Digital Art Zone

The forum has lost so much! For one it has lost personality, years of knowledge…. and most of all “community”. Why? I don’t get it… This forum is a downgrade… not an upgrade.  As someone who has run forums and forum software and been through many upgrades I can tell you that taking away peoples avatars is the best way to make them not use the forum…

Also I am thinking of how many times I would search the forum for answers and find them.. Think of all the knowledge that 3DAge put into the forum not to mention a host of others…

DAZ… give the old forum a new skin to match this one… don’t flush the old forum down the drain… The site looks cool and all that… but the forum is really, really sterile. I am sure I am not the only one who thinks so.

DAZ what was the logic behind this? The Forum database too big?  Too much load on the servers? What? Please tell us.

There are MySQL databases and forum software that can handle a huge number of records, posts and members… that do not require Duct Tape… I can understand updating the site but driving the stake through the forum’s heart was a bad idea…

I used to own a web site magicvideodepot.com When I started it had 1200 members, when I sold it, it had 280,000 members. I just upgraded the servers and forum software… by doing a database transfer… I did the same thing you did I tried to launch a new forum on the members because of server bandwidth issues. I made lots of people upset… So I quickly corrected my mistake and the members loved it… I upgraded my forum software to ADD more features… not take them away. And the membership grew and everyone was happy. I bet you will get no positive feedback on this new forum software… Take note… Remember Netflix when they wanted to make a major change without listening to their user needs?

If needed you could run separate forums by product… and that would take the load off the servers, the forum database and software… There are tons of alternatives… but really this one is not the best for your users. I’m afraid you will see a huge decline in the number of people using the forums and then a decline in the number of people buying DAZ products… because the DAZ community is a huge part of what makes DAZ3D so special. I love Carrara, I think you have a great innovative company but really the technical reason given for changing the forum in this manner is not compelling… I think you should reconsider. Please… and I know I speak for most of the people on the this forum. If this forum would let me make a poll (yes some forums have that feature!) I think they all would agree. Anyway… I think you may want to have an internal meeting to reconsider… especially when you see forum postings going down and then sales… because the forum postings generate lots of sales… Really!

Thanks in advance, Dell

This forum is the oil that lubricates the daz machinery. I participate in several forums, and no one can compete with this forum, the way it WAS. Not the way it is now. Why on earth are the avatars gone? Where are the personalities gone,  that we all love around here?
I agree completely with the previous poster. The community here IS daz. The new forum is suicide, period. (or alomost, lol)
-Ingvar

DazDell - 24 May 2012 11:02 PM

The forum has lost so much! For one it has lost personality, years of knowledge…. and most of all “community”. Why? I don’t get it… This forum is a downgrade… not an upgrade.

I have to agree, in it’s current state the forum is just… sad. Although DAZ staff has stated that they recognize many of the problems and are working to rectify them, unless you are following the right threads, you wouldn’t know it.

The old forum has been archived, and is available in read-only format, but it is badly broken. None of the images in the posts will display. You can reconstruct the image links, but it’s a major pain. Again, I believe that DAZ staff is aware of this problem and intends to fix it, but who knows when. (DAZ soon?)

DazDell - 24 May 2012 11:02 PM

I love Carrara, I think you have a great innovative company but really the technical reason given for changing the forum in this manner is not compelling… I think you should reconsider. Please… and I know I speak for most of the people on the this forum. If this forum would let me make a poll (yes some forums have that feature!) I think they all would agree.

Oddly enough, polls are one feature that this new forum does have. When you create a new topic, scroll down to find the feature to add a poll.

I think DAZ will eventually work out the technical problems. However, I’m still not sure what effect the jettisoning of the old forum posts as an archive will have. If it can be made fully readable, linkable, and searchable, maybe not too much.

i like how the topics aren’t listed in order of when people posted on them
i think that is a real good move on daz ‘s part
because ... er give me a moment to think of something

gah

well, if you pardon me, the loss of the old forum and its searchaBLE knowledge sucks even more than the design of this new one

stupid really
i like to spend money at daz
i used to like coming to the forum
but it gives me a headache
the more headaches i get the less money i spend
just think how happy none of us will be

Like I said - this forum IS daz, no less, no more.
When people ask why I have used Carrara, I always mention the community, the forum.
And by the way, there are several foum engines to go out there, ready made, and well proven. Just bring it home, install it and off you go. No need to reinvent the wheel.

