1. Ten-vote limit. Each user on a UserVoice board has a limit of 10 votes which they can distribute between issues as they see fit. The issues/ideas with the highest votes float to the top of the board’s home page. I understand the reasoning behind this, but I still find it frustrating. I think makes sense to limit votes for things like new features, but when the board is also used to report bugs and shortcomings, I find that I will hit the limit too quickly. In constrast, GetSatisfaction allows you to click “I have this problem too” or “I have this question too” on as many issues as you like.
2. New suggestions/issues don’t get enough visibility because each board’s home page shows the items with the most votes, and since new users are more likely to vote for the first ones they see, the more popular items just get more popular. There is a separate tab for “new” items, but it’s an extra click away.
3. Sixty-character subject line limits. UserVoice allows only 60 characters in the subject line. I understand the need for a limit, but sixty? That’s not even a full line on an old 80-character-wide terminal. Sometimes 60 characters is just too short to even concisely express an issue.
4. Loss of user data. This is the one that made me want to throw my laptop through a wall. As mentioned above, each user gets 10 votes which they can distribute among the issues they feel are most important. You must have at least 1 vote to create a new idea. So far so good. But even if you have no votes left, the user interface still allows you to create a new issue and completely populate the form, which could include a considerably long description.

   It is only after you submit the form that the site tells you that you must have at least one vote left to create a new idea… but by that time it has completely thrown away everything you’ve written! And since the form is a fancy JavaScript overlay, you can’t even use the back button to reclaim your lost words. I can’t believe this made it through testing and that they still haven’t fixed it.

I think that UserVoice has a lot of potential, but as it is I see no reason why anyone would choose it over GetSatisfaction.