Maybe you can stop emailing every update?

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  • Bill Rini
    Member
    • Sep 2010
    • 53

    Maybe you can stop emailing every update?

    It's beta software. Worse (for me), it's beta software that won't support many of my must-have features for many more months (and according to you, isn't ready for production sites). There have been 17 updates since Sept when this thing launched and it seems you've sent an email announcing each new release.

    I have not purchased or downloaded VB5. I don't understand why you would keep emailing me about every minor revision.

    I am subscribed the the general VB list. You have lists just for VB5 people. I'm not on that list but you keep sending VB5 beta updates.

    Please segment your list. You know who purchased VB5. You know who's downloaded it. Quit emailing everyone else every little update.

    I'm not some anti-marketing crackpot. I just think it's silly. I won't use the software until all of the features are there and it's production ready. I could care less about every beta release. But I also don't want to quit receiving emails about the version of VB that I do own. Would you prefer we all just opt-out of all VB communications?

    Oh, and when I tried to respond to one of your emails to ask to be taken off the VB5 updates, I got the following:

    Thanks for your note, I have moved on from my position with IB and will not receive your message. If you are inquiring about vBulletin, please contact Kay xxxxxx (xxxxxxxxx). If you are inquiring about one of our Auto Communites, please contact Robb xxxxxx (xxxxxxxxxxxxx).

    If you are looking to get ahold of me personally, my e-mail is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    All the best,

    Adrian
    Click image for larger version

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    Community manager at Thailand Friends
  • Solitaire
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2010
    • 124
    • 4.0.x

    #2
    I agree. I'm not interested in getting these vb5 beta update emails, but I want to still be informed of valuable updates to the current supported vb software version which is vb4.2. When vb5 goes gold, I'll take more notice then, but unless you are going to show article publishing, or a redesigned blog in this beta, I've seen enough.
    Vote for my suggestions here and here

    Comment

    • J362449454FF
      New Member
      • Jan 2012
      • 4

      #3
      Maybe you can stop emailing every update?

      Same here. I always delete them without reading but it dont give me à good feeling about vb.

      Comment

      • Ace
        Senior Member
        • Apr 2004
        • 4051
        • 4.2.X

        #4
        Originally posted by Bill Rini
        It's beta software. Worse (for me), it's beta software that won't support many of my must-have features for many more months (and according to you, isn't ready for production sites). There have been 17 updates since Sept when this thing launched and it seems you've sent an email announcing each new release.
        Are you subscribed multiple times under multiple accounts?

        There haven't been anywhere near 17 email updates, to claim otherwise is silly.
        My Live vB5 Site - NZEating.com
        vBulletin Hosting | vBulletin Services - Need hosting for your vB? Need it installed? Something else? Let me take that hassle off your hands.

        Comment

        • Bill Rini
          Member
          • Sep 2010
          • 53

          #5
          Originally posted by Ace
          Are you subscribed multiple times under multiple accounts?

          There haven't been anywhere near 17 email updates, to claim otherwise is silly.
          I didn't say I got 17 email updates. I said, they've done 17 releases.

          But, just to give an example, here are emails currently sitting in my Trash folder:

          vBulletin eBulletin - vBulletin 5 Connect Beta 13 Released
          vBulletin 5 Connect Beta 14 is Now Available
          vBulletin eBulletin - vBulletin 5 Connect Beta 15 Released
          vBulletin eBulletin - vBulletin 5 Connect Beta 16 Released

          The Beta 13 email was on Oct 8, so that's 4 emails in less than 4 weeks.

          But the real issue is why this is being sent to people who don't own nor have ever downloaded VB5. I can understand a big announcement when the beta kicks off, maybe include an update on how the beta is coming along in the regular VB emails, and then maybe a big one when they're ready to go gold. That's it, man. Nobody who doesn't own the software or hasn't downloaded it cares about every weekly rev.
          Community manager at Thailand Friends

          Comment

          • Zachery
            Former vBulletin Support
            • Jul 2002
            • 59097

            #6
            We've actually had a lot more than 17 releases of vBulletin 5, not all of which were public.

            I don't personally think that the email is coming in too often. I get lots of emails daily/weekly from lots of companies i'm interested in, or their products.

            If I don't like the content, I delete it. If I don't want anymore emails from them. I unsubscribe.

            We've had a total of 5 releases, over a period of 6 weeks~.

            On a side note, you don't want to know how many emails I get from jira in a week.

            Comment

            • Ace
              Senior Member
              • Apr 2004
              • 4051
              • 4.2.X

              #7
              Originally posted by Bill Rini
              I didn't say I got 17 email updates. I said, they've done 17 releases.

              But, just to give an example, here are emails currently sitting in my Trash folder:

              vBulletin eBulletin - vBulletin 5 Connect Beta 13 Released
              vBulletin 5 Connect Beta 14 is Now Available
              vBulletin eBulletin - vBulletin 5 Connect Beta 15 Released
              vBulletin eBulletin - vBulletin 5 Connect Beta 16 Released

              The Beta 13 email was on Oct 8, so that's 4 emails in less than 4 weeks.

              But the real issue is why this is being sent to people who don't own nor have ever downloaded VB5. I can understand a big announcement when the beta kicks off, maybe include an update on how the beta is coming along in the regular VB emails, and then maybe a big one when they're ready to go gold. That's it, man. Nobody who doesn't own the software or hasn't downloaded it cares about every weekly rev.
              You said "it seems you've sent an email announcing each new release.".

              It's actually not.
              My Live vB5 Site - NZEating.com
              vBulletin Hosting | vBulletin Services - Need hosting for your vB? Need it installed? Something else? Let me take that hassle off your hands.

