Ryan, one word

Hello,
 
Thanks for sharing. This maybe would have been better of as a private message, but to share my thoughts with everyone since I'm sort of being called out here ;)
 
(Dubdisciple, you're right. After this I really do need to move on. I hate to say it but things suffer when focusing on replying to difficult subjects like this sometimes.)
 
Help from the community would be nice. By community, I mean the users here who participate regularly and are well aware of the systems we have in place and that we're working on things internally. By help, I mean sharing this knowledge with others. I'm not asking the community to fix issues for us... but sharing with customers how issues can get fixed is helpful for everyone. Tell them about the systems we have in place. I see some members doing this and I love them for it. We do have a lot of incredibly helpful and generous people here. Thank you! You guys know who you are. 
 
Unfortunately, many others are not being helpful and are focusing their efforts on threads like what we've been seeing. They're zeroing in on these things that push their agenda to make us look bad in some cases. They don't share how to find help and instead focus on negative topics, many of which are based off hearsay or are the result of major assumptions. I've had to ban some people for doing this. People who weren't even posting publicly, but through private messages to new members trying to sway them to buy other products instead. People I've personally spent a lot of time supporting. I care a lot about what I do, so that's a pretty big stab in the back for genuine effort myself and my colleagues put in.
 
If someone comes in here claiming they want fixes or people fired from Cakewalk without any context of what their experience even is, it would be nice if long-time members wouldn't use this as an opportunity to try to poke holes in everything Cakewalk related (software, business practices, staffing changes, etc.). It would be nice if we'd just try to help out instead... maybe try to remind others that Cakewalk isn't some gigantic corporation and that there are real human beings behind the scenes working long hours to make what we believe to be one of the best products on the market for an extremely fair cost. The folks that constantly try to poke holes are most like either worried about our future, or are trying to hurt our future. I can't see it any other way. If you're legitimately concerned, don't worry, we're not new to this. We've been here for quite some time, we have a game plan, and SONAR isn't going anywhere but up.
 
In personal interactions I have with customers, people often times tell me I brought them back from the edge right when they were about to give up on SONAR. I'm not doing anything special, I'm just helping answer questions about what I've learned about troubleshooting computers over the years and how to get music software to achieve what you're looking to do. Sometimes the solutions are so easy (a single setting) that I'm amazed people were ready to move on.  I get this same type of response at Berklee where students tell me they're fed up with Logic, Pro Tools, Digital Performer. Maybe I personally just have a lot of patience. What I'm getting at, is it's so much more helpful to just work through problems together versus treating it like "Company X needs to fix issue Y". Yes, companies do need to fix issues and make better products, but it's a lot easier to achieve those results with professionalism and not by trying to bring that company down directly on their own website.
 
Anyhow, quite frankly I think we have some people that should know a little better at this stage in the game. They repeat these habits every year and push the envelope. It forces us to lock threads despite giving second, third, fourth... fiftieth chances in some cases. I don't personally understand visiting the forum every day and focusing on trying to hurt the company you're asking for better products from. It's completely counterproductive. This is why I keep requesting people work with us versus against us.
 
Anyhow, it's impossible to address human behavior. Many might read these words and agree, many will not. I'll probably receive some private messages telling me I'm missing the point or something similar. If anyone is worried about me missing the point, I guess what I'd like to say is this: I'm not. I see a lot of legitimate concerns as well and am thankful that people share what they think needs to be improved upon. The only solution to the big tickets at the moment is time.
 
We're working on some things internally that are going to address a lot of the feedback we've been getting throughout this entire release, the things we agree on with customers that are important. Obviously I can't announce what those plans are yet, but I will be excited when Cakewalk shares the news about some of the future enhancements to SONAR and other products. One of the things I saw recently caused the entire company to applaud and applaud loudly. I think it's the first time I've seen that at Cakewalk. Usually we're all very focused on what we're doing and to be honest it's hard to impress people who are extremely critical of their own work... so to see people loosen up for a moment with genuinely major smiles on their faces was a breath of fresh air.
 
Thanks for the message by the way. I'm looking forward to interacting with you guys again when we have some announcements.