to our GitHub and developers to support development, or find another way to get volunteers involved “since their time is free”. And…

  2. Three day head start for basic students who don't yet have 3 climbs

    Good afternoon Jeff,

    Jim Nelson asked that I get in contact with you about a website feature we would like to explore in support of the Basic Climbing Course. We would like for the website to be able to flag Basic Course students who have not yet completed three climbs and give them a three-day head start in signing up for Basic climbs. As soon as a student has three successful climbs, the flag comes off and they have the same priority in signing up for climbs as prior-year Basic course graduates.

    This change addresses two long-simmering concerns:

    1. It gives…
    15 votes

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    2 comments  ·  Activities  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Garrett Arnold responded

    Hi Climbers,

    Thanks for posting your suggestions on the feedback site. This has been an issue for many years, and this is not a problem with a technology solution – at least not right now (take a look at another Feedback idea with a healthy number of votes in opposition to pre-filling rosters before a trip is posted- http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/272594-leaders/suggestions/6939679-future-activity-sign-up-dates-modifying-registrat).

    Every option proposed has implications for every activity across the entire organization. If we allow trip rosters to be filled with students, we limit the availability of roster spots for course graduates like basic climbing students (who will leave The Mountaineers when climbs aren’t available to them). Whether we decide to favor students over general membership is a policy decision that needs to be made at a higher level in the organization, not by staff or a single committee. Because website/technology solutions apply to every activity we offer we need…

  3. Access to Badge Rosters

    Provide access to badge rosters with means for admins to maintain them and correct inaccuracies. I know of no defensible reason to hide this information, especially from committees that need it to do their jobs.

    8 votes

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    Declined  ·  11 comments  ·  Rosters  ·  Admin →
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  4. Fix incident report excel export bug

    The incident report exports narratives in HTML. Change to plain text format. Example:

    <p>At 1:10 pm 1.5 miles from the trail head on the Spray Park Trail (heading back to Mowich Lake), participant tripped on a root and ended up bumping her brow bone on another root.  Student did not present with any signs of head trauma, the bump site swelled to approximately 2.5 cm in diameter and no bleeding was noted.  Patient reported minor discomfort, no current medications.  Applied a cold compress with bandana soaked with cold creek water and continued to hike out.  Patient still retained normal mentation…

    7 votes

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    6 comments  ·  Safety  ·  Admin →
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    The way the report renders currently is not a bug. It is how rich text data is stored in the file of completed forms. Rich text allows those filing a report to be able to use simple formatting to add things like paragraph breaks in the narratives. Changing the Incident Narrative and Lessons Learned fields from Rich Text to Plain Text would be a huge step backwards, making it much harder to collect good data.
    This rich text only affects the data file download. There are two other sources of submitted incident reports, (1) the emailed report submission, and (2) the stored report submissions. Both of these are nicely formatted and easy to read.
    Because it’s raw data, it should be relatively easy to turn the downloaded file into one nicely-formatted document with any number of tools. One simple approach is to use the “mail merge” capability in the Word…

  5. Add a new Activity category called "Other".

    This could be a catch-all spot for new ideas that don't yet fit an established category. A good example is the Olympia Branch Gear Swap. It is desirable to run it as an Activity because: 1. The intent is to have sellers register and pay for tables. and 2. Folks have now been trained/accustomed to searching activities for things to do. Given the creative, entrepreneurial nature of members and branches, new ideas do come along and need an outlet, rather than be discouraged just because they are a square peg. Over time, examples that had persistence would become candidates for…

    7 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Activities  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Garrett Arnold responded

    For items like your Gear Swap, the proper category is an Event. Events can be set up to have people rsvp for a table or to simply attend. If we want to collect money connected to events we currently use Eventbrite. Event listings allow us to post the event in multiple calendars. Events can be easily downloaded to your personal calendar, and offer complete customization. We want to be able to market these cool new ideas and event listings allow you to have titles and text and photos how you want them rather than being stifled by the activity template listings.

    Activity templates do not have the same functionality as they include leader’s notes, mileage, etc. Trip specific categories don’t make sense for an event like the gear grab. The Event category also allows members to register guests without having to create a separate profile for a guest or have…

  6. Open source the website and allow members to submit pull requests

    Being based in Seattle, the Mountaineers is filled with software engineers, many of whom are chomping at the bit to contribute minor (and major) website changes that would remove some significant pain point or improve the experience. There seems to be a ton of low hanging fruit that could be knocked out fairly quickly by a set of people who are among the best coders in the world.

    Obviously, we can't allow anyone to make whatever changes they want, but the model most open source projects use seems reasonable to follow, especially for a non-profit, volunteer run club. That is,…

    5 votes

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    Thank you for your offer of help and support. We get a lot of emails from IT folks offering to help, particularly folks with development experience. While we appreciate it, our website is not terribly complicated but is incredibly specific to our organization. To effectively play in that space, someone needs to be both a master of our technology stack AND have a detailed and nuanced understanding of the interplay between volunteer needs, user behaviors, and how the backend systems sync and impact each other.


