I now get a "nag" email every day, with the usual mandatory threats.

I am quite offended by the threat that we can be banned if we do not accept that the thread has been resolved within a certain time period, when obviously on some occasions it does not! To EZ-Robot I am not going to pretend this thread has been resolved when it has not - so to all my forum friends if I suddenly disappear from the group you know why!

I will not conform to this treatment, (and being treated like some sort of errant child) so I may well get banned!

DJ and EZ-Robot, you respectfully need to seriously look at this urgently else you will lose valuable users and future customers.

My recommendation to forum members is to never use "assistance required", I am sure help will still be given from this great community.

Tony

I have to say I'm with you on this Tony, 100%. I'm always thinking to myself "Should I mark this as assistance needed? What if I don't get a satisfactory response, what then?" I did recently start a new tread looking for some much needed assistance and flagged it as such. Kinda wish I hadn't now.

On the flip side of this, one thing that does wind me up a bit is when you take your value time to help someone with as much detail as possible and making things as clear as possible for whoever is asking to understand, only for that member not to mark the thread as "Resolved" this happens far to often with newer members, and some long time users who should know better as well which I have recently experienced. Truth be told, I honestly couldn't give a damn about gaining store credit for helping someone, as I put as much effort in to helping someone whether there is credit on offer or not. But the fact is, if this procedure is in place, and there are tens and conditions to abide by, then it should be monitored much more closely with action taken where necessary, but not necessarily banning someone, unless they keep reoffending.

I don't honestly think you will get banned anyway Tony. Not just because you're a valuable forum member with lots to offer, and not because you make a habit of not marking "assistance" threads as "resolved" which you are clearly not guilty of, but simply because when other members (new and old) do exactly this, they are actually still around and have not been banned. I had a thread that was never resolved by anyone (except for some unnecessary sarcastic or "well it must be your fault" (when it wasn't) comments) and I point blank refused to mark it as such. A few weeks later the nagging emails stopped and the little red icon disappeared.

I quite honestly don't know what has happened to this forum lately, as there only seems to be a handful of seasoned members (me included, although not so seasoned, lol) who seem to be moderating it as best as can be done and answering user questions which I don't mind doing, and there's a lot more threads going completely unanswered, even by EZ-Robot staff when a post is specificlly directed at them to answer. As a "working user guide", this forum needs to be overseen by EZ-Robot staff on a more regular basis. I've noticed that some of our regular members don't post as nearly as much as they used to which is a real shame as they are very helpful, very knowledgable, and all round good guys. Also there is a lot more "I have a problem" or "how do I do this" type thread and not many general discussions of project showcases as there once were.

But I digress. Tony, I'm in complete agreement with you on this, and more should be done to make this community forum more inviting as it used to be, such as the thread resolved issue, and being able to unsubscribe from a forum thread that you no longer have interest in and stop getting emails saint there's been a new post. We shouldn't have to uncheck the email alert box to do this and not receive any. And what's with the writing of the work "issue" in a thread title being automation changed to the word "question"? They have two cometly different meanings.

I'm not bashing EZ-Robot, far far from it. But come on guys. Do what needs to be done to bring this forum back up to something great as it was when I first joined.

Steve.

I believe the nags and threats were in the hopes it would close these topics rather than have many remain open, however it doesn't work, it has a negative effect on the community as a whole from what I gather.

If others can have open "assistance required" threads despite answers or requests for more information (and lack of response from the OP) for weeks/months I really wouldn't be too worried about such bans.

The fact these questions can remain open despite answers being given or no further information being given when it is required is amongst the reasons I've had much less involvement here for the last 6 months, where's the point if people don't use the system properly?

Thank, Steve and Rich for your thoughts on this, maybe we can get this issue changed so it all works better for the forum.

Tony

I'll throw my two cents in to agree in principle to most of the complaints. Rhe emails are irritating when no valid answer has been given, and in many cases ineffective when an answer has been provided but the OP has not given credit or even returned to follow-up.

I think even changing the nags from daily to weekly and softening the 'threat' would be effective.

I think one of the issues we are seeing is a natural response to fast growth of the customer base and tge availability of revolution means we are seeing an influx of less sophisticated users. We are getting a huge number of "it doesn't work, help" posts with insufficient detail to provide help, which are then not followed up on if one of us asks for details. Makes me less interested in trying to help if I am just wasting time. Alternately, we are seeing some new users who come in with a ton of detailed questions who listen to the answers, learn, and then start helping others (I am looking at you wbs0001), so there is growth and evolution going on here.

Alan

Something must be wrong with DJ. It's not like him to be out of the loop for so long. Not even answering the simplest of questions. Either he is ill or taking a well deserved vacation away from it all. Putting out fires with Brookstone? Something. Problem is there is no one to take up the slack for him. It would just be nice to know what is going on. At least have some sort of idea when things will get back to normal. It seems this forum has all but been abandoned. There are things we can do as members, especially well seasoned members, but there is no substitute for information straight from the owner's mouth. Especially when he has taken on the responsibility for the software. It's the software that is the crux of the whole system. Without definitive answers on it, some things just can't move forward. Without people like Steve G, Rich, thetechguru, Dave, d.cochran and other veterans like them, this forum would fold up and die for lack of any real support.

I especially can't understand why they would PO someone like the Toymaker. Someone with a proven track record of making popular and saleable gadgets. He represents a potential large (huge even) customer for the EZB4 at the least. And they seem to be letting him twist in the wind here. That does not bode well for anyone else thinking about using EZ Robot parts or newbees thinking about jumping in with their first order.

In any event I'm glad to see it wasn't just me thinking this way about what's been going on.

