I think there is likely PLENTY of rant left in you.  That's twice in the same thread you have gone off about the forum.

It quite simply is what it is.  I wonder if you submitted a Feature Request for upgrading the forum.

If your rant IS over, then let it be over.


Bob Bone

> I wonder if you submitted a Feature Request for upgrading the forum.

More like a bug request. Yes I did about 18 months ago.

> Honestly, I am fine with the forums version, outdated or not.

Fair enough, let's see how happy you will be when somebody performs a cross site scripting attack. Best wait until then eh?

CL2Zero


Honestly, I am fine with the forums version, outdated or not. I mean it is just a forum. I would rather the Bakers stay busy tuning and improving Sonar.

+1 and then some...
 
Am I the only one who feels both priviledged and lucky?.. after all, Cake can certainly fix this forum..they can take the site down and be like most other manufacturers..blissfully unaware that users exist...
 
So if the OP doesnt like the color shading and doesnt want to post here i seriously doubt that he will be missed.
 

I just KNEW there was some more rant left in you.

Could someone do that - for sure.

Is it likely - dunno - don't think so.

Shouldn't you be off in a bunker somewhere, waiting for Dec 21?

Kidding kidding kidding

In all likelihood, the forum will not rise above 'get to it later, if at all' in the grand scheme of what gets fixed.

It is, what it is.

That does not take away any validity to your points - it is just not likely to change.

Bob Bone

I changed my address (not the login???) address last year. And stopped getting promotions.

Finally, in June, sent a message to customer service via the support page. (Which does not have a link to the general customer support form. )

Next week I got messages to 3 addresses: the oldest one (in the beginning), the old store one, and the new one.

And then nothing again.

So about 4 weeks ago I sent another message, and the next day I get messages to all 3 addresses. And nothing since.

The renewal price of Sonar for the past 2 versions should have been increased by about $15 so CW could hire a couple of dudes that ONLY work on the website and forum, and user communications.

Just tested again: searching for my username gives results that are 3 months and older. The Forum software publisher told me this is because the indexes are not updated frequently enough.

And  the most recent post to the "Announcements" section on the forum's landing page is from a year ago.

The main CW managers do not understand that the forum is the company's most valuable asset. Most companies to do not get this.

The forum should also include a listing of ALL user groups, and contact info, and ability to list ones' info.

The website should be easier to use. And have recent news, not 4+ month old stuff on the front page.

At least one person in the company should ONLY have the website/forum to be their main gig. Instead of this "Oh yeah, has anyone updated the web recently," behavior.

I DO agree with you that are some definite needs for ramping up the forum, and it is most definitely a CRITICAL avenue for the user community, and therefore the company, for self-help, thereby easing the load on the tech support staff.

Think about how many more of us there are, and how many posts are resolved by having such a large pool of folks to draw from to either resolve through someone else having been through the same thing - here try this - seems to happen a LOT.

So, yeah, the fact that searching the forum is better done through GOOGLE than by the search functionality within the forum is something that I agree sould get some attention.

It's all a compromise - folks taken from one place mean a loss of productivity there while they are borrowed - but if it not done then what is the lost productivity from the folks who needed the other folks to get temporarily reassigned.

And so on, and always will be, and will always cost some folks something in the process.  Weighing that cost is the key.

Bob Bone

Not quite sure what a cyber attack on the forum would garner the perpetrators. If it's just uploading viruses or malware... well that's what all my heavy duty AVs are for and why I avoid using this machine for anything important like online payments. Just seems like an odd target. Care to elaborate?

If you need to understand what the security issues are with ASPPlayground.NET 3.5 suggest contacting them.

Here is a WIKI article as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting

Beepster - they may be after my opinions on background colors!  We have to stop them before they UNDERSTAND us!

ARRRGGGGHH  :)

That's why I asked him why he wasn't in a bunker somewhere, waiting for the end of the Mayan calendar.

Bob Bone

That's what I'm saying Alex. Sure they COULD do it but why? To access my PMs? Not much going on in there. Just a couple of chats and if it's going to delve into anything important I take the convo off site. My name/personal info? I don't provide that to web forums or pretty much anywhere on the net. Credit card info? I don't even think there is a place where you would do that here. In the Cake store sure but that seems to be a completely different site/server with proper security and even then if I wanted actually buy something from the Cake store I'd use Paypal.

Don't get me wrong I am ultra paranoid about that kind of stuff but I just don't think this site is a worthwhile target and even if someone DID bother I doubt they'd get much. As always the general rules of safe intarwebbing apply. Don't provide personal info. Don't say or divulge anything you don't want the whole world to know. Use quality, updated AV software and don't click willy nilly on every link you see.

There are no guarantees of 100% safety in this world but you can reduce risk. However you have to make a choice. How much are you willing to miss out on in life for the sake of safety. This forum is worthwhile and IMO is likely a low risk activity therefore I will continue to use it.

That said yes they do indeed need to start from scratch. I was told that the problem would be moving all the archived data to a new server. People do this all the time so I'm not sure why it's such a big deal but if they don't want to do that I'd suggest a workaround. Set up the new site and close the old site for comments but leave it online. Then if people want to carry on an old discussion they can point to the original thread so everyone can get caught up and continue the discussion on the new site. Not ideal but this site will eventually become completely defunct as technology moves forward.

Just a thought... well a lot of thoughts... but hey, I'm a ramblin' man. ;-)