    One example is the Route/Place called Leavenworth. This is a climbing destination used to approximate all the climbing walls in Leavenworth. Does that nomenclature make any sense? Absolutely not! However, it’s how we’ve always used it, and if we were to change the name it would have significant downstream impacts on other routes/places, for our climbing committees, and for our permitting requirements (among others).…

  7. Allow overlapping activities

    The website doesn't allow for overlapping activities, for example two 3-day climbs of the same summit which would summit and camp on different days.
    For example, one climb of a mountain could be on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and another climb could be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. One climb thus summits on Saturday, the other on Monday.
    Since there is no conflict of having two parties travelling along the same part of a route at the same time, the website should allow registration of activities that don't exactly overlap.
    A warning is probably still in order since the trip leaders must make…

    5 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Activities  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Tess Wendel responded

    In order to minimize our impact on the land and on other users, per our Outdoor Ethics Policy, we do not allow overlapping Mountaineers groups unless there are additional land manager permitting considerations (that specifically allow us to have multiple groups), or the activity takes place at an in-town facility where reservations are managed by the facility staff. I’d suggest that you find another day to post this climb, if you want it to be an official Mountaineers activity.

  8. Display activity start time next to date

    Display an activity start time prominently along with the date, and as a mandatory field. It wastes time to go through several screens only to see that no time is listed, or the start time won't work for your personal schedule.

    3 votes

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    2 comments  ·  Activities  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    The current meeting time and place field is rich text to allow leaders to explain start times. For example, sometimes a leader puts in both start time at trailhead and where and when they are meeting at a park and ride.

    Our leaders requested this flexibility so it would be a pretty big change to switch this to being a single field or adding another field that leaders need to complete is not practical.
  9. Link Activities to Event/Room Reservation listings

    One of those items that I would be interested in seeing added to the
    capabilities of the new website system, is for when room reservations are
    made that an option exists to simultaneously tie that reservation into an
    actual activity. I know that not all room reservations are
    Mountaineers-related, but I suspect that those that are related would
    generally be associated with an activity (I know that all of mine are so
    far). This would possibly help alleviate date problems (I just noticed I
    was broadcasting a lecture date as being different from the room
    reservation - which was the…

    3 votes

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    Declined  ·  0 comments  ·  Events  ·  Admin →
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  10. Add status column to course roster

    The course roster can be improved with a new column to show status of the students and instructosr. Students start out as registered then progress to graduated, cancelled, failed, extended, etc. Instructors may also cancel, no show. Using the role column to carry that fact is not the best because then when the status changes we lose track of the actual role. For example, if the status changes to cancelled, we no longer know if the registration was for a student or an instructor.

    By extension, this idea means that "graduated" is a status of the student role, not a…

    3 votes

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    2 comments  ·  Rosters  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    We have no additional feedback that this is a desired change by other course leaders, and it seems that having one column with “Student” and one with “Graduated” would be too confusing.

  11. Have a couple of pages in the magazine to post gear for sale - would be a great service to both seller and buyer

    Have a couple of pages in the magazine to post gear for sale - would be a great service for both seller and buyer.

    2 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Members  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Tess Wendel responded

    Hi Sharon,
    Right now our magazine only comes out quarterly which means if you want something to show up for Spring magazine (mar/april/may). you have to have your gear contribution in by January 1. This is a long time to plan out selling something. After talking with additional folks interested in selling gear we’ve determined that gear sellers need to be able to have a more timely place to advertise gear. There is also no way to indicate that gear has been sold.

    We encourage folks to use Mountaineers Marketplace "https://www.facebook.com/groups/377304859047281/

  12. Leader Permission Links

    Posting on behalf of a Mountaineer Leader.

    The location of the "Request Leader's Permission" link is very confusing because it looks as if permission is required to be a leader of the trip rather than a participant.

    What's more confusing is that the screenshot is from this trip to Lila Lakehttps://www.mountaineers.org/explore/activities/backpack-lila-lake-1, which is not set up to have any any assistant leaders, so one wonders why "leader prerequisites" are shown at all. I thought I might be seeing a different screen because I am a backpack leader, but the screen looks the same when viewed in incognito mode…

    2 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Members  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Our member services team has not received additional feedback from our members that this is an issue. If in the future we receive feedback about this we can re-open this idea.

  13. Please stop commercial offers on this site

    Please stop presenting book offers every time I register for an activity. The big yellow "Proceed to checkout" button, and the tiny "No thanks" alternative, are particularly unsavory. This is a nature association, not a late-night TV sales channel!

