Forum behavior

Point taken. In interest of full disclosure I have suggested at every company I have worked for that they discontinue paying SMA's I am currently working with 3.7mr4 and happy as a clam to stay there so no I haven't logged any technical support issues in years if ever, what's the point support for my version stopped a long time ago. The next thing that will be said is since I did that I have no right to complain about the software bugs so why didn't I just keep my mouth shut, and to a point you may be right but here's the thing. I don't keep my SMA's up or even want to play with the new versions because it appears to me to be the business practice of HexMet to keep pumping out releases for the sole purpose of justifying holding their hands out for more SMA money. That I would have no problem with if I thought there were quality releases that enhanced the quality and output of my job but sadly there have been very few things that I feel do that in anything I have seen. Addmittedly I stopped even looking after 4.2. What I have seen is that every release that comes out is has introduced more issues and workarounds and steps that I have to take that actually impede my progress. That may be a case of old dog and new tricks but lets take a look at some of the things I have seen on the new releases that I have worked with. With the advent of 4.x PCD added the probe box method of auto feature control, as I understood it so PCD could expand into using more different methods of metrology, ie vision, lasers, cnc etc. Adding all of that into the software just got to be too much for the old style of auto features to handle so a change had to be made, ok that I get but explain a couple of things to me. How does it enhance my job to go from having all of the info I needed in one are to having to using seperate dialog boxes and several more tabs and layers I had to flip through to see things that I had readily available before all for the sake of adding functionality that a majority of users rarely if ever see? How much easier to make it to make more mistakes because things like material thickness settings, that are persistent in ways they never should be, are suddenly invisible unless more special steps are taken where they weren't before? Add to that the report templates which suddenly stopped printing out of tolerance dimensions in a different color than in tolerance dimensions making quick and accurate reading of reports impossible (BTW calls were made on that one and it couldn't be replicated but if you go back and look here, on the forum, I was not the only one with that problem). Or the xactmeasure tolerances that couldn't be viewed in the edit window so now I have to switch to other windows to see my results. Or all of the juggling that needs to be done to make the reports usable and a reasonable file size (burried nonsensical registry setting anyone, hidden right click menues that one pop up in special places anyone). On the plus side they did enhance the graphics and add a neat toolbar so that you didn't have to dig to change the views that I liked. Granted that only saved about 1% of what it cost in time but it was an enhancement. So yeah when B&S started taking the software away from what I was doing and I venture to say most people are doing with their machines I decided I didn't need to support new versions. From there each and every time a new version comes out it is shortly followed by a list of things that are no longer working right, some of them egregious errors that never should see the light of day, for instance the ctrl-e issues mentioned for both 2010mr3 and 2011. And please explain the here is 2010mr2, oh wait no it isn't, here it is thing.

So my issues aren't as much the software as it is the way you do business Brian, please tell me how do I open a support ticket for that? How do I call this one in to tech support seeing how I don't have a current SMA? I would further venture to say that most of the people complaining around here are far more frustrated with the manner in which HexMet is doing business than it is the software itself (also how those business practices extend to the way the forum is being run but that's a different issue that has been covered ad nauseum).

It was brough up and seconded by you that if we have problems with the way things are going then we should talk with our checkbooks, ok I have done that and I'm still in an empty room shouting, I have probably cost Hex more than 30 SMA renewalls over the years but no one cares, or ever has.

Further, I find the very idea that I, and other users (outside of your beta testers) should have to log tech support issues as insulting and offensive. It should be HexMet's responsibility to release a product that works, correctly, most of the time and not up to it's user base to be the ones to find and report issues, especially some a basic as some of the errors seen even in the error fix logs. We have all just gotten so used to it because that is what we have to do to do our jobs that somehow that became right.

Lee, I agree thanks. The concern I have is that I can find no evidence of improper censure. We have to delete NSFW posts, we have to clear hijacks, and ban people who break the rules. The only useful posts that were deleted were deleted by a user who was upset at being punished. Let's stop this silliness. While we are discussing censure, people are actually helping each other on the forum.

