I do think it was good that it was changed. I'm not loving everything though.
The Overall Rating - good. I think this is the rating that should be used for criteria when it comes to entering roles on 7cups.
I think rating specific areas should sitll be done though. This is useful to other members even if it doesn't show whether someone is good with active listening skills. Ie. Response time - sometimes one wants to have a quick chat with a fair bit covered. If someone has a low rating for response time, it's likely they are better to contact when someone has more time, or if they are looking to send mostly offline messages. I wouldn't include all the areas that were there before though. Professionalism meant too many different things to different people, listeners aren't mental health 'professionals' and that's what some expected. Helpfulness was one that could be iffy too. Ones I would consider bring back/adding: Empathy (this is what active listening is about!), Response Time, and Judgement-Free.
If rating specific areas isn't going to be included, at least have a little informational popup button that can be pushed so that members can have an idea of what is considered to be useful feedback. The blurb that's currently given doesn't really give enough detail.
I do understand the reasoning for requiring comments and not just rating out of 5. I think more information needs to be shared as to the criteria for what gets accepted though. If I give 3 stars and say "this chat was just ok" does that 3 star rating go through?
I flip flop on one member being able to rate a listener multiple times. I would actually prefer to see the ratings split - the average for the first rating given/member and then another for repeat ratings. I do understand this complicates the system, but I care more knowing that 9/10 people gave a low rating than that one person gave a high rating 10 times. Another option would be to use the most recent rating per member. So 9 people give 5 stars, one person gives 1 star rating = 4.6 Later though, someone who has a repeat chat has a horrible experience, gives a rating of 1 star, the new rating then changes to 4.2
Finally let us know when we can give a rating/review. I tried to rate a listener twice within a short period of time just to test this system out. I didn't see that I couldn't give a review until after it was all written and I tried to submit. Don't have the Send Feedback button appear if it hasn't been 48 hours, make it show that I still need to wait. It's frustrating to give thoughtful feedback only to be unable to submit and I can't even remember if I reviewed someone all the time.
I would also like to see how this information is being used. Before, it was pretty clear to me if I gave a listener a bad rating on one of the areas what would happen. Now I have no idea what type of feedback is being given to the listener, other than if I write something positive it goes on their profile. I suggested before having a text box where it's clear that it's for feedback that gets emailed to the listener. I still want to see this - make it clear that particular text box will be reviewed by someone on a team and if appropriate, forwarded to the listener anonymously.
So what I kind of envision, using words to describe the layout (if either text area is filled out appropriately, star rating is used)"
Star Rating Overall
Star Rating for Empathy, Response Time and Judgement-Free
Feedback on Chat - not to be seen by the listener - info button beside this that brings up a popup describing what type of info is used here
Review Listener - This feedback gets seen by the listener, if positive, it gets published on their profile.