ElicitationQuestions For CMPE451 - bounswe/bounswe2025group5 GitHub Wiki

Gamification and Badges

  • Last year our Challenge and Waste Logging Logic was working in reverse order (The one with lowest minus points was the winner). Should we alter this logic? How should we rank the participants who join a specific challenge?

    • It’s true that turning waste and recycling amounts into a ranking causes problems. For example, consider two users: one recycled 10 PET bottles and the other 30. While recycling 30 looks “better,” the first user may have switched to a thermos and actually reduced their recycling volume, which is preferable. The sensible approach is to separate personal waste/recycling metrics from challenge leaderboards. Let the leaderboard in challenges cover activities that concern the community (e.g., putting public litter into recycling, beach clean-up events). Household waste/recycling should remain personal to the user—it can appear in progress reports, but should not affect any challenge.

  • Currently we have a reward system that are based on "Badges". Is it enough, or should we add additional ways to give user rewards?

    • Your badge logic is good; you could broaden their scope and variety, and consider adding streaks.

User Following

  • Should users be able to follow other users to see their activities (e.g., waste logs, shared tips, challenge participation)?

    • Users should be able to follow others, and activities can be visible from profiles.

  • What type of information should be visible when a user follows someone (e.g., posts only, progress updates, earned badges)?

    • Showing posts plus a brief personal summary is sufficient; badges aren’t ideal because the user may not have any yet.

  • Should users get notifications when the people they follow take certain actions (e.g., joining a challenge, posting new tips)?

    • Yes; notifications shouldn’t be too many or too few—add enough to encourage the user. Examples: someone you follow posted, X liked your post, you earned a badge.

  • Should there be a limit on how many users one can follow, or is it unlimited?

    • Let’s not impose a limit here.

  • Should the platform suggest accounts for users to follow (e.g., top contributors, moderators, or users with similar goals)?

    • It can; discovery can also happen organically within the forum.

  • We plan to create a "Home page" for the posts of people that are followed, and an "Explore page" that is more global. What do you think?

    • There’s no need for two separate feed pages. On the same page, a filter or switch (Only Following / Trending) can enable switching, or you can keep a single comprehensive feed.

Feedback System

  • What types of feedback should users be able to give on content (e.g., like, dislike, report, comment)?

  • Should feedback directly influence user rewards (e.g., XP gain, badges) or only serve as community engagement?

  • Should there be visible feedback counts on posts (e.g., number of likes, reports, or comments)?

  • Should the system allow anonymous feedback, or should all feedback be tied to the user profile?

  • How should moderators interact with feedback (e.g., reviewing reported posts, highlighting valuable contributions)?

    • An anonymous feedback system can be offered. Allow free-text input. We want reporting to be visible. Moderators/admins should be able to take actions here, including account deletion where appropriate.

Account Deletion

  • Should users be able to permanently delete their accounts, or only deactivate them temporarily?

    • Let them delete permanently.

  • What should happen to the user’s data (e.g., waste logs, posts, leaderboard history) after account deletion?

    • Similar to Reddit: remove the account name, etc., but past posts can remain; valuable discussions shouldn’t be lost.

  • Should there be a grace period where users can restore their accounts before permanent deletion?

    • There is no need for that.

  • Should moderators/admins also have the right to delete user accounts, or only the user themselves?

    • If a user persistently violates community rules, yes—an admin/moderator can close the account.

Moderators

  • Should "Moderator" be a separate role from "Admin"? What actions differ?

    • They can be unified; that’s fine.

  • What report types exist (spam, harassment, misinformation, off-topic, etc.)?

    • Use whichever of these you deem necessary.

  • What actions are allowed: hide, soft-delete (reversible), hard-delete (irreversible), warn user, temp ban?

    • No need for temporary bans; if a user severely violates rules, the account can be closed.

  • Should there be an auto-flagging system based on banned words, toxicity score, or pattern rules? Thresholds?

    • It can be implemented.

Profile Management

  • Should the usernames be changed?

    • Not necessary.

  • Which waste reduction statistics appear on the profile?

    • A summary visible to everyone on the profile can be displayed.

  • How much "Waste Log Data Visualization" do we expect to see in profiles?

    • Keep it simple; it can be within the summary, and let the user decide.

Accessibility

  • What kind of interactive elements should be operable via which keys of the keyboard? Is toggling between buttons etc. via Tab button is enough?

  • The Tab key alone is sufficient.

  • What kind of assistive technologies our application support? Is support for some screen readers such as NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) and VoiceOver enough or should there be a more general support for assistive technologies?

    • Demonstrating support for one during the demo is sufficient.

  • How many and which languages should our application support?

    • Turkish and English are sufficient.

  • Should non-text content like images posted by users, buttons, or profile pictures have a text alternative such as a caption or label?

    • When a user uploads an image (optional or required—your choice), ask them to describe what’s in it. This can be read aloud by screen readers like VoiceOver; also show the text label on hover.

  • Should there be a high-contrast mode?

    • It can be added.

Security

  • We implemented jwt token for checking the sessions. The access token and refresh token are used. Is it enough for the security of transmission data or do you want anything else for encrptyion of the transmitted data.

    • Your JWT token authentication is sufficient; not having it would be a gap. Beyond that, look into using HTTPS—DigitalOcean should provide a random domain upon request. If you can’t set that up, let’s revisit.