I've just been monitoring the thread, but from what I've read earlier, this and maybe other CF-lists and other software lists might be worth assigning someone to, to monitor and respond to as their "day job."
Public relations and perception can make or break a company these days and it seems to me, especially with a company the size of MM, that there would be funds to hire a "Mailing List / Forum Troubleshooter" who is an expert in the software AND its use in production who could provide a "first response" technical support to users, free of charge...public relations people who are not experts in the software and its use are really not always helpful, except to soothe the frayed nerves of customers whose businesses are falling apart because they can't get things working. And sometimes you need an answer in minutes, not hours or days. After providing "first response", let the Troubleshooter then decide which issues should be taken into the formal chain of technical support. One of the great benefits of public lists like this and the support one can get is that the support is "public" and not isolated in a support network. Solve it for one, you solve it for many. Cuts down on MM's formal support requirements. I believe this "Troubleshooter" position should be formal, paid, and full-time, because it's in MM's and the CF (et al) community's best interest. Would that work? Rick Rick Faircloth, Prism Productions -----Original Message----- From: Jesse Noller [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 9:52 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: RE: The Myth of Bugs (Was Huge Ungainly thread of Doom) > Whilst I agree with your general point that there's possibly a > misintepretation of "doom and gloom for CFMX" within the recent threads, > I'd > like to also point out that from what I can see, the developers > highlighting > the problems are actually seeking help from Macromedia in order to > "continue" using CFMX - NOT in order to give up on it altogether. Threads like the one yesterday, if you go back and read them, degenerated into a series of "throw it out the door" and "I won't be buying it" etc, etc, etc. People need to realize that yes while software might have issues, and they do want help publicly, there are other people who are reading these mediums who are directly making decisions based off of the words of the people within this community. If I was a new CFMX customer, and I read the threads from the past few days(weeks) I would send my boxed copy back to macromedia saying "that was fun, no?" New users, and "on the fence" users are strongly influenced by the posts here and on the forums by you, the cf "luminaries". > I have in fact advised a few people either within the "Long time CF > supporter" thread and also outside of it during the last couple of days, > to > "go ahead and try CFMX for themselves", despite having some very obvious > problems myself - which, I am still working on solving at the moment after > 3 > days - I believe I'm starting to see where the major problems lie now. Except your post of "try it for yourself" was drowned out by plenty of other people chanting the "MM sux and CFMX is poop" line. The fact is that the posts made here and elsewhere directly effect those people wanting to "jump into CF" > Basically, there's a problem with the JDBC driver (thats pretty obvious). > Whilst there is also a problem with installing CFMX on a Server which had > a > previous version of CF on it before, despite removing old registry keys > and > directories. > > I believe Vernon has already picked up on these issues and is going to try > and raise them internally with MM. Yes, however, do not assume this will happen 100% of the time, Vernon, Sean, Mike and I are doing what we can, when we have time, but this is not the best, or recommended way of getting things escalated! > I don't have a problem with MM. They're doing grand as far as I can see, > considering their size. Maybe I'm just used to large corporate bureaucracy > at this stage, with much much larger and slower entities (oil and > automotive > companies). Maybe too, I have come to take the cf-talk list for granted as > an effective channel for solving issues with CF - over the years. I've > seen > issues raised on the list being actively tackled head on by both MM and > Allaire in the past. Yes developers are looking for what is effectively > "free" support - but it's support at a cost to the developer in terms of > time etc - e.g. I've lost almost 3 days in my current situation, but at > least I'm proactively ruling out things and feeding back my findings to > the > people who may need that info i.e. MM or the CF Community. However, there is a distinct difference between rational discourse, and a "mob mentality" when it comes to commenting on issues. My point is simple, take the posts here and elsewhere with a grain of salt, realize that many of these people are not the rule, rather the exception. Most of all, watch what you post, you, as community members, effect the perception of CF as a *whole*. The community runs under the "mob" system, while 25 people may run fine and say so, 100 people are screaming about $RAND issues. The 25 are ignored, and the 100 are taken as gospel. See what I mean? Jesse Noller [EMAIL PROTECTED] Macromedia Server Development "No concept man forms is valid unless he integrates it without contradiction into the sum of his knowledge." - Ayn Rand ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists&body=lists/cf_talk FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm
