We've taken the old survey down. Worth explaining why, because the problem was ours and not yours.

It sat on the site from April to September and 28 of you filled it in. Thank you, genuinely, that's 28 people who gave us ten minutes for nothing in return. The trouble was the question. We listed eleven sorts of event and asked which you'd like more of, and the answers came back almost dead level:

• Kids and family, 15
• Outdoor, 14
• Food, 13
• Cultural, 13
• Adult social, 12
• Neighbour Day, 11
• Seniors, 10
• Safety, 10

Which tells us almost nothing. Everything is reasonably popular. Nothing is popular enough to go and book a hall for. We couldn't plan one single evening off the back of it, and that's down to whoever wrote the question rather than anyone who answered it.

So we've put four much smaller questions up instead, over at shca.ca/pages/survey. One click each. No sign-up, no email, nothing to type unless you want to.

The first asks whether you'd come to a craft sale in mid-November, with coffee, hot chocolate and donuts on us. There's a second option on that one for anybody who'd want a table of their own, because a craft sale with a good crowd and nothing to buy is just a room with coffee in it.

The second is about a monthly drop-in. No agenda, nobody signing you up for anything, same coffee and donuts. Come and talk about what's going on around here and what needs doing.

The third is for seniors: a regular get-together with some straightforward making, bird houses and bird feeders and that sort of thing, with the materials provided. It's borrowed from the Men's Shed idea, which is that people talk more easily shoulder to shoulder over a job than sitting in a circle being asked how they're doing. Open to any senior in Signal Hill. You can tell us weekly, monthly, or that you like the sound of it but couldn't say how often.

The fourth is the boring one and probably the most useful. When could you actually come? Weekday morning, afternoon, evening, or the weekend. We've run perfectly good things at hopeless times before.

You'll see everyone's answers straight away

The moment you answer, the page shows you how the rest of the hill has answered. Counts, percentages, all of it. You can have a look without answering as well, if you'd rather just be nosy.

No waiting for a board meeting, no "we'll share the themes in a future newsletter". And we keep what you clicked and nothing else, so there's no name or email sitting against it.

If none of it appeals, say so

Everything above is something we came up with, which is the usual way around: we decide what to put on, then ask whether you like the sound of it.

There's a box at the bottom of the page that works the other way. Tell us what you'd actually want from your community association. An event, something practical, something that's quietly annoyed you for years, anything at all. Next to it is a checkbox that matters more than it looks: I'd help run it, not just turn up. Everything here runs on people volunteering an afternoon, and that checkbox is the difference between a nice idea and a date on the calendar.

We read the suggestions rather than posting them straight onto the site, since there's nobody watching this page at two in the morning. But the good ones become the next question, and then the whole neighbourhood votes on yours exactly the way it's voting on ours this week.

Have a look when you've got a minute. It really is four clicks.

Thanks to Terry on the board for the nudge. His note about the old survey said that given its lack of focus, it was no surprise the ideas came back all over the place with no real direction to be had. He was right, and here we are.