I agree with everything you've said here, tereza. Improvements have been made for some lessons, but RussianPod101 staff didn't even tell us the Survival Lessons had been updated until several users complained repeatedly that there were issues with the lessons! And then we were told to download all of those lessons again. Downloading the same lessons over and over does not really expand our knowledge.
Even now there are too many spelling and grammatical errors within lessons. Surely there are two or three proofreaders who can go through the materials before they are presented? We are repeatedly told that the staff are working hard on new lessons, but they trickle out.
Even including the nine News podcasts, I don't count even 200 lessons available! Unless the Ultimate Russian Package includes lessons we have yet to see (and really, why should subscribers pay twice for the same lessons?) I don't see how they can have 200 lessons on the DVD for users.
There is potential for something really great here, but RussianPod101 and some of her sister sites are really falling down on the job. I am not going to pay $20+ a month for 12 lessons or less. The DVD offer does not look good to me, as why should I pay for a DVD of lessons I've already downloaded? The lesson number is already grossly inflated on the site, so why should I think it's a real number when it comes to the DVD? Or are these completely different lessons from what is provided on the site?
If you're having staffing problems, be honest with us. Let us know if someone is leaving and not coming back. Don't make empty blanket promises about lots to come for months on end! If you're having problems producing lessons, let us know and maybe we can come forward and make suggestions. I do not believe that there are as many users for this site and the sister sites as we keep being assured. This is actually unimportant. Rather than wasting time trying to convince the users that there are hundreds or thousands of listeners, produce good quality material and a good quantity of it and soon we will see the hundreds or thousands of users present themselves through excited comments and a community.
There should be at least one dedicated person on staff who should go through the lessons and forums daily to make sure that comments do not go unnoticed. Even if that person cannot address an issue, he or she could notify someone else who could deal with it.
I have really enjoyed the Idioms and Proverbs lessons, but the threat on the page for one of the recent lessons (to not produce more if we don't comment a lot on the lessons) made me not want to comment at all.
I would like to see more personality show through on the site. The lesson titles (for example, the beginner lessons) are often too long and do not directly feature in the lessons at all. Less attention should be paid to matching what the sister sites provide and more attention should be paid to teaching us about Russian language and culture, and the places where Russian is spoken. Even in the News lessons we should learn a little something.
I've been very frustrated with the site. For instance: Why does it keep logging me out when I check the box to remember me? Many links take me to the wrong page or only refresh the current page. I miss the calendar on the side which told us which days had lessons. However, I love what this site *can* be and I know RussianPod101.com can do it! And somehow I think if there was a Russian-language competitor for this site like Chineseclass101.com has a big competitor, we would be seeing much more content....
I don't think this site should wait until that happens!
