Note:
This topic has been translated from a Chinese forum by GPT and might contain errors.Original topic: 【TiDB 社区满意度调研报告】新鲜出炉！很感谢大家给我们提出非常中肯且重要的建议
|
username: Billmay表妹
The Community Satisfaction Survey is the first official survey initiated by the TiDB community to collect satisfaction feedback from community members. The aim is to gather feedback on the website, content, activities, and product to find directions for future growth and optimization/iteration with the community.
The survey was conducted in the form of a questionnaire from November 29 to December 9, lasting 10 days, and received a total of 177 responses. Most of the feedback came from the Asktug community platform, so there is some bias in the data.
The questionnaire results show the background and attitudes of some community members who have surveyed and used TiDB products, peripherals, and community forums.
The questionnaire contains 32 questions, including 23 mandatory questions and 9 optional questions. It covers multiple themes such as community activities, content, products, business, and market. Here are some key results and insights we want to share with you. All percentage data described below are rounded, and the total may not equal 100 due to multiple-choice questions.
Overall Community Satisfaction
Distribution of Community Members Filling Out the Questionnaire
From the respondents, we can see that nearly half are operations personnel (49.15%), developers account for 33.9%, architects 11.86%, university students 2.26%, and others 2.82%. This distribution is similar to our community members, as we have found that many community members are both developers and operations personnel.
Overall Satisfaction with the TiDB Community Website
The overall satisfaction with the TiDB community website is quite good. Among the 177 respondents, 168 have used the community website, accounting for 94.92%, while 9 have not used it, accounting for 5.08%. Among those who have used the community website, 58.33% are very satisfied, and 38.1% are satisfied, totaling 96.43%. It is surprising to see such strong support for the TiDB community from the survey.
One person was dissatisfied, and the reason for dissatisfaction was that questions were not answered, and AskTUG Q&A was not professional.
Most Frequently Used Features
Among the 168 community website users, the most frequently used features are the AskTUG Q&A forum and search, accounting for 58.33% and 26.79%, respectively, totaling 85.12%.
This shows that most community members hope to “solve their problems” through the community.
AskTUG Satisfaction
Among the community website users, 85.31% have used AskTUG. Regarding satisfaction with the response speed for seeking help with problems, 37.75% are very satisfied, and 54.3% are satisfied, totaling 93.05%.
93.05% of community members are satisfied with the response speed for seeking help with problems.
This data is somewhat surprising. Over the past year, we have found that community questions are becoming increasingly difficult. During this process, the strength of various community members has supported the entire community Q&A, with multiple answers to one question becoming routine. We thank every community member who has helped others.
Most Attractive Aspects of the Community
The most attractive aspect of the community is the active Q&A community - AskTUG. The next most attractive aspects are the rich learning resources: video courses and columns. In other items, we found that the official documentation, community atmosphere, and good community operation personnel also attract community members.
The Q&A forum and columns are the crystallization of the wisdom of community members, and you have built our knowledge castle, attracting more members to the TiDB community and liking the TiDB community.
Most Common Problems Encountered
From the feedback on multiple-choice questions, we found that the most common problem encountered in the TiDB community is “unable to find the desired resources.” One factor causing this problem may be inaccurate search results, so optimizing the search function is important for the community’s future. Other frequently mentioned problems include lack of usage guidance (25%) and too few community activities (22.02%).
The most common problem encountered in the TiDB community is “unable to find the desired resources,” accounting for 35.71%.
Community Content
Most Popular Website Content & Most Helpful Material Content
From the feedback, we found that the most popular and helpful community content is technical practice content. In the community, whether it is from pitfall articles or new version practice articles, the main contributors have always been community members.
-
The most popular website content among 155 respondents is: problems encountered in operations and their solutions (failures), best practices, and technical Q&A.
-
The top three most helpful materials among 177 respondents are: technical practice articles (79.1%), version issue lists (54.24%), customer success stories (53.11%), and industry solutions (53.11%).
Most Preferred Content Formats
The top three most preferred content formats are: text and images, videos, and live broadcasts. Some members also suggested trying short videos, such as 30-second clips explaining a technical skill point.
Pure text is the least popular, possibly causing reading fatigue, especially when there is a lot of text. Therefore, community members should try to include images in their articles.
What Content is Missing in the TiDB Community
Among the 28 users who provided feedback on what content is missing in the TiDB community, the top three categories are: learning resources, diverse community technical content, and case studies.
- Members expect to find more learning resources in the community, with the most mentioned being video tutorials/explanations. They also hope for more free learning resources, sharing, and certification exams.
- In terms of diverse community content, members hope for more comprehensive technical content, such as AI deep development, database kernel/parameter sharing, and more content beyond TiDB.
- Members hope for more optimization/customer/actual/financial-grade (multi-cloud active) production technical cases. While community members’ practice cases are rich, there are fewer official industry cases, troubleshooting, and common problem SOPs.
Community Activities
Preferred Activity Formats
Members prefer online meetups (70.62%), followed by offline city events (52.54%). The least preferred is offline company-specific presentations (29.38%). Members prefer online meetups to learn and understand new technologies.
Online activities can break geographical and time constraints and remain the most popular sharing activities. Offline city events can gather community members to exchange experiences and learn from each other. In past city events, community members have been very enthusiastic about participating.