    2 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Books  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    We understand that some view these as commercial; offers, but we view them as making sure our members and guests have the materials they need for their courses and trips.

  14. Keep Me Logged In!

    For the Mountaineers website when logging in there used to be a feature to check a check box that says "Remember Me" which would keep you logged in. Now that feature is no longer there and I keep getting logged out of the website, and have to keep logging back in which is a bit of an inconvenience and annoyance.

    Can the Mountaineers add that feature back to the login so I can stay logged in and I'll have to keep logging in every time I visit the website?

    1 vote

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    0 comments  ·  Content  ·  Admin →
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    Thanks for submitting this idea. When we upgraded to the newest version of Plone, that button was dropped because the newest standard is to keep folks logged in for a set period of time. You should therefore remain logged in without the button.

  15. Closing canceled activities

    I'm requesting that we change the way the website works for cancelled activities that were never open for registration. If I cancelled it I shouldn't have to close it too. Canceling should close it.

    1 vote

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  16. Allow primary leaders to uncheck their "show as contact" for an activity

    Course and course lecture/field trip leaders are increasingly utilizing generic Committee profiles or Basic Course profiles as the Primary Leader for course related activities to make sharing the workload of answering participant questions and managing the rosters easier. Burnout is a common consideration I hear from leaders choosing to do this.

    However we need real people to lead activities for many reasons, chief among them are:
    • Someone from The Mountaineers (or approved by us) needs to be on site and manage the participants.
    • Our emergency and leadership teams needs to know who is in charges in case an…

    1 vote

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    2 comments  ·  Rosters  ·  Admin →
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  17. Road condition

    It can be a little difficult to get a clear idea about road conditions from the activity description. It would be helpful if a section is added specifically for this purpose.

    The description can include weather factors (such as snow, ice), road quality (fully paved, gravel, large potholes), and lastly type of cars preferred (accessible for all cars, accessible for 4WD, tire chains required).

    This would help participants plan better, arrange carpools if needed. It would also reduce the need for organizers to respond to individual questions from participants regarding road conditions.

    1 vote

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    Thank you for your suggestion about creating a place to provide current road conditions. We already encourage our participants and leaders to submit trip reports from their adventures and they’re encouraged to “include info about trail, route, and waterway conditions, especially any hazards you may have encountered (or avoided) and anything that may be changing with the seasons or weather.” You can find the most recent trip reports by visiting our Routes & Places, finding your specific location of interest, and clicking on the blue tab for “Trip Reports” when you scroll down. Our partners at the Washington Trails Association (wta.org) also have robust trip reports where you can often find the most recent trip reports with road conditions.

  18. Rename "Exploring Nature" as "Nature hikes"

    I'm a new member, having been unable to hike for years because of joint replacement surgeries. I am starting out with nature hikes because they are often less strenuous. It took awhile to find the right page, because the hikes were labeled "Exploring Nature." It would be easier to find this page if it were called "Nature hikes."

    1 vote

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    0 comments  ·  Activities  ·  Admin →
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    Thanks for your suggestions Susan. We selected the “Exploring Nature” title for anything that falls into this category, which does include hikes but also includes other things like photography outings, Mini Mountaineers trips, and forest bathing. Some of our hikes are categorized as Exploring Nature but all of our Exploring Nature activities are hikes. For that reason we need to decline this idea.

  19. Add Kilometres to the "Length Units" on the posting activity page.

    We should have this option- we can post the km on the Pace. It makes absolutely no sense that we can't post the distance of the pace they are moving at with the same measurement
    Maybe we should get onto the '70s and make this an option?

    1 vote

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    0 comments  ·  Activities  ·  Admin →
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  20. Badge Rosters Access

    To implement the new climbing leader progression (as well as the recently updated snowshoe leader progression), please give committee admins access to edit leader badge rosters. While there's a very small risk that someone could accidentally remove a person from a different branch from a badge roster, that's simple to fix. (note: if it can be possible to manager leader badges via the committee roster, that would also be a workable solution).
    Thanks!

    1 vote

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    Much like the “Access to Badge Rosters” idea, http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/273688-general-feedback/suggestions/6746686-access-to-badge-rosters, we have declined this idea.

    The practical constraints are that badge rosters are a compilation of other rosters managed through different avenues. Meaning course admins can grant badges through their course rosters by graduating students, and committee admins manage leader badges through their committees. We recognize that some committees need to assign more than one leader badge and that not all leaders get the same badge(s). We have the “Multiple Badges Within a Committee” idea, http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/273688-general-feedback/suggestions/37059466-multiple-badges-within-a-committee-gh2933, for this.

    The technical constraints are that (1) adding sharing permissions was partly broken in the Plone 5 update—fixing it is at least a small project, and (2) badge roster pages have issues that need fixed for them to be used for this.

    One option to relieve staff from having to add leaders to badge rosters and until the “Multiple Badges Within a…

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