Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:10 pm Post subject: 25$ to post in the "Other" forums: bug or feature?
First, let me clearly state that I don't want to contest the decision of the NeoOffice team to restrict the ability to post in some forums only to users with a certain donation level.
However, while I acknowledge the idea for forums in the NeoOffice, NeoOffice Mobile and Development and Testing category, I don't understand why it should be applied also to the Other category.
In that category there are the Random Whatnot, Server Outages and Problems and Ranting forums.
While the Server Outages and Problems forum is "free", the other two exhibit the same $25 required donation level of almost all the other forums, with the difference that (IMHO) they aren't "support" forums like the ones in the other sections. That is, I don't see a problem if pluby and the others members of the NeoOffice staff don't have the time to check or reply to threads in these forums, simply because they aren't *support* forums. Ideally, I think they should be left "open" for user-to-user discussions, regardless of the achieved user donation levels.
Just my 2¢, hoping that it's only an oversight.
Last edited by XFox on Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:21 pm; edited 2 times in total
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:17 pm Post subject: Re: 25$ to post in the "Other" forums: bug or feat
XFox wrote:
While the Server Outages and Problems forum (that is, this forum) is "free", the other two exhibit the same $25 required donation level of all the other forums, with the difference that (IMHO) they aren't "support" forums like the ones in the other sections. That is, I don't see a problem if pluby and the others members of the NeoOffice staff don't have the time to check or reply to threads in these forums, simply because they aren't *support* forums. Ideally, I think they should be left "open" for user-to-user discussions, regardless of the achieved user donation levels.
Just my 2¢, hoping that it's only an oversight.
I have already commented on this several times but I will repeat it here: these forums are our workplace and so there is an implicit expectation for most posters if they post here, we will read it.
We are OK with large donors posting their rant as we should respond to the complaints of our large donors. However, there are plenty of sites on the internet for people to chat and rant and we find such chatting and ranting highly distracting.
I think, on balance, that Patrick and his team have made the right decision in regard to these other forums. With the best will in the world, you'll always get distracted and potentially drawn into such postings - their very purpose is to scream out for attention!
As a long-term supporter of NeoOffice, I welcome any initiative which contributes to helping its developers to concentrate on their core function - what they do best, while leaving committed volunteers to handle as much of the ancilllary issues and tasks as can be reasonably feasible.
The fact to have left the Server Outages and Problems forum accessible to all demonstrates their complete commitment to serving the whole community, including those who only have need of searching through the extensive information already contributed throughout these forums over the past years. If they can't find what they are looking for, they can make a personal judgement about the value they attach to asking the active community members to contribute to finding the answer they are looking for: is it worth $25 or less?
But that minimum $25 pays for access to a whole year's worth of "personalised support". Not such a bad deal, really! _________________ Ray Saunders
World Scout Bureau
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum