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The feedback functions of Bloom, if you wish to use them, add a valuable perspective to your practice.
Buddies and mentors
If you have elected to use feedback as part of your spiritual practice program, you can request feedback from up to three friends who have agreed to be your buddies, or from an LLF mentor. To learn about the prerequisites for having an LLF mentor, read the page called Feedback Options.
Bloom users do not have access to lists of other Bloom users. Friends who agree to be your buddy must give you their Bloom registered name, exactly as they type it when they log in. Buddies can either be Bloom practitioners themselves, or they can register to use Bloom as a non-practicing buddy, simply for the purpose of giving feedback to others. Non-practicing buddies do not have their own spiritual exercise programs.
If you would like to meet other Bloom users or find someone who'd be willing to be your buddy, you can use the Bloom Forum in the LLF Message Board.
E-mail notifications
As a Bloom practitioner, you can elect to be sent optional e-mail notifications when you receive a new request for feedback and/or when you receive feedback you have requested. These e-mails are optional, because Bloom practitioners will be logging into Bloom regularly, and you will always be notified of your new feedback messages (feedback requests or replies) on the Bloom welcome back page after you log in, and on your User Home page. You can request or cancel optional e-mail notifications on the Feedback Preferences page in the User Options area.
Non-practicing buddies, on the other hand, have no reason to log into Bloom when they don't have any feedback requests to respond to. Therefore, if you are a non-practicing buddy, you will AUTOMATICALLY be sent an e-mail notification, every time you receive a new request for feedback.
Reading feedback messages
Practitioners can review feedback messages relating to their own spiritual exercise program on the "Feedback requests & replies" page in the Practice Records area, mentioned in the previous chapter. You can go to the "Feedback requests & replies" page by following the link on the welcome back page or your User Home page, or by clicking the "Practice records" tab above the Bloom banner, then clicking the "Feedback requests & replies tab" on the Practice Records navigation palette.
All Bloom users can review their own feedback messages relating to other people's spiritual practice programs in the Give Feedback to Others area. This area has two main pages, each accessed by a tab on the Give Feedback to Others navigation palette:
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Pending feedback requests
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Answered requests
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Users can go to the Give Feedback to Others area by following the link on the welcome back page or on their User Home page, or by clicking the blue "Give Feedback to Others" tab above the Bloom banner.
Requesting feedback
Practitioners with feedback can request feedback on any journal entry at any time. You can select one or more recipients for your feedback request from a convenient list containing all your buddies and your mentor if you have one. A separate, private Bloom feedback message will be sent to each recipient you designate. Later, each recipient's message can be individually reviewed, printed, unsent, or deleted from the listing on the "Feedback requests & replies" page.
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If you don't want feedback on a journal entry, simply do not select any recipients.
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The listing on the "Feedback requests & replies" page not only shows your sent messages, but also incoming ones. When your buddy or mentor sends the feedback you requested, the status of your feedback request message changes to indicate you have unread feedback. Simply open the message, and the newest reply is visible above your previous message, similar to the way e-mail programs work. After you read your feedback, you may save it for future reference, print it, reply to it, or delete it.
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You and your buddy or mentor can reply back and forth to each other as many times as you like.
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Giving feedback
If you have agreed to be a buddy for one or more of your friends, you will periodically receive requests for feedback. For helpful tips on giving feedback to others, read the page called Feedback Tips for Buddies.
New requests for feedback appear on the "Pending feedback requests" page in the Give Feedback to Others area of Bloom. Any new replies to feedback you have previously sent also appear here.
This page is like an Inbox and a To Do list, combined: Messages remain in this listing until you have sent your response.
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You can postpone responding, or work on your feedback reply as many times as you wish, before sending it.
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After you have replied, messages will disappear from this list, and can be found in the listing on the "Answered requests" page. When you open the message there, your feedback or latest reply is visible above the request and any previous exchanges, similar to the structure of a typical e-mail.
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If you receive a reply to feedback that does not need a response, you can move it to the "Answered requests" page to avoid confusion with items needing your response, or simply delete it if you don't want to refer to its contents in the future.
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Unsending and deleting feedback messages
Any feedback message -- an initial request for feedback, a feedback response, and any replies to feedback -- can be unsent if the recipient has not yet read it. You can simply open any message whose status shows it as unread by the recipient, and click the "Unsend" button.
Unsent messages are instantly deleted from the recipient's incoming messages. If the recipient has received an e-mail notification of the message already, don't worry about creating concern or confusion. Bloom will send a follow up e-mail stating that the message was unsent. If the message has already appeared on the recipient's "Review requests and give feedback page," the recipient will be told it was unsent when attempting to open it.
After the recipient has read your message, you may not unsend it, but you can delete it. After you delete it, the recipient will still have their own copy of the message, but they will no longer be able to reply to it.
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