@Rich.

I kinda figured that was one of the reasons why you haven't been around the forums much over the past few months. It's a damn shame too as for me personally, you were a huge asset when I started out here. Your help and advise were so valuable to me and I have learnt so much from yourself and the others mentioned here. Anyway I hope you are doing well.

@Alan.

I include you in what I said above, as you were a great help to me also, with your quick responses (not as fast as Rich though :P) and well explained answers you gave me and others. Maybe the weekly "nag" could help a bit.

That's another thing that bugs me too. When new members come here asking "My servo don't work. Why?" With no further information, no tutorials marked off, and no response to questions like "Please explain. What have you tried yada yada yada". Like Rich said in his post, I thought about stepping back from it all because I felt like I wasn't being listened to. Case in point.

A recent new member couldn't get his JD to work. After multiple posts by me and others (I think you were there too), going in to great detail, this chap just didn't seem to want to listen to me. Was my post invisible, didn't he trust what I was saying? And after I told him not to use his JD until he got a new charger, he proceeds to make a video the next morning with his almost flat battery being used. I mean, come on. Gees. So it was a case of "you know what, you get on with it and good luck. I'm done helping you any further."

But on the flip side of that, you come across new members like @WBS (sorry I don't know your name) who asks the right questions, and offers his knowledge to help which I one of the reasons why I stick around. He will be a great asset and the dude has got skills. ;)

@WBS.

The last paragraph. It's all you buddy and it's a pleasure to have you here.

I noticed over the past several months that the forum would get quiet over the weekends which was a normal thing. But the past few weeks have been just like that (with the exception of a few days), which got me thinking "is everything cool at HQ?" There was a time a few weeks back where myself and @Richard R openly defended EZ-Robot to the point where we both got personal emails from this member where I replied standing by what I said. Indont know if Richard replied as well, although I reckon he did. Now I wasn't expecting any praise for doing this, but a little back up from HQ would have been nice.

Anyway, it's great to have you around, and I look forward to talking to you further. And thanks for the name drop. :)

@Tony.

No problem. I hope you didn't mind me letting of a little pent up steam and hijacking you thread a little. Let's hope good thing will come very soon. :)

Hey guys - i have indeed taken a little time away to destress and spend with my family. I have also been working on a complete re-write of ARC with a new feature that you will see shortly. I will take a look at your thread and provide assistance.

Welcome back DJ. I've run my own business for 25 years and you must stop and recharge. I'm sure you get spread thin, with programming, dealing with China, business day to day, and posting on this forum. Certainly the blessing and curse of owning a business.

I speak for myself, but I come here probably 30 times a day reading posts and observing the cameras in the office. I've noticed a lack of activity over the past few months and what appears to be a smaller staff? Is everything ok with EZ Robots? Observations like these lead me to worry there are issues or serious changes about to take place. if so let's hope it's for the better somehow.

I look forward to the new ARC and new addition.

As far as this topic is concerned I agree there should be maybe one reminder to close if answered. Threatening to ban is not a great way to motivate.

@fxrtst Lol, everything is ok. We already have a small team to begin with but summer vacation then deplete's the team quite a bit.

Here in Canada we only get warm weather 2-3 months out of the year so we like to take advantage and get outside before it gets to -20°C again :)

Excellent.

@Jeremie I was using street maps to look at your location a while back and I wandered the streets a bit to have a look around. In so doing I believe I found a couple of EZ Robots employees enjoying those few nice days. :D

Note: To zoom in and out be sure to use the + and - zoom functions at the lower right of the screen. Double clicking to zoom in makes them disappear. Strange.

@Jeremie.

I'm pleased that everything is cool. I mentioned earlier that I had similar thoughts to Will. I'm glad everything is okay though.

And @DJ. Nice to see you back on the forum, and I'm pleased to hear you had a break. Lord knows you deserved one with the amount of work you put in to everything. :)

@WBS LOL too funny, did you get a load of that van too? Yeah that's our official ezrobot van ........rooiiiiighhhttt.

Quote:

did you get a load of that van too? Yeah that's our official ezrobot van ...

Yes, I saw that. Looks like a surfboard rack or some such on top. Perfect for all those Canadian surfers at EZ Robots. Bet you get tired of them saying "dude" in every other sentence. And, when the wind blows somewhat harder than usual, there are the cries of "surf's up, dude." BTW, do you call the van the "EZ Rider"? No? Well you should ... dude! ;)

@Jeremie & DJ.

So to get back on topic, will the issues outlined in this thread, mainly the unresolved forum thread, be addressed? There does seem like there is some support for a change or improvement.

There's is one person that can make those changes and it ain't this guy :)

But I can say, as most of you have seen in the past, ezrobot takes community feedback seriously and based on your feedback is always making improvements to give you guys a fuller and more rewarding experience. Change could be on the way already, just keep in mind it will likely take a bit of time to implement.

@Jeremie.

Thanks for your reply. It's good to know that the issues have been aknowledged, and I for one, and I'm sure the others do too, look forward to seeing the changes when they happen.

Could EZ-Robot please stop spamming me over the "flaky serial problem" thread that I started - I have had 3 nagging demand emails in 7 hours! What makes it worse for me is that I solved the problem myself. Again my advice is to never use assistance required on the forum, just post under general discussion otherwise you will be hounded by these mandatory is it resolved emails.

Tony

Hey Tony,

I would credit @thetechguru with solving the problem as he helped @bhouston with an problem in a thread the other that I was already credited for :)

Heh. That works for me, thanks, but I do agree with Toymaker that we need a way to mark as permanently unresolved or resolved by self to turn off the notifications.

Alan