An empty board asks a lot of the first person who opens it. They have to guess what you want, whether anyone will read it, and whether their idea is too small to bother with. Most of the work of a good board happens before you share the link: you answer those questions for them.
Ask one clear question#
Every board has a prompt, the question at the top of the page. It does more work than anything else you write. "Feedback" invites nothing in particular. "What would make Tuesday nights at the club better?" invites a specific kind of idea from a specific kind of person.
A good prompt names who is asking, what is in scope, and roughly how big an idea can be. If you find yourself writing two questions, you probably want two boards.
The description sits under the prompt. Use it for the context a newcomer needs: who reads the ideas, how often, and what happens to the ones you choose.
Write a few honest guidelines#
Guidelines are shown to people while they write an idea, which is the moment they are most useful. Keep them short and concrete:
- One idea per post, so people can vote on each one separately.
- Say what you would like, and why it matters to you.
- Search first: if your idea is already there, vote for it instead.
- What the board is not for, such as support requests or bug reports, and where those go instead.
Avoid rules you will not enforce. A list of ten "don'ts" reads as a warning sign, not a welcome.
Decide who can post#
A new board starts with the Reviewed policy: suggestions wait in a review queue until you or a moderator publish them. That is the right default for most boards. You can catch duplicates before they are public, and you can send private feedback ("could you split this into two ideas?") instead of publishing something unclear.
Choose Open when you trust your audience and want ideas to appear straight away. Choose Closed when you want people to vote on what is already there, for example during a planning round. You can change the policy at any time. Moving from Reviewed to Open does not publish what is waiting in the queue, so nothing slips out by accident.
People you know well can be marked Trusted on the board, so their ideas skip review even on a reviewed board.
Seed it with real ideas#
Before you share the link, add three to five ideas yourself: things you have already heard from people, written the way they said them. A board with a few real ideas tells newcomers what a good post looks like, and gives them something to vote on before they write anything.
Do not invent ideas to make the board look busy. People notice, and the first honest vote count you show should be a real one.
Share it where people already are#
Your board has one public address. Put it where people already talk to you: the footer of your website, the end of a newsletter, a pinned message, a poster by the door. In board settings, Add to your site gives you a small badge that links to the board, as plain HTML with no script.
Anyone can read a public board without signing in. When they want to suggest, vote or comment, they get a sign-in link by email, and no password. That is one less reason to leave before taking part.
Answer the first ideas quickly#
The first week sets the tone. Publish reviewed ideas promptly, reply to a few, and move at least one idea to a status such as Selected or In progress as soon as you honestly can. People share a board when they see that someone is reading it.
See how clubs and groups use a board in Would be nice for community feedback.
