Those that think this thread should be locked are missing the responses of very thoughtful members. This is what I was hoping for. The forum showing just how great is can be even faced with an unpleasant start. I think many of the posts are worth the gamble in leaving it open. They are insightful and should be seen. I am proud of this forum and the members in it. 

Musikslayer
I haven't read much of this thread, but: I wrote to customer support 2 weeks ago, created a "ticket" and everything. Haven't heard one word. So, the headline did catch my attention. 

I have used email support before also and it is painfully slow. However this forum can usually solve the issue or at least propose a work around to get you going.
 
lastly the Cake guys/gals are generally very helpful as well. You can PM one of them here and give them the ticket number. Perhaps they can help move things along for you.

haven't read through it yet, can imagine

I haven't seen any responces from the OP so Tinker is correct regarding these trolls and as well as this thread has developed which I find to be the norm from the wonderful people here who dispite knowing the OP is a troll still tries to offer help. I hope the OP is reading everyone's posts and realizes what a moron he/she is and should get a life. I'm happy to be a part of this community.

I have reached out to the OP to learn more. I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt and hope we can resolve their issues. 

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
I have reached out to the OP to learn more. I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt and hope we can resolve their issues. 

Nice measured and reasonable response, Andrew.  Bravo.

I've been a member of this forum since 2004 and a Cakewalk user since the 90's (v3 for windows and beyond). I have always found the forum invaluable for many reasons. I love to participate, or just read and learn, and often laugh at the creative posts, and even the occasional disagreements and miscommunications that arise. Not everyone grasps the concept of this forum, and forums in general do have a tendency (as Jim Roseberry said) to devolve into name-calling, etc. It's sad when that happens, but I think overall this forum is one of the best I have been on, and it has a feeling of community that is a bit more than just "virtual" to me. Many of the forum members sound like folks I'd like to meet and know or collaborate with. We are always striving to improve imperfect communication, but without the exchanges from this forum, we'd all be missing out on a wonderful resource for musicians, composers, tech enthusiasts, and well, whoever gets involved. Sad to see anyone post in such an obviously unhappy and provocative way..we all have our bad moments, and I try to live and let live.  I enjoyed the responses to this thread, and believe me it could have been a whole lot worse (try Twitter to see what I mean!). That is all. 

subtlearts
Here's the pattern that I notice: 
 
1) a completely unheard-of member, whether new or of the silent-lurker variety, posts an incoherent micro-rant about how Sonar is useless garbage and Cakewalk are criminals, and usually demands a refund. Almost without exception there is no specific problem mentioned, and no indication that they are looking for a solution. 
 
2) active forum members respond with a mix of bemusement and annoyance, and usually someone picks apart the original post in some level of detail, noting its aggressive tone and lack of specificity.  
 
3) someone else steps up and begins screaming loudly that somehow this proves that the forum is actually a den of fanboy fascists who will not tolerate dissenting voices, or indeed anyone who has the audacity to mention that the software might have any flaws at all, or that the forum is not a blissful utopia of happy collective self-congratulation. The fact that there are at any given moment over a hundred active threads of people discussing bugs, proposing features or improvements we'd like to see, and above all helping each other sort out problems, is immaterial to this poster, who also siezes on any disagreement with their vitriolic rant as proof. 
 
4) the OP however rarely if ever reappears. Their work here is done. 
 
5) some of us can't help but wonder if the OP troll and the anti-fascist champion are in fact the same person. Others wonder if the OP is a mole representing a competitor, or just a fanchild of a competitor's product. 
 
6) Life goes on, we turn our attention back to more interesting/productive pursuits, but the place is a little diminished.
 
I have to say, I think in general it would be better if we just collectively tried to overcome the impulse to respond, and let these threads that are obviously going nowhere slide gracefully down the page into oblivion. I know I've just done the opposite here, but I'm going to try to adopt that stance in future. 
 
