Great User Feedback on Products - How Do We Get More?

There was a flurry of excitement in the office this morning because of a volley of comments that came into BuildingGreen.com about different products -- fantastic user insights on what works and doesn't in applying Murco joint compound, interactions between the Brac system and Toto toilets, and a cool unexpected benefit to DensArmor. This is just what we at BG want: real feedback on what works, what doesn't, tricky bits to installation - the kind of practical insight that makes a new product safer to try (or lets you know what to avoid).

We can tease out what matters about a product from an environmental perspective, but this kind of practical insight is harder to come by. Also, we want to make sure our GreenSpec product listing decisions are based on solid data. Anecdotal evidence isn't standardized enough to use as criteria - but it sure helps if you're deciding whether to risk something new or trying to figure out a tricky problem.

We know there are difficulties with sharing -- we're all short on time, it seems safer to grouse to a trusted colleague about the installation that went wrong than spread it around the internet, it's hard to be the one who speaks up about the poster-child green product that fails after a year -- but the benefits are huge.

So here it is. We're trying to figure out how to help spread this kind of practical knowledge around. If a product in GreenSpec is faulty, or is exceptional, or needs to be installed a certain way, or has major lead time issues, or you can get an identical but cheaper version under a different name brand, we want to help you find that out from each other. It's easy to comment on any GreenSpec product. So how do we get you to do it?

All those great comments linked to at the beginning of this blog? Margaret Rogers wrote them all. We adore her now. But it made us a bit sad not to hear from the rest of you. Of course, Margaret contacted us about her troubles with Fuhr, and we urged her to put a note in reader comments. We told her we'd let you all know about it so her effort wasn't wasted. And now we've unleashed a torrent! How do get more of that? Make a facebook ap? Send you candy? I'm serious. We're open to ideas. And in the mean time, thanks to those of you who have provided feedback over the years, and if you were going to comment but thought no one was paying attention, our product listings are eagerly awaiting your review. Recent comments are featured in the right column of our News page for all to see.