There will be some maintenance tonight,....
Okay, so this was a once in a lifetime correction--Kiva has it right now.
What can a marketing guy learn from this experience that might be useful?
1. Prior Notification/Warning - Acknowledging that many/most lenders either aren't affected or don't care, for lenders who want/need more detail and explanation there should be a way to get it ahead of time - from a link on the website to a more detailed page or whatever. Waking up the next morning to changes/revisions/postings with no explanation causes frustration and even anger. (e.g. I would have grabbed a complete export of My Credits before these changes to ease the reconciliation process.)
2. Care and Feeding of "Core Lenders" - Since long time and large lenders are the ones most affected by these kinds of changes, it would seem therefore even more important to advise them of what might be expected beyond having to go cold turkey without website access.
3. Information Preferences - Many of us have the email notifications turned on for repayments. Can these type of transactions generate an email notification if there were actual $$ adjustments?
General Website Downtime Issues
4. Are there ways to avoid or minimize downtimes during times and days in the monthly cycle where timing is more critical?
5. (Not having been on the website prior to a downtime, the following might well be handled, in which case disregard)
How are lenders on the site handled for a downtime? Do lenders looking for loans just get kicked off? Do loans in their baskets just disappear? Does the recent activity part of the "Popularity" algorithm make allowances for the downtime?
So while this might have been a singular event in the history of Kiva, nevertheless there seems to be a pattern here.
Dan