If there is something I can fix on the forum itself, PM me and I'll work on it. If anyone knows of a worthwhile thread that was deleted, let me know and I'll try to find it and bring it back.

You have every right to clean up issues that don't comply with the forum's terms of service, I have a hard time believing that any of us would disagree with that. At this point we as users are only seeing partial pictures of what's going on and it has us riled up rightly or wrongly we don't have nearly enough information to decide so we tend to feel right in our indignation, again rightly or wrongly. What we as the active community know and see were a couple of people dropping off the face of the earth as far as the forum was concerned. The couple in particular were at times critical of PCD, and while maybe overzealously so at times, justifiably so. The entirety of one person's posts had disappeared for several days. No banning, at least there was no banned notice on the user's account, the account was still active but they were unable to post and none of their posts were showing up on the forum and there were many many very useful posts especially in the code areas. Like I said those are back now so it's easy to say that nothing useful was removed now because they are here but the fact is they weren't for a period of time that happened to correspond with all heck breaking lose around here. Was there a forum glitch? Was it intentional? If it was intentional would everything be back to where it was if there wasn't the outcry that there has been? And the biggest question which one of us will be the next? We don't want to come and hang out in a place where we are always looking over our shoulders waiting for the invisible hammer to fall.

Yes, while we are discussing censure there are still people helping other people on the forum and I would like to think that I have been contributing to that help as I can. We are doing that because we are a community and that is what we do. That being said with everything that we see going on and nothing at all being explained by anyone we are definately feeling like red headed step children at this point and one by one those who are capable of helping are being driven away in the process. So just putting everything that is going on aside and going on with our happy days is a tough pill for us to swallow and that stance will lose a lot of good experience in a field that can ill afford to lose it.

Is there something that can be fixed? How can we know?

For the little that it's worth,

Eric

Eric, awesome post, I'm going to take a tiny bit of time to respond (edit this post... now edited).

1. Bannings were intentional for good reasons (even if those banned don't think they are). We have offered every person banned recently (all of four people) to come back if they wish.2. If you are worried about being banned, they you are not someone who would be banned. Trust me when I say the worst offenders do not apologize for their actions, or think about their professionalism. If you can say it in a room full of coworkers, then it is ok to say here.
3. You have been helping, I see that, and greatly appreciate it. With the pot stirrers mostly gone, I hope good people can take over here. I'll be a part of that.
4. Keep asking any questions you want (especially if I missed anything), it's why I left this thread open. I'll answer anything that doesn't infringe on the privacy of others (even though it is not their right, what they do in public is public information).


thanks again.

- Yes, the right AND the responsibility.

- If you didn't witness, how do you know they were heavy? Or sudden? I personally won't pass judgment on it, we all need to move on. Complain about what's happening today, not what happened in the past, it's all that's worth talking about.
- Don't believe everything you hear. Also, first posts are removed, then temporary bannings, then permanent bannings. You don't see everything that goes on because admin cleans it up. The board is a privilege (for me too being an employee of Hexagon), not a right. Therefore it can be taken away at any time if we abuse it.


- Because you've seen plenty of criticism go on even after bannings, and those members are still here. If you saw some of the things that were posted, you would agree. But I won't stoop to satisfying anyone's morbid curiosity, administration is our responsibility and we take it seriously.

- Please do so if you feel it, just be constructive. If all you bring here is criticism and don't help others, and don't offer solutions, then you have nothing to offer (Not you Eric BTW). If you have nothing to offer the board, we reserve the right to delete posts, and ban you from the forum. It's that simple.

- Exactly. You have not seen everything, because it was removed. If you don't know what pot stirring is, you are not one. Those who do, know.

- I think the desire to find out the gory details of why people were banned is the same need that people have to stop on a highway to look at an accident. It's not cool in my book. Sorry.

Hope that helps, thanks for the post.