2015: New Years resolutions for the RallyPoint website...what should they be?

2014-12-31T19:38:09-05:00

By the time Dec 31, 2015 comes around in a year, what do you hope RallyPoint has accomplished during 2015? What is the one thing you hope RP achieves over the next 365 days? Tell us your ideas! We will look back on them this time next year and see what we accomplished. ;)

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 31 at 2014 8:22 PM

2014-12-31T20:22:13-05:00

Thanks for asking, CPT Aaron Kletzing. I'll keep beating the drum for an open forum of some sort (Facebook-like), where members can post random, military items. I think that would add a lot to RallyPoint.

In my short time here, I have found myself wanting to post a small item (news, trivia, picture) that is not worthy of an entire discussion thread, but would fit nicely in an open forum where members can post "whatever." Member admins and the RallyPoint staff could monitor this area and eliminate any items that are "out of bounds."

I realize this would not be a game changer, but I think it would fill a current void on RallyPoint.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 31 at 2014 10:22 PM

2014-12-31T22:22:35-05:00

I believe that RallyPoint is the next (or current) big thing for military. Particularly in the transition phases. As we know, the military itself doesn't do enough to prepare armed forces members for their next phases in life. RallyPoint has become a forum for some of these discussions and stands to command the whole, or the bulk of the active duty and veteran population.

From the employer side, there are tons of little veteran-assistance and for-profit entities sprouting up to "assist" with the transition, but NONE of them command the actual military population. I think that RallyPoint, with the current career-assistance options and job-boards is just scraping the surface. I imagine more services, networking sources and even in-person events or summits being extremely useful and making some serious waves in this military to civilian space. Creating these resources, transition packages, how-to videos...etc (branded by RP) could be huge. There is a lot of talk about networking and it's value, but it is apparent that many vets and transitioning service members don't actually know how to effectively do it; for example.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 1 at 2015 8:27 AM

2015-01-01T08:27:20-05:00

CPT Andrew Kletzing. I think RP needs a clear sense of mission . . . whether it wants to be the military version of LinkedIn, FaceBook, or perhaps something entirely unique. It may help for RP to have more of a sense of transparency in corporate organization / management . . . perhaps in the form of a far more visible working board of directors / external advisory board . . . together with news about progress in corporate fundraising, strategic partnerships, and the repackaging of the RP concept for other military organizations . . . e.g. UK, FR, DE, others.

Perhaps RP volunteer moderator etc opportunities should be recast to serve as internship and/or professional development appointments together with perhaps weekly or monthly virtual meetings, maybe organizational development / corporate personnel training to develop marketable management knowledge / skills / abilities, lines of supervision, professional standards / evaluations / future employment references. Provision should be made for feedback from volunteers / interns and employees . . . and more careful retention studies should be run to ensure mutual expectations are being managed . . . so we do not lose valuable contributors.

We need some mechanism to protect discussions by personally vulnerable individuals from google / public view . . . perhaps some mechanism for our users to recommend marking as nonpublic and/or to expire and remove at some decent interval discussions re severe mental health / career / drinking / marriage / other difficulties . . . so these do not haunt the originators / participants forever. Along similar lines . . . we need to think through how to develop more consistent and appropriate guidelines for the discrete referral of potentially vulnerable users to chaplain / medical / other care and services via appropriate contacts at their local command / champva / tricare or other competent intake for intervention . . . the last thing we need is to become culpable in association with obviously unmet medical / interpersonal / psychiatric call for help.

RP email and posting would benefit from the ability to include PDF / DOC / other reasonable size attachments.

Some consideration should be given to developing nondilutive collaborative funding from the military and/or other organizations . . . perhaps through SBIR / STTR grant mechanism . . . or other Executive / Congressional Direct Appropriations to support further growth and development of RP as a platform for outreach and communication with the RP community. Newly developed IP with commercial potential should be documented and considered for appropriate legal protection. I am certain with time for careful study and consideration many other users will contribute additional tactical and strategic vision for improvement.

All that said . . . hearty congratulations to RP Management, Staff, and Volunteers for doing an exceptional job of bringing your theoretical comcept into being as a living / vibrant / caring military community . . . both online in the virtual world . . . and far more remarkably in physical world . . . together with the annual RP user meeting.

