This was a bad idea.

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  • version2
    Senior Member
    • Feb 2001
    • 903

    This was a bad idea.



    Whoever is running your product development / customer relations department should be fired. 10 years ago when I bought vb to start a *forum*, I might have thought differently. Now that I am VP of major financial institution (and only think about my *forums* in spare time), I don't.

    That was stupid.

    Give access to the development forums as a preview or stop spamming people with empty marketing ploys.
    version2 aka mol

    Mystic Wicks Online Pagan Community Forums
    Mystic Wicks After Dark
  • Harv
    Senior Member
    • Jan 2005
    • 157
    • 4.1.x

    #2
    Originally posted by version2
    http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showp...4&postcount=64

    Whoever is running your product development / customer relations department should be fired. 10 years ago when I bought vb to start a *forum*, I might have thought differently. Now that I am VP of major financial institution (and only think about my *forums* in spare time), I don't.

    That was stupid.

    Give access to the development forums as a preview or stop spamming people with empty marketing ploys.
    Yep. Then, close the thread. That will shut them up

    Comment

    • NetRover
      Senior Member
      • Jul 2004
      • 124

      #3
      It makes me snigger picturing the board meeting table where someone thought this was a good idea and they all agreed.

      I arrived at the new look site impressed and ready to see how the new forum looked and was ready to consider buying.

      All this would of been avoided if it was all held back and released at the same time as a demo version.

      Comment

      • Ray Morgan
        Former vBulletin General Manager
        • Sep 2008
        • 410
        • 3.7.x

        #4
        Originally posted by version2
        Give access to the development forums as a preview or stop spamming people with empty marketing ploys.
        Due to ongoing development and bug fixing, the development forums are often in a state that is not useful to the public. However, you will soon be able to see a Beta version here on the vBulletin.com forums.

        Comment

        • Jerz
          Senior Member
          • Apr 2007
          • 398
          • 3.8.x

          #5
          Originally posted by Ray Morgan
          Due to ongoing development and bug fixing, the development forums are often in a state that is not useful to the public. However, you will soon be able to see a Beta version here on the vBulletin.com forums.
          Sure. But not anytime before presales ends I'm guessing. The development forums may not be 'useful' to the 'public', but they can be a deciding factor for customers. I don't expect it to be bug-free or final, but I'm sure I could get a rough idea.

          Comment

          • wacnstac
            Senior Member
            • Jul 2000
            • 954
            • 3.6.x

            #6
            How can you expect sane people to pay for vaporware with a due date of "when it's ready".

            Comment

            • Harv
              Senior Member
              • Jan 2005
              • 157
              • 4.1.x

              #7
              Originally posted by Ray Morgan
              Due to ongoing development and bug fixing, the development forums are often in a state that is not useful to the public. However, you will soon be able to see a Beta version here on the vBulletin.com forums.
              IBTL
              Does "soon" = before the "pre-sale" offer expires?

              Seriously, I'd already dug out my wallet.

              Comment

              • version2
                Senior Member
                • Feb 2001
                • 903

                #8
                Originally posted by Ray Morgan
                Due to ongoing development and bug fixing, the development forums are often in a state that is not useful to the public. However, you will soon be able to see a Beta version here on the vBulletin.com forums.
                =]

                Ok, understood. That means the pre-sale email I got is also not useful to the public. Close this thread. Stop sending marketing emails until you have something to show for it.
                version2 aka mol

                Mystic Wicks Online Pagan Community Forums
                Mystic Wicks After Dark

                Comment

                • boatdesign
                  Senior Member
                  • Jun 2001
                  • 536

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Ray Morgan
                  Due to ongoing development and bug fixing, the development forums are often in a state that is not useful to the public. However, you will soon be able to see a Beta version here on the vBulletin.com forums.
                  I understand the alpha state could scare away the "public" who isn't familiar with vBulletin at all. I could be wrong, but I really think allowing your customers, many of whom have been running vBulletin since the year 2000 or before, to see the alpha forums would be an asset to you as they would be on your team and have a good idea of where you're heading instead of being left out in the cold with no idea how the software is progressing. Overall vBulletin is the best in my book, but I think the product development relationship with customers is a real weak point and the one point that I don't enjoy with vBulletin that I do enjoy with other (unrelated) software.
                  Boat Design & Boat Building Forums

                  Comment

                  • badblu01
                    Senior Member
                    • Feb 2004
                    • 231
                    • 4.0.0

                    #10
                    i have upgraded it would have been nice to see a demo before the sale
                    Cricket Talk
                    All Your Aussie + World Cricket Talk

                    Comment

                    • theologyonline
                      Senior Member
                      • Feb 2001
                      • 110

                      #11
                      Yeah... I think this was handled very poorly. I think vBulletin should have waited to offer the sale until there was a working demo somewhere for existing and new customers to peruse.

                      I also think vB should have offered the upgrade pricing up to the point your existing member's area anniversary expired. That way, you could simply choose to pay a little extra at that point or not. For me, I would have upgraded two of my three owned licenses when they came due.

                      The way it stands... vB is forcing our hand on a software we haven't even seen yet. That just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
                      Discuss and debate theology at TheologyOnline.com

                      Comment

                      • Wayne Luke
                        vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                        • Aug 2000
                        • 73976

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Jerz
                        The development forums may not be 'useful' to the 'public', but they can be a deciding factor for customers. I don't expect it to be bug-free or final, but I'm sure I could get a rough idea.
                        When he says they can often be unusable to the public, he means unusable. Not a little rough around the edges. They can be seriously broken at times. I mean like 50 .htaccess prompts on a single page broken.
                        Translations provided by Google.

                        Wayne Luke
                        The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                        vBulletin 5 API

                        Comment

                        • roscoe36
                          Senior Member
                          • Jul 2005
                          • 115
                          • 3.5.x

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Wayne Luke
                          When he says they can often be unusable to the public, he means unusable. Not a little rough around the edges. They can be seriously broken at times. I mean like 50 .htaccess prompts on a single page broken.
                          That's not very reassuring for customers. It means the software is a long way off, but for some reason, it is being presold aggressively.

                          Comment

                          • The Notorious
                            Member
                            • Jan 2006
                            • 36
                            • 3.5.x

                            #14
                            Originally posted by roscoe36
                            That's not very reassuring for customers. It means the software is a long way off, but for some reason, it is being presold aggressively.
                            Yea that's what I was thinking, if the beta is that far why start all this so early? At least you guys should of got the shopping cart and all working with paypal working beforehand...

                            Comment

                            • Wayne Luke
                              vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                              • Aug 2000
                              • 73976

                              #15
                              Originally posted by roscoe36
                              That's not very reassuring for customers. It means the software is a long way off, but for some reason, it is being presold aggressively.
                              Not really.. The development server is used for a lot of things. Have been running the alpha on my site behind .htaccess and it is rock solid. Yeah there are a few bugs but nothing devastating.

                              Originally posted by The Notorious
                              At least you guys should of got the shopping cart and all working with paypal working beforehand...
                              It was working with Paypal up until last night when Paypal made a change to how IPN is handled. That issue has been fixed though and should be working properly again.
                              Translations provided by Google.

                              Wayne Luke
                              The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                              vBulletin 5 API

                              Comment

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