Hello Nina,

I apologise for my harsh reply (to other LS users as well).

On UX: we are well aware that many things need to be improved in our software. Based on the feedback we got so far from users and partners, we decided to focus on making LS4 stable as soon as possible. UX will come after (consistent error / success messages, discussion on the location of the "save" button, improvement of the condition designer and so on).

On manual: Indeed, it is not easy to go through the manual (and I know that from the workshops I provide). We did a big update ~2 years ago, and solved many issues back then, but the entry-barrier is still too high. At the moment, the manual describes the software (page by page), and not common actions users would like to perform with the software. Perhaps splitting the manual in two sections : use cases vs general software description would be a better idea -> made a note and added it to the backlog.

On the stability of LS4: I am not going to enter in too many details - we are already aware of the created situation/confusion (thus, the focus on the stability of LS4).

User needs: We do take the user needs into the account. Perhaps not in the best way possible as desired by some of you, but we do try our best. For that, we have in the backlog a voting system to be created where the most important issues/features can be voted by users.

Website: Indeed, a "Donate" button is missing. It's in the backlog and our team will take care of it. Team Members will be added soon.

Overall, we feel that communication with multiple users is missing. We are working on that as well. In October we will have multiple communication channels (including real-chat solution) where we could discuss on different topics such as the ones mentioned by you: UX, manual, and so on.

In case you have more concise feedback (from you and your team), please do not hesitate to write me back anytime: manual.limesurvey.org/User:Cdorin (see email) .

Now, I will lock the topic since we try (in my opinion) to cover too many issues in this thread - and some ideas may get lost which is not desirable.

For anyone that wishes to come up with feedback, please contact me via email.
For bugs and issues, use our bugs tracker: bugs.limesurvey.org .

We will soon announce in the "News" section the chat solution for our community

Wow, just wow.

I mean, I second a lot of your critizism. The UI was changed and I was one of the advocates to change it. Unfortunately, the UI was not "developed together with the community" but rather "established" by one developer (which is never a good idea).

Just shaking my head though, at how hostile you've been to a total stranger with critical feedback that came from deep, deep frustration and many hours lost trying to use your product. Get some humility. Life is short, and there are too many good people in FOSS you're just alienating, being dicks.

But here I am a little confused. Because the way you write here and on Twitter, somehow you came over as the "d*ck" from the beginning. I am probably known by the developer team as being difficult and sometimes harsh, but I hope I don't come over like you did from the beginning.

UX Designers are also not the center of the world and will bring the solution. Believe me. I have worked with some, and a lot of them think just too much of themselves. They are an important part of software development, for sure. But Limesurvey didn't start with paid developers either. I don't know when the first paid developer was hired, but that must have been quite few years into Limesurvey (before PHPSurveyor).

While I really agree with a lot of your critizism (the bits that are actual constructive, not just bitching), the way it is presented here is really quite offensive to anyone who works on this project or spends spare time to support it.

And yes, even an UX Designer can "donate" some time to contribute to the project.

While I agree that Expression Manager/Script might not be clicky-clicky, it was a huge step for LS in the right direction. You can do simple research stuff with other tools (like the conditions - which I don't recommend because doing things with Expressions is so much easier and quicker, with 30-60min of time invested most people grasp enough of EM to do the most important stuff). If you want to do advanced stuff, you might need to invest some time to learn it. Many people with no background in coding got the gist in a very short time. You just need to be willing.

I do not know how to code. I do not want to learn how to code.

Not wanting to learn code is fine. But with complex surveys this will bring you to the limits soon. Maybe you know some commercial tools that allow complex surveys without any coding. However, the survey software packages that I have seen so far all require some sort of coding when it gets complex.


There are tools out there, that are more user friendly, I know. If you want the same flexibility like with LS, you will have to spend a couple of thousand USD per year at the minimum.

Now where I am totally with you is that errors like updates from 2.06 LTS to 2.5 and 3.x to 4.x. While I can understand that developers want testers, it is not OK to label a product stable, when it isn't (of course, people might interpret "stable" differently, but I don't believe that anyone honestly would call LS 4.x stable).

It is sad to see that instead of searching a real conversation, you just complain and attack here.

Limesurvey would certainly need input from a UX Designer. And I don't know the details of budget (just helping out at the forum), but I can imagine that it will be very difficult to fit a full time UX Designer. I think there are about 3-4 paid employees in total. That need to organize hosting, programming, bug fixing, etc.

Overall, I think if this would have been started of in a different tone, I would have totally supported you and your message. Now the whole thing just leaves a foul taste. I am wondering in what toxic environment you work, where you think this is the right way to approach people with criticism.

Especially for something that you are using for free and seem not to plan to give back (which is fine, this is the "risk" of open source). But it is difficult to make "demands" the way you do it (as much as I second most of them). Just saying.

)-: