RE: Forum traffic seems light
This is just my take on it, but I think the forums are light because prusa isn't listening to the community at large, but in fact just cramming things down our throats that we didn't ask for because other areas of the community asked for them, example, dithering color, faster printing of benches, ect,, I could name 10 other things. I could also name 10 things that have been needed and asked for since 2018 that have in no way been responded to, prusa has only ever since version 2.4 acted in a reactionary way to try and keep up with the Jones ( in USA terms this means keeping up with slicers that offer more) they have not developed anything worth having since then, but rather prefer to slap crap into their slicer for better or worse in the last several years. the slicer has become piss poor, and many are leaving the environment because of it. However Prusa still has a good slicer product, they just don't know how to use what they have created, and don't know how, or don't want to educate the community on how to use it. All their little 5$ BS tutorials are crap, and we have to suffer the community learning that and then passing along BS information. the community has moved elsewhere, the forums here are piss poor because Prusa has locked them down and turned them into some place not worth using, that's the fact, and they have removed some of the most worthwhile users because of disputes and complaints, from users that didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground.
Facts.
Been here for many years and watched it happen.
I'll be supersized if they let this post.
RE: Forum traffic seems light
Hmmm... I think a more reasonable answer would be that the forum software is outdated and rarely works. As of now, I can no longer edit, quote, or check notifications. And even when the forum software is working, search is crap. In contrast, in the Bambu Labs forums, when you start a new topic it automatically does a search first to cut down on duplicate threads. And the feedback system is much than here.
RE: Forum traffic seems light
So my 2 cents on things.
First off, I was off, burning through vacation time last week, and apparently fate said nope and decided to mess with things on the back end of the forum. It is being looked at now and being weighed on what the next steps are. I mentioned before that we were looking at the forums and what can be updated, and that is still the case and right now for managing the current state of things, it's a matter of weighing options. Devote time into fixing the current forums again, or accelerate the time frame for upgrading the forums. I returned yesterday from vacation and first thing I did was to reach out to Forum Batman to look at hte current issues and later on I have meetings as far as next steps to take. For me, I am in the mind set of advancing the updates to get to a new system that can be worked on better than trying to see what the current issues are with this version of the forums.
For it being quiet.
The major amount of posts is, "Hey, I have this problem, help...". Someone gets the answers they need and then rarely hear back from them again. That is nothing new on that front. I've posted some ideas on how to get the forums more active, and some were rejected by the community here, so those ideas were scrapped (having some forum only contests for example).
I was in charge of the forums when I returned to Prague and was in charge for 2 years. Unfortunately the forums were not the main focus, but more of a secondary one. Then I switched departments for 3 years and the forum duties was passed along to another and now I transferred yet again into a new department that was created and the forums are one of the top priorities and trying to work on it.
As mentioned, its not the same now as there are more communities at different places. For Reddit, I am on people internally to at least let me know what is planned to go up so I can post the news here so for users who are not normally on reddit (like myself) aren't getting news second hand.
The other side is people have other options for communities, other forums, discord servers, and other things, so in a way, its a bit of competition when it comes to that.
As far as some claims that prusa doesn't listen to the community, I can say that is not true as I have taken concerns not only from the forums, but from other places and I am well known at work for being a proper pain in the ass with some departments. A new option is for me is to take posts and submit them directly to correct departments and they then become tasks.
As far as people being limited, censored, or what not. @snuffleupagus while I can't understand why someone who appears to dislike something (talking in general not singling you out directly) so much that they still stay on that topics social media and just spends a lot of their own time bashing them. Constructive criticism could be heated and I understand disappointment an frustration with a company or thing. But when it just appears to be just a constant negative flow all the time, I have to wonder where the author is coming from (again in general)
But the reason I did tag you is because while your post might have some questionable language (and that is stretching it), why would I remove it? You are sharing your concerns and thoughts about the company overall and I have never removed a post that I might be in disagreement or anything else, nor would I remove yours. As far as kicking people off the forums. If it's a bot spamming, automatic ban. For someone else where there might be a disagreement, or someone acting like a @#%!, I do reach out to the person and point it out to them and ask them to refrain from doing it again and the strong majority stop and things are fine. I wish I could tell you the exact amount of actual users I had to ban, but its so infrequent and low that I never bothered to keep track.
As far as some of those cases where I stepped in, I do my best to keep it private and not call someone out publicly to address concerns unless the situation called for it in extreme matters.
Again, not calling you or anyone out directly.
NOW... (and yes I am well known for typing out "Wall O Text" and novel length messages, so if you are still reading, cool) I am always open to new ideas, suggestions and anything else that can improve the forums and the community at large. You can make a post, tag me in it, or send me a DM. (if you tag me in a post, PLEASE DM me a link and I can respond to the post... I get slammed with a lot of posts that I have to go through and can easily miss something).
Believe me, I want to improve the forums and the community at large, and I am open to any and all REASONABLE discussions about it 🙂
Shane (AKA FromPrusa)
RE: Forum traffic seems light
Oh, I feel a need to respond to this, I'm going to take this into another software, and word this just so.
I will be very careful with my wording.
I'll be back.
RE:
I can say though that the people on here and the atmosphere is first rate. These forums are informative, calm, professional.
I say this because I hang out on the Bambu Labs forums (which are a cesspit compared to here). Threads tend to devolve quickly into personal attacks. Or you help some one, an idiot calls you out for being wrong (when it's he that is wrong), you gently correct that person, the person then doubles down and so on.
I never see any of that here, or if it happens it gets quickly squelched.
RE: Forum traffic seems light
To be honest I mainly visit this forum to keep an eye on the very helpful updates regarding the INDX upgrade that various forum members share here. I appreciate you all delving into various discord servers for this info and sharing the news here in a way that’s easier to keep track of.
I feel there’d be more active users if initial limitations on leaving replies (the “awaiting moderation” thing for at least 5 replies) were communicated more clearly to new forum users. It almost stopped me from returning here.
RE: Forum traffic seems light
I feel there’d be more active users if initial limitations on leaving replies (the “awaiting moderation” thing for at least 5 replies) were communicated more clearly to new forum users. It almost stopped me from returning here.
It's pretty standard on other forums I've been on. The astronomy forum I was on was more extreme, you were on "probation" for 1 month.
RE: Forum traffic seems light
Oh I’m not opposed to the “awaiting moderation” measure itself, just that it’s not explained anywhere to new forum users. Some kind of notification or welcome message or even a pinned forum post in an obvious place would help.
Maybe the people running that astronomy forum wanted to filter users based on their patience, as I suppose that’s a useful quality to have when it comes to astronomy. 🙂
RE: Forum traffic seems light
Oh I’m not opposed to the “awaiting moderation” measure itself, just that it’s not explained anywhere to new forum users. Some kind of notification or welcome message or even a pinned forum post in an obvious place would help.
I will have something written up for the newer version of the forums for sure and I am waiting for a meeting / update on current things and if it will take longer than expected, I will write something up for here as well
Shane (AKA FromPrusa)