EDITED for one spelling correction

HERE HERE! you know, if the 1st time I came here P-ed off because "after calling CW" to be greeted by someone who was no help  and IMO sounded asleep or stoned, then came here more mad needing help but too angry to not say bad stuff... I could be all so loved today... lol... BUT NO! the people needing the most help are the people who get here out of desperation and mad to start then don't get the answers in a timely manner, DON"T KNOW how this forum works are the ones who get HIT, swarmed and bullied before anyone tries to truly help them! Hay I'm a nice guy when not mad. but now I have people here that I hate from the past and people that hate me.
It's your forum because you have the most posts and someone else has only one post.
I'm my case I happened to step in when people where complaining about a subscription and I took the side that I fell into defending the other trolls! so it stands! I really don't think that any troll would truly even be able to find this forum and have no interest in it! people who come here mad are mad at CW with software issues! NO TROLLS!
 
Oh well...  

Dave000

subtlearts
Here's the pattern that I notice: 
 
1) a completely unheard-of member, whether new or of the silent-lurker variety, posts an incoherent micro-rant about how Sonar is useless garbage and Cakewalk are criminals, and usually demands a refund. Almost without exception there is no specific problem mentioned, and no indication that they are looking for a solution. 
 
2) active forum members respond with a mix of bemusement and annoyance, and usually someone picks apart the original post in some level of detail, noting its aggressive tone and lack of specificity.  
 
3) someone else steps up and begins screaming loudly that somehow this proves that the forum is actually a den of fanboy fascists who will not tolerate dissenting voices, or indeed anyone who has the audacity to mention that the software might have any flaws at all, or that the forum is not a blissful utopia of happy collective self-congratulation. The fact that there are at any given moment over a hundred active threads of people discussing bugs, proposing features or improvements we'd like to see, and above all helping each other sort out problems, is immaterial to this poster, who also siezes on any disagreement with their vitriolic rant as proof. 
 
4) the OP however rarely if ever reappears. Their work here is done. 
 
5) some of us can't help but wonder if the OP troll and the anti-fascist champion are in fact the same person. Others wonder if the OP is a mole representing a competitor, or just a fanchild of a competitor's product. 
 
6) Life goes on, we turn our attention back to more interesting/productive pursuits, but the place is a little diminished.
 
I have to say, I think in general it would be better if we just collectively tried to overcome the impulse to respond, and let these threads that are obviously going nowhere slide gracefully down the page into oblivion. I know I've just done the opposite here, but I'm going to try to adopt that stance in future. 
 
EDITED for one spelling correction

HERE HERE! you know, if the 1st time I came here P-ed off because "after calling CW" to be greeted by someone who was no help  and IMO sounded asleep or stoned, then came here more mad needing help but too angry to not say bad stuff... I could be all so loved today... lol... BUT NO! the people needing the most help are the people who get here out of desperation and mad to start then don't get the answers in a timely manner, DON"T KNOW how this forum works are the ones who get HIT, swarmed and bullied before anyone tries to truly help them! Hay I'm a nice guy when not mad. but now I have people here that I hate from the past and people that hate me.
It's your forum because you have the most posts and someone else has only one post.
I'm my case I happened to step in when people where complaining about a subscription and I took the side that I fell into defending the other trolls! so it stands! I really don't think that any troll would truly even be able to find this forum and have no interest in it! people who come here mad are mad at CW with software issues! NO TROLLS!
 
Oh well...  

Sorry you know nothing of the sort. You can't have any clue about the motive or the reason the OP posted. None of us do. No this forum is CW property No one of us owns it. Collectively we set the tone and how well it works to help fellow users. I also take issue with your aligning yourself with what you call trolls. If you really believe they are trolls and you wish to be included with them then how are we to handle that? It seems that if you have had a poor response from other members it could be due entirely to your attitude. The members are willing to overlook a bad start. They are not so unwise as to think that one who is always acting badly or making ridiculous comments will at some point change. No, we have seen that kind of behavior before. Its not new nor unique. It is only tiresome.  
 
What you are complaining about is this op has gotten a willingness from this forum to be helpful. How utterly absurd. Its what we do. Its our reason to to here. What is your reason to be here.  

I know of lots of situations where someone has come here really too angry to reason with yet there have been extreme efforts made to contact that person off forum to try and help. And I'm not just talking about cakewalk staff as in this case, but also forum members too have gone to great lengths.

But surely the OP has a responsibility for the direction a thread takes. I find far more people try to calm matters down and try to help than those who get all upset and fight back.