Thank you so much for helping me reconnect with my old friends and colleagues . . . and to meet and help new friends. My experience with RP has been deeply meaningful to me . . . and helped to fill a difficult void in my life.

My Warmest & Most Sincere Congratulations & Best Wishes To Everyone In The New Year!!!

Your Friend, Cheer Leader, Supporter & Colleague, Sandy ( Never Underestimate A Woman With Dog Tags )

Response by PO2 Jonathan Scharff made Jan 1 at 2015 8:36 AM

2015-01-01T08:36:30-05:00

CPT Aaron Kletzing how about, "Rallypoint vowes to only make spelling and grammar corrections to members posts and will never change the titles, posts or add photos to make them more controversial without the posting members permission?" Seems fair to me and I think we all deserve an official statement from RP on this issue.

Thank you all for your service and I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year!

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Jan 1 at 2015 9:58 AM

2015-01-01T09:58:47-05:00

CPT Aaron Kletzing Good question. I always appreciate how involved RP staff is with their forum. I think 1LT Sandy Annala has staked out the best suggestions already, but I'll make one that is essentially a repetition. A lot of folk might make specific technical suggestions, but I've already made a few of those (like a wall of honor and enhanced "@" tagging) here: https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/make-one-change-to-rallypoint

I think resolutions need to be more conceptual. So the biggest concept RallyPoint needs to commit to: finding a method to keep the interaction valuable enough that serious and capable people don't opt out. From my experience inviting and talking with my friends -particularly those who refuse to join or are minimally engaged- the low-value conversations that proliferate drive them away. I'm not advocating censorship, just strengthened regimes for displaying content to members. Maybe settings auto-select showing a new RP join only "military discussions" AND only with a certain number of upvotes (topic itself), not just comments AND possibly filter by seniority to align with the new joins own rank/years of experience. Maybe make a "controversial" or "low value" heading that members can flag admins to shunt conversations into for the latest iteration of "Do we need X service or y rank?" or "I have different religious views than other people, debate?" or the perennial article-88 bait.

If you could make one change to RallyPoint, what would it be and why? | RallyPoint

If you could make one change to Rallypoint what would it be? and why? RP admin team is and does monitor this thread so your voice/writing here will be heard/read. A few changes have already happened due to user feedback so keep it coming. In the last few months there have been numerous changes made and this site has become even better and more user friendly. I truly believe that the changes were made based off of feedback form the community....

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 1 at 2015 10:27 AM

2015-01-01T10:27:12-05:00

Thanks CPT Andrew Kletzing It would be nice to have a category where people could discuss ideas more or less in private groups with none of the controversial ideas that cause emotions to run high.

I am not sure how to get there if you did. Making it easy for us older veterans to navigate around when we get confused, present company included. Thanks!

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 1 at 2015 2:09 PM

2015-01-01T14:09:23-05:00

We have those folks that just go over the top and are rude and unprofessional. And I believe it is making some very uncomfortable and they are discontinuing their contrabutions to the community. Just think there needs to be some sort of resolution to dealing with this unnecessary behavior.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 1 at 2015 2:14 PM

2015-01-01T14:14:13-05:00

It would be nice if RP can stop merging people statuses especially when the aim of the questions are not necessarily the same.

Response by PO2 Corey Ferretti made Jan 2 at 2015 12:04 AM

2015-01-02T00:04:35-05:00

I would like to see certain topics scurbed. I have been gone about 2 weeks and come back and wow. We cover a wide variety of topics on here some popular some not so popular. they all deserve to be herd out but i have seen some post that i was like why is this still up and why is this person still able to post. The one thing i like about this site is that it was a place for me to reconnect with like minded people and keep the military connection. I would really like to stay on because it is a great site but if this turns to a place with alot of drama i might as well stay with facebook. I am looking forward to see what RP has in store for 2015. Happy New Years everyone.

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 2 at 2015 4:31 PM

2015-01-02T16:31:37-05:00

Here's a bigger one: At the end of 2015, I'd like to see RallyPoint represented alongside Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and LinkedIn on the image in this discussion thread:

https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/what-happens-in-an-internet-minute

What happens in an internet minute? | RallyPoint

Here is a great example of what happens on the internet every minute!