hexagon logo
Register Sign in
  • State Not Answered
  • Replies 12 replies
  • Subscribers 13 subscribers
  • Views 265 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related

It's not the glass, it's the content!

Martin Kieltsch
So this brand new MSC FB knock off is what you guys think would attract more users ?
 
The "old" Forum that had more than 200.000 members and only one or two posts a day. That's suspiciously low participation and I donÄt think it's due to young people not knowing how to use a forum.
 
I  can tell you why I prefer a "classic" Forum over let's say FB:
1)
Did you ever try to dig out an old thread on FB that you remember it was there ? Impossible thing! The philosophy here is fire and forget. If I stumble over valuable content here, I immediately save it on my HDD.
If you participate in a forum for long, you remember threads and you can pretty easily dig out what it was if you remember things like keywords or who wrote it.
If this system is capable of doing this - fine. If not - fail.
 
2)
Being flooded with info: If you have FB on your mobile phone and more than a dozen "friends" you get pretty many pop-ups saying xxx has liked something, yyy has started a new topic and all this fuss.
You don't have that on a forum. I'm having a look there if I have the time and not because somebody I don't even know tagged me in a post.
 
3)
Smooth transition:
Ever thought about the "old" forum threads as a valuable source of solutions/information? So which genius had the idea "hey let's just piss off everyone with an unannounced radical change within one day"
 
4)
Attachments:
Ok this can only  become better, as on forums you're always limited with file types and sizes or visibility only for logged in members and all this unnecessary stuff.
 
Test attachment:
explaining_math_to_a_blonde
 
 
 
  • 0
    I may have to revise #4: How do I edit the text and/or attachments (as it obviously added the pic twice) ?
  • 0
    I think it makes sense to modernize, since a lot of this stuff already gets posted in other sites (e.g., LinkedIn). In a way, I'm surprised MSC still hosts these forums (or should I say "fora"?), since 3rd parties seem more than willing to let people post such topics.
     
    Anyway, I'm guessing with this new format, MSC has dropped legacy support for submitting questions via punch cards & paper tape :)
  • 0
    Hi Martin,
     
    Thank you for the feedback.  We appreciate your concerns, and we had a lot of internal discussions along the same lines.  The old forums had a number of problems and we hope you will find the new format easier and more pleasant to use.
     
    To address your specific points:
     
    1. The discussions work a bit differently from the old forums, but they're still threaded and the search tool should be capable of finding the information you need.
     
    2. Your user settings will allow you to control what notifications you receive:
    ScreenShot1409
     
    3. Agreed, and so the old forums are still there in read-only mode - click on the Archives link at the top of the page.
     
  • 0
    As for your 3rd point, I see MSC has kept the old threads as read-only, so at least the info is still there for now.
     
    #TestEditOption
  • 0
    4. I was going to edit my last post and add this item, but I can't see how to do that at the moment...  I'll find out.
  • 0
    Hi Martin,
     
    We had to move tools for a number of reasons (many IT-related) and the first question we asked when looking at the various tools was "would this work for Martin (and other valuable contributors like him..)?".  I share your lack of enthusiasm for some of the FB-like functionality, but some of it is useful. Here are some things that guided us and some things that looked like a step in the right direction:
     
    1. Old forums: we HAD to preserve the information because there's so much valuable stuff in there. That system is now in 'read only' mode and, while it pains me to have 2 systems, the old information is intact.
     
    2. Some new functionality looks helpful, for example:
      i. topic tags using hashtag characters. I'll tag this thread with #CommunityFeedback and that will help in categorization/search.
     
     ii. 'likes' on answers: these 'votes' on answers will be helpful in guiding people in the future when they look at old questions/answers. Let's use them..
     
    3. IT benefits for us: not an end-user concern, but we can more easily manage our data and realize future product enhancements. I'm sure our community will share their enhancement requests.. In addition: we now have the possibility of integrating our community forums with our SimCompanion (simcompanion.mscsoftware.com/) site and other Support resources. This will be helpful for us and we expect it will be nicer for the users, too. 
     
    4. Utility: our old forums were fine in my mind, but this new interface is easier to post images & attachments.
     
    5. Search & info retrieval: this had better be really good. Our initial testing of this system (and a related tool from the same company) showed good results..
     
    6. Community involvement: we want to keep our valuable contributors happy, so we're listening to your feedback. Our old system was static, but we have a bit of control over this new system. We'll work hard to get the kinks sorted out; thanks for the feedback.
     
    Thanks,
    Kent
     
     
     
     
     
  • 0
    Coming back to how to edit posts: this was accidentally switched off to start with, but has now been activated.  You can edit your posts by clicking on the little down arrow icon to the right of the post, and selecting Edit from the menu.
    ScreenShot1412
  • 0
    At least the editing works now.
    (I don't need to mention that it leaves a bad taste if you guys not even tested this far before switching over to a new system ?)
  • 0
    One of my younger colleagues was asking if there's a dislike button.
    I agree that in some cases you'd need that.
  • 0
    Agreed on the dislike button: I'd asked for this and it wasn't 'standard' in our implementation. I've requested it here:
    Note that the 'Groups' link at the top has a new group called "Community Feedback" (or similar?) and I've put it in there for our Administrators to consider.
© 2025 Hexagon AB and/or its subsidiaries. Privacy Policy | Cloud Services Agreement