-Ingvar

Perhaps if they gave the background a familiar look.  It would be instructional and something to look at.
Kind of joking…

head wax - 25 May 2012 02:33 AM

i like how the topics aren’t listed in order of when people posted on them
i think that is a real good move on daz ‘s part
because ... er give me a moment to think of something

gah

well, if you pardon me, the loss of the old forum and its searchaBLE knowledge sucks even more than the design of this new one

stupid really
i like to spend money at daz
i used to like coming to the forum
but it gives me a headache
the more headaches i get the less money i spend
just think how happy none of us will be

Hey!! It’s great to meet another ‘New Member’. Hi!

Totally agree with you. Especially about the headache. Ouch!

This is awful. It’s very hard to read. No paragraph separation….

Hard to believe someone approved this.

Daz3D one more thing… If you check out this link this is a very robust Forum software that scales and has tons of users…

Check out what a really good UI looks for by going to this demo site that shows off hundreds of themes that can be customized…

In fact I would recommend that all members of this forum check this out to see what this forum could be with the right software… I have used this Forum software before (SMF) and it has all kinds of ADMIN TOOLS and USER TOOLS. It can also be completely customized graphically and with features because it is open source…

Tell me this demo of the features and the Forum software itself is not 100% better then what we have now…

http://demo.dzinerstudio.com/

Here is a list of features… and I will volunteer my time to get it up and running on any server you choose. I will even help with the forum migration if you want me too.

Check out the features also…
http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Features

booksbydavid - 25 May 2012 10:47 AM

head wax - 25 May 2012 02:33 AM

i like how the topics aren’t listed in order of when people posted on them
i think that is a real good move on daz ‘s part
because ... er give me a moment to think of something

gah

well, if you pardon me, the loss of the old forum and its searchaBLE knowledge sucks even more than the design of this new one

stupid really
i like to spend money at daz
i used to like coming to the forum
but it gives me a headache
the more headaches i get the less money i spend
just think how happy none of us will be

Hey!! It’s great to meet another ‘New Member’. Hi!

Totally agree with you. Especially about the headache. Ouch!

 

]

gah daz must be losing a stack of money
their store is a mess
i feel sorry for them
id be suing their software sellers ....
then again im not dax err i’m not daz either

welcome new poster

oh can i say wth?

h = hell
rendo looks good as does carrara cafe

Fear not!

All forum issues will be resolved immediately upon The Release Of The Millennium Cow!

The Millennium Cow would never tolerate such a shambotic site.  Nor should we, but we lack the Authority to change things that The Millennium Cow will have.

I think it’s time to bring back the verb : DAZ - to completely bungle in a total and inexplicable way… to make something previously loved completely unusable, then deny any knowledge of the problem while refusing to fix it….

“You’ve really DAZzed it up this time!”

ormaybe is it a descriptive noun:

“Don’t be such a DAZ!”

Or,  “Don’t DAZ me, bro!!! Aaaggggghhh!!!”

The forums are for users and for dialogue between the users & DAZ.
I appreciate (really) that DAZ provides the forums, though I know it’s
mostly (if not totally by now) a business decision, a symbiotic relationship.

They need us to stay in business, and we need them if we want to stay a community as before.

It’s just too bad that they shoot themselves in the foot/feet by taking down the old forum before the new one was ready
to go…...did they ever ask what we would like?

A poll like Wendy’s in advance would have been good PR….....they need a new PR person.

In the end, life will go on, with or without DAZ, or us.

megacal - 26 May 2012 05:39 PM

Or,  “Don’t DAZ me, bro!!! Aaaggggghhh!!!”

In the end, life will go on, with or without DAZ, or us.

What the DAZ are you talking about?! Of course life will NOT go on without me. Are you DAZZING kidding!! You all better hope nothing happens to me. That’s all I’m sayin’.