Hello GCU Admin...
 
For those of us who have only been here a year or less, we often look at the cards in a given category that we are designing for to see what is acceptable for that category.  Many times however, our new cards are returned to remove certain keywords or suggested that they are not specific enough to be approved in that category when the Most Popular cards in that category have the same keywords and or 'concept' that we are told we can't have.
 
Here is an example; I entered a Thank You card into the Occasions>>Thank You>> Wedding Attendants>>Bridal Party>>Being in my Wedding>>General
 
I noticed that bridesmaid, groomsman, wedding planner, best man were used by the most popular in this category, it made sense to me, so I added those to my keywords...I however was told to remove them because it could confuse the customer.
 
I understand that GCU has grown and you continue to try and refine and improve your processes...I applaud that, however you really need to spend the necessary time to enforce the changes to these processes across the board.  It is frustrating to spend so much time researching how to make a card for a specific category based on what has been approved for that category only to have it returned for edits when others in that category were approved.  Please figure out a way to go through the cards in all these categories and apply consistency.  I realize many of these cards were created long ago, and that only a handful of artists pay attention to the forum, but that doesn't mean these cards shouldn't be moved to more specific categories or have the keywords corrected.
 
A message from a slightly frustrated artist  

Hi Penny,  
 
No problem and you are correct, that is all part of the same discussion.  I was in Process Re-Engineering in the Aerospace world for several years and I realize that it is a big undertaking for GCU to have the thousands of old cards re-reviewed, however in this situation and environment it is in no way fair to the artists who are now creating cards to have GCU say what they have said in the past "from this point on".
 
The reason this is unjust is because in the situation here at GCU, those old cards with keywords that may no longer be allowed in that category or those cards in a general category that should now be in a more specific category are taking the front page positions and are the cards most likely coming to the forefront in searches.  Asking the artists to do this housecleaning will not work because of the 3,956 (at the moment) artists on GCU, in the year I've been here there is probably only about 100 who have ever tuned in to the forum.  GCU must figure out a way to force the review or develop a process to clean these cards up that is separate from the goings on of everyday life here.
 
I appreciate the backing Penny, makes me glad I am not alone  

Quote from Doreen_137017 on May 9^th, 2010, 7:45pm:

 
I completely understand, Doreen.  I've been feeling that way myself on some issues lately.  
 
For Norval:
 
There is the Misplaced Cards thread (Under Creative Collaboration) for requesting that our cards be moved to another category, however, I made a request on April 16 and the cards have still not been moved.  
 
Here's the link if you would like to make a request:
 
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/forum/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1237234887/154#154
 
Then I asked a question, here under Support to see if we're still to use the Misplaced Cards thread for requesting category changes, and Mindy said yes.  But, no one ever moved my cards:
 
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/forum/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1272065490
 
So I'm feeling pretty disappointed in my GCU experience at the moment.  
 
My main disappointment is that other artist have started a new discussion, just to request that their cards be moved, and got the cards switched in a snap.  
 
Not sure what to make of any of this, actually.
 
Penny

Perhaps a quick fix to improve the customer experience might be to give priority to titles instead of keywords.  If what the customer is searching for is in a title that card appears before any other cards that just match on keyword.  This would not solve all the issues, but might improve the customer experience in a case like Pamela mentioned.
Kathy

I was really talking about one search that first looks at titles and then keywords.  The more words in your title that match the customer search, the higher up the card would appear.  It would be a way to filter out those not so perfect keywords.  
Don't mean to take Tom's idea, I don't remember reading it, I don't get to read the forum as much as I used to lately.  Sorry Tom.
Kathy

No problem Pamela.  We are all coming from the same place--wanting to make things better for GCU
artists, customers and staff!