Say we have a list of items which are 'action items', in the sense that each item represents a task for the user.
The list is compiled automatically in a way resembling a news-feed - there is some heuristic algorithm that tries to guess which items will be most relevant to the user.
For each item we want the user to have the following options:
- A way to designate that the task is 'done' (e.g. a button that says "dismiss").
- A way to give us feedback about that item, specifically by choosing between two options that generally mean "I want to see more items like this one" and "I want to see less items like this one".
As you might have guessed, the feedback is used to improve the heuristic algorithm. Therefore the feedback is both important to us as the developers, and will help improve the user experience over the course of time.
Should we force the user into giving us feedback?
By force I mean having only two buttons on each item, where both of them perform the action of 'dismissing' the item, but one of them represents positive feedback and the other one negative. This way the user has no way of dismissing the item without providing feedback for it.
If we take this route: What could we use as the text for these buttons?, i.e. is there a short and clear way to express the content of "Dismiss this item and show me more like it in the future"? (and the same with "less").
If we don't force the user into giving us feedback, meaning we have a 'dismiss' button which is neutral in terms of feedback, what would be a good way the encourage the user to give us feedback?
For example: should we put the feedback buttons on each item, in addition to the 'dismiss' button, or should we ask for feedback only after the item is dismissed?
One last thing: can anyone point us to existing interfaces that deal with similar problems?