              Comment

              • Bill Rini
                Member
                • Sep 2010
                • 53

                #8
                Originally posted by Zachery
                We've actually had a lot more than 17 releases of vBulletin 5, not all of which were public.

                I don't personally think that the email is coming in too often. I get lots of emails daily/weekly from lots of companies i'm interested in, or their products.

                If I don't like the content, I delete it. If I don't want anymore emails from them. I unsubscribe.

                We've had a total of 5 releases, over a period of 6 weeks~.

                On a side note, you don't want to know how many emails I get from jira in a week.
                Your opinion about what's too many is not all that valuable. I don't mean that to be offensive but I'm pretty sure that the election pollsters who call me 3 or 4 times a day don't think that's excessive either. It's all about your perspective on the issue. In your case, working as vBulletin support, you don't really represent the "average" user of the software.

                Second, I do wish to receive updates about the product I do own. But I only have an option of getting all of VB's emails or none. I posted the screen shot which clearly shows I'm not subscribed to the mailing list specifically for VB5 but that option doesn't seem to being honored by VB. That's my frustration here. VB is abusing the permission I've granted them in contacting me. They're abusing my trust.

                Seriously, who sends out beta release updates to their entire user base? Nobody. Did you get 7,000 emails from Microsoft when they were beta testing Windows 8?

                Beta, isn't for everyone. Even you guys tell people that. You have a mailing list for VB5, use that!

                I don't like doing business with companies that operate like this. And if I have to unsub from all VB mailing lists to quit receiving VB5 beta release updates, I will. But when I'm considering whether or not to upgrade to VB5, I'll keep that in mind.

                - - - Updated - - -

                Originally posted by Ace
                You said "it seems you've sent an email announcing each new release.".

                It's actually not.
                It's not what?

                "Seems to" is a phrase which implies that what is being said may not be completely accurate but it feels as though it is. For instance, "It seems like it's rained every day this month" doesn't mean that it has actually rained every single day of the month. It means, that it has rained so often that it feels like it has rained every day.

                And I listed that last 4 releases that I've received emails for (actually 5 since I also received the beta 17 release email as well). I imagine they might have skipped sending an email for a release here and there over the last 17 but 5 out of the last 5 is a pretty good indication that they're sending an email for most of them. I would have gone back farther but Gmail deletes old emails from the Trash every 30 days.
                Community manager at Thailand Friends

                Comment

                • DoDeH1
                  Senior Member
                  • Jan 2008
                  • 224
                  • 4.2.X

                  #9
                  I'm not pissed off getting those e-mails
                  In my opinion is good that we receive such e-mails regarding the status of vb5 because maybe at some point there will be some info about a feature which will make me buy it

                  Comment

                  • cellarius
                    Senior Member
                    • Aug 2005
                    • 4586
                    • 3.8.x

                    #10
                    Hm, we're talking what - five, six? E-Mails here. About one, max two a week or so. May I politely ask how often everyone in this thread could have pressed the "delete"-button on his keyboard instead of writing here?

                    Comment

                    • Zachery
                      Former vBulletin Support
                      • Jul 2002
                      • 59097

                      #11
                      Bill, I was voicing my opinion, as a customer as well as a support rep. One email a week isn't overkill.

                      I get more emails from amazon, youtube, etc, in a single week than I do vBulletin.

                      Comment

                      • Bill Rini
                        Member
                        • Sep 2010
                        • 53

                        #12
                        Originally posted by DoDeH1
                        I'm not pissed off getting those e-mails
                        In my opinion is good that we receive such e-mails regarding the status of vb5 because maybe at some point there will be some info about a feature which will make me buy it
                        That's sort of the point. I would pay much closer attention if they only contacted me when they had something of value to say. Hey, I'm cool with getting an email when they go live with VB5. I'm even more interested when they finally launch a feature complete version of VB5. Heck, I don't even mind getting monthly emails talking up VB5 after it's gold. But weekly emails to update me on the beta? LOL. What a joke.

                        And what's even worse is that the beta is a horrible, horrible representation of the product. I remember when I got the first beta email and I tried to go to the site and the server was so slammed all I got was database error messages. And even when I could get through, there were major bugs everywhere.

                        That's not beta. In fact, there's no such thing as a beta that isn't feature complete. Per Wikipedia:

                        Beta (named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet) is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete.
                        Not that I trust Wikipedia for my technical definitions but I figured it's good enough for this discussion.

                        I've been in software development for 20 years and have worked on software that has, literally, millions of users. I know what a beta is and this is not a beta.
                        Community manager at Thailand Friends

                        Comment

                        • sadiq6210
                          Senior Member
                          • Jun 2004
                          • 379
                          • 3.6.x

                          #13
                          Instead of waste your time to write all this, just delete the mail by one click (about 2 seconds)

                          Sorry, but this "my" opinion
                          Signature test :)

                          Comment

                          • Bill Rini
                            Member
                            • Sep 2010
                            • 53

                            #14
                            Originally posted by cellarius
                            Hm, we're talking what - five, six? E-Mails here. About one, max two a week or so. May I politely ask how often everyone in this thread could have pressed the "delete"-button on his keyboard instead of writing here?
                            Or can't we ask, how they could lay off the send button so thousands (or tens or hundreds of thousands) of people don't have to press the delete button.

                            The point is, there is a VB5 mailing list. That seems to be the appropriate medium for weekly status updates on a beta product. Sending out weekly updates on a beta product to people who may or may not ever have an interest in purchasing VB5 at some point in the future seems . . . well, stupid.
                            Community manager at Thailand Friends

                            Comment

                            • Zachery
                              Former vBulletin Support
                              • Jul 2002
                              • 59097

                              #15
                              gmail was in beta for years, and not feature complete....

                              On the subject at hand. We'll pass your feedback on, but I suspect that the only way we'll get less email is if we have less releases.

                              Comment

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