Most Popular Existing Activities
The top three most popular existing activities are the source code interpretation series (60.45%), regional organization activities (44.07%), and TiDB workshops (41.81%).
Other Fun Activities to Organize
Among the feedback, 26.09% of members expect the community to organize language-related debates and talk shows. Members also hope for more elements in future community activities, such as language and sports. Currently, the most popular online and offline activities are technical/theoretical explanation online activities and offline multi-element integrated technical activities.
In recent years, talk shows have become very popular, and fun, relaxed activities like talk shows and debates are also well-received. Technical talk shows and debates are a feast of technology and language art. However, these activities require high planning ability, language skills, and technical level, making them challenging to organize.
Product
Most Attractive TiDB Product Capabilities
The top three most attractive TiDB product capabilities are: distributed (23.16%), easy and convenient operation/usage (12.43%), and scalability (12.43%). This shows that members appreciate various aspects of the TiDB product, representing its balanced performance in different areas. Community activity also ranks among the top five attractions.
Best Database
Among the 62 respondents who answered the survey on the best database they have used, TiDB is fortunate to be ranked among the top three, along with Oracle and MySQL.
This result is biased because the survey was conducted among TiDB users. Therefore, TiDB ranking in the top three should not be a cause for complacency. We should note that compared to other top-ranked databases, TiDB lacks maturity and stability, and the richness of documentation/resources.
From the survey, we found that the most valued product capabilities are:
1. Stability
2. Ease and convenience of operation/usage
3. Distributed
4. Functionality/capabilities
5. Richness of documentation/resources
Other
TiDB Usage Experience Distribution
Regarding TiDB usage experience, 27.12% have no TiDB experience. Among the 129 respondents with TiDB experience, 82.95% have 1 to 3 years of experience, 13.18% have 3 to 5 years of experience, and 3.88% have more than 5 years of experience.
This may represent the distribution of TiDB talent capabilities in the community: the proportion of members with 3 years or more of TiDB operations experience is relatively small.
Recommendation of TiDB
Among the 177 questionnaires, 92.66% have shared and recommended TiDB, while 7.34% have not.
The few architects have all shared and recommended TiDB.
Optimization Points & Thoughts
1. Search Function
The search function ranks second among the most frequently used features and plays an indispensable role in solving problems. It is also the most criticized feature in the satisfaction survey. In a recent survey, we have specifically discussed search issues and collected case studies. We will work with the product team to see how to optimize it.
2. Unresolved Issues in the Community
Some community members have relatively complex business scenarios, and the community’s mutual assistance cannot support the problems they encounter.
3. Lack of Usage Guidance
To address the lack of usage guidance, we have gradually improved the Community Website QA and organized the TiDB Community Forum Usage Guide & Community Rules. The community can add more beginner guides and categorized usage guides in the future. For example, a [Column Usage Guide] can be published, detailing the rewards for publishing column articles, how to publish them, and the format and details of column articles.
4. Lack of Content Resources
Problems encountered in operations and their solutions (failures), best practices, industry solutions, and technical principle articles are still considered lacking by community members. These contents can be produced through source code interpretation activities or collected through column competitions to supplement the community.
5. Lack of Learning Resources
Video courses and free certification exams are still points of concern for community members. This may expose two issues:
- After certification exams became paid, it is not easy for new members to accumulate the points needed for certification, and paid courses are also a barrier.
- Asktug does not extensively promote various free courses, so some members may not know that we have prepared some free quality courses for them. We need to promote and publicize existing free courses more frequently.
6. Version Issue Lists
When members want to research a new version on Asktug, they cannot directly find the known issues of that version from a specific entry. It is recommended to plan for adding a version issue filter on the search page in the future, allowing members to find related issues of a specific version based on keywords.
7. Diverse Content Formats
The top three most preferred content formats in the survey are: text and images, videos, and live broadcasts. Currently, the community has fewer videos and live broadcasts. We can add short videos, video tutorials, and other formats to the community content in the future. Or we can create a video section on Asktug, where video resources/tutorials published on Bilibili can be linked.
If you have other suggestions, please feel free to add them!
Thank You to Every Community Member
The Q&A forum and columns are the crystallization of the wisdom of community members, and you have built our knowledge castle, attracting more members to the TiDB community and liking the TiDB community.
If you also like the community, we hope you can join us in creating, participating in, and managing it.
- If you encounter technical problems in the community, you can post your questions anytime!
- If you have some problems encountered in operations and their solutions (failures), best practices, feel free to post them on the column platform!
- If you have grown in the community and want to help others, you are welcome to check the list of unresolved issues and see where you can provide assistance and reply to comments!
- If you want to start writing technical articles, you can learn from the following:
- Topic 1: Exploring Technical Writing in Open Source Communities PPT Download: Technical Writing in Open Source Communities.pdf (9.5 MB)
- Topic 2: How to Write a Good Technical Article? PPT Download: How to Write a Good Technical Article.pdf (1.0 MB)
- Video Review: 【TiDB 6.0 Book Rush 系列直播】开源技术写作入门与实践_哔哩哔哩_bilibili
In this community family, everyone is an indispensable part. Every day, this community starts a new day filled with love and kindness and ends a pleasant day with warmth and harvest. Thank you for being loving, warm, and kind.
|
username: 
|
username: 
|
username: