Is the forum dying?

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

@gr5 @titus I think both of you are right. There is quite a large number of posts. But many of them are duplicates of questions asked quite a few times. Either people are too lazy too search the forum or the old posts cannot be found. Something to investigate for UM...

And a lot of posts are currently about missing features of the new Cura. The deDeugd post with the missing features should somehow be more prominent.

There are quite few posts about really new things. Quite some action is going on in the dual head setup section what I can see. IMHO this is mainly because it's summer. But it also means there are no new problems with Ultimaker machines. And this is certainly not a bad thing...

[macua85 52]

I think a lot of old members have given up or don't visit as frequently though. I don't doubt what you are saying gr5, but it seems to have lost its appeal to the oldies. I quote coffee corner and 'a coffee between friends' again. I remember that it was seldom below the top post, and if it was, it rarely went a day before someone updated it. Must be indicative.

[Titus 170]

@gr5 I can imagine what you mean, although I still don't have the idea the forum is active, simply because I cannot SEE that there are new post, without actively comparing it to the list in my memory.

Also, the new posts seem to be mostly from new people with sub 50 posts or in the multi-extrusion approach topic. Having said that, it kinda is what Ultimaker wanted, a forum more open for new users(except the prominant search bar doesn't work as the top right one, leading to very little good results). The sleep state is, I hope, for the previous power users like Korneel, Blitz and so many others who's profile picture I recognize but can't name right now.

Like @macua85 said, that posted in the show my print and coffee topics etc.

[gr5 2,167]

Okay - I guess you guys are right.  I just checked and there were 34 topics with new posts to topics in the last 24 hours here and on the old forum we averaged 165 posts per day over a 2 year period. But those 34 topics each have more than one post.

So, yeah, we are getting 50% to 75% as many posts according to Anders below (yes, I edited this post after he posted!, lol).  It still seems like a ton of posts to me though, lol.

The old forum is still alive by the way but it's read only:

http://oldforum.ultimaker.com/

But the old forum has all these amazing moderator/admin reporting tools so it's easy for me to count posts per year.  New users per year and so on.

As far as "search" is concerned any programmer who thinks they can do better than google is a fool.  They have a big team.  Microsoft wasn't able to do as well.  Neither was google, altavista, yahoo, or anyone else.  So the forum should just use google to do the searches.  Anyway I alway s use google and add "site:ultimaker.com" to the search so it limits results from the forum.

Edited July 22, 2015 by Guest

[Titus 170]

With the search, I'm not sure how, but the search bar in the top right actually works pretty damned well, in comparison to the old one that is. HOWEVER, the one sitting in the middle of your screen screaming USE ME doesn't work. Ultimaker is aware of it and on it to fix it. I just can't understand how it cannot be a 10 minute fix. But yeah.

[Anders Olsson 136]

Okay - I guess you guys are right.  I just checked and there were 34 posts in the last 24 hours here and on the old forum we averaged 165 per day over a 2 year period.

So, yeah, we are getting 1/5 as many posts.  It still seems like a ton of posts to me though, lol.

 

For some reason the post counter on the forum counts only new topics (?) and when you check the last 24 hours threads with multiple replies only shows up once.

So there is no way to quickly compare the old and the new forum.

To do a comparison, you have to go through each thread that was updated last 24 hours and manually check how many posts were made the last 24 hours.

I did that twice, just out of curiosity, and ended up with the new forum having about 50-75% of the number of posts the old forum had per day, so it is worse than the old forum, but not as bad as 20%.

The most striking thing if you compare them is that "Modifications and Hacks" is very quiet on the new forum.

I am personally a bit fed up with Ultimakers habit of for no obvious reason releasing new software which does not work as intended and is missing important features that the old software had.

I think a company the size of Ultimaker should have a more professional approach than this.

I would most likely return if the old forum was reopened.

This new forum simply does not attract me though, and I am not going to force myself to spend my time here. I am way too busy and there are not that many things posted here that interest me anymore.

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

With the search, I'm not sure how, but the search bar in the top right actually works pretty damned well, in comparison to the old one that is. HOWEVER, the one sitting in the middle of your screen screaming USE ME doesn't work. Ultimaker is aware of it and on it to fix it. I just can't understand how it cannot be a 10 minute fix. But yeah.

 

It's maybe a 10 minutes fix. But also maybe the right person has to come back from holiday and spend this 10 minutes.

@anders-olsson: I fully understand. To be honest, I also start to be a bit tired about the decrease of topic variety. And I also miss the mods and hacks... :(

Edited July 21, 2015 by Guest

[gr5 2,167]

This new forum simply does not attract me though, and I am not going to force myself to spend my time here. I am way too busy and there are not that many things posted here that interest me anymore.

 

Well go ahead and ignore us - we'll be fine. If Carl or I see something I think you'd be interested in then we'll let you know about it. The only thread I think would interest you right now would be the dual print head thread which is very active and I assume you have seen.

My favorite thread (which is still active across many years) is "post your latest print" as that one inspires me all the time. The stuff in that thread just blows me away. And sometimes I learn a new trick from that thread.

[Anders Olsson 136]

The only thread I think would interest you right now would be the dual print head thread which is very active and I assume you have seen.

Good guess, that is actually the only thread I am really following on the new forum

[jameshs 42]

@gr5 volume is not everything!

I used to visit three or four times in a day - and now realised that it is probably less than 3 or 4 times in a week.

I have noticed that when complete newbies ask questions you are the main responder whereas it used to be a lot more people interested in 'helping' the community.

From a personal point of view I less often reach out to help as I know I can't find messages so how will others?

I hate G+ and facebook methods of losing information because the latest piece of information has come in and sadly that is what I find here - I still can't set it up to see new messages since I last visited - which was my MAIN tool for reading!

While I think i have one of the best printers in the world - what made it so for me was reading about how others had hacked theirs (I have UMOs) and I then did the hack and WOW - what a change! - so much that I bought another! (UMO).

So my own impression is that the forum has followed the UM2, which is not my marketplace. And it is fair enough to do that so I am moaning less - but reading more in the communities of printers like Lulzbot where people are adapting their printers and I still get that WOW feeling which has kind of dropped out of here.

If some of the functionality comes back and I can avoid the UM2 centric posts then I can see that I would get excited again, but while I don't have the tools to do that it takes effort on my part!

James

[IRobertI 520]

I still can't set it up to see new messages since I last visited - which was my MAIN tool for reading!

This doesn't work?

https://ultimaker.com/en/community?sorting=latest

I also made a (somewhat buggy) script to keep track of topics you've read at the bottom of this page:

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/view/11734-general-forum-feedback?page=53

[TheDeugd 18]

 

I still can't set it up to see new messages since I last visited - which was my MAIN tool for reading!

This doesn't work?

https://ultimaker.com/en/community?sorting=latest

I also made a (somewhat buggy) script to keep track of topics you've read at the bottom of this page:

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/view/11734-general-forum-feedback?page=53

 

And an official option is coming soon @jameshs see this topic.

[jameshs 42]

@IRobertI it does not seem to do the same thing - just date orders stuff whereas I am used to 'unread since I last visited' - so I know I have not red them!

latest relies on me remembering when I last visited - whereas the forum used to remember for me!

Edited July 24, 2015 by Guest

[jameshs 42]

@TheDeugd

I know the functionality may appear in the future - but the lack of it has pushed me from an addict to cold Turkey.

it is like a supermarket not stocking my favourite cereal for 2 MONTHS and saying that they will eventually re-stock it ..... by which time I have changed my habits.

Actually it is worse than that as they still have my cereal but have reorganised all the stock so I just can't find it - makes me feel stupid - esp when they tell me that the organisation is much better and other people can now find their store way easier - result is I still don't get any breakfast!

Maybe I will try toast!

[IRobertI 520]

@IRobertI it does not seem to do the same thing - just date orders stuff whereas I am used to 'unread since I last visited' - so I know I have not red them!

latest relies on me remembering when I last visited - whereas the forum used to remember for me!

 

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I miss the original functionality as well, it's the only way I read the forum in the past. The "latest" list is a decent middle ground and with the script I made I've been reading a bit more. But I was just like you, my activity dropped like a rock because the forum was/is missing that feature.

[peetersm 124]

I share a lot of these feelings (sadness, frustration, fear, loss) , my forum activity has gone way down for all the same reasons pointed within days of the new forum coming on line, and still have not been fixed many months later. And most alarming the bugs and missing functionality were BASIC features that any forum should have, the fact that it got rolled out in that state is alarming for many, many reasons. Now we've got a bug filled and reduced functionality version of CURA being released, not good, not good at all. At least leave the last stable version listed 1st in the download area and list the new one as a beta download until some of the basic bugs get worked out, this is harming newbies for sure.

I used to be on here daily. I run workshops for schools to assemble UMO+ kits and as an ambassador and someone who was drinking the kool-aid, I used to tell them how great the community forums was and what a "together" company UM was...but since the changes I'm not feeling that as strongly anymore.

What causes me the most fear about the health of UM is the embarrassing lack of professionalism and quality that I used to admire and brag on. This is the single most telling factor that there is trouble in Denmark ... ops I meant the Netherlands.

I am still drinking the kool-aid and loving UM but feeling a lot of doubt and concern for the future. UM please get your act together, and soon, it's important.

[Labern 774]

 

Well I have given up on 3d printing all together at the moment. Got A new 2Go and haven't been able to get it to print properly from the start. Wasted to much filament trying to fix it and support is trying to help but no success.

So i have lost enthusiasm to print.

Its hard to share stuff when you cant print stuff.

 

Hi @labern, what is the latest update on this? Are you already back on your saddle?

Let me know, maybe I can help too!

 

Hi @Sander

Nope, still have issues. Tried a Gcode file from Valcrow today and it came out really bad.

[SandervG 1,521]

Thanks for your message. I will have someone from support reach out to you to fix it!

[bob-hepple 59]

Labern

its a shame you have given up at moment your cooling shroud is just the job Have fitted it to the Olson Block Im expecting great things.

The forum Is defenitley not eh same place as it used to be and with no e-mail its not good.

[LePaul 321]

I'm trying to give the new format some time to evolve.

But yes, now that I am visiting more often, I am surprised how the forum traffic is not what it used to be a year ago.

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

I'm trying to give the new format some time to evolve.

But yes, now that I am visiting more often, I am surprised how the forum traffic is not what it used to be a year ago.

 

A year ago we had a lot of contributions from @ian, @illuminarti and @daid. Of the past top scorers only @gr5 is keeping his pace...

Well, all of the three gentlement just mentioned have their reasons not to be (that much) present here on the forum anymore...

@labern: I have bad news for you. You're not allowed to give up 3D printing. Not until you delivered a working miniature chain saw...

[Labern 774]

Well my old printer was returned and a new one is on it's way, So hopefully some good quality prints will get me back in the mood.

[Labern 774]

@bob-hepple

Hope it works out good for you. I'm waiting for a quote back to get some metal ones made. If it doesn't break the bank I may need some testers

[0235 24]

I think we are all so used to seeing flashy ui's on basic websites (like Facebook and Twitter) that when the new forum came along we all subconsciously disconnected from it as being any viable source of good tech support and info, instead seeing it a some cut down strange thing. Big icons sick and the "baby's first forum" feel is horrible, as is the new forums inability to run on any mobile device have tried.

It makes me sad.it used to be such a vibrant community always helping me out.

[gr5 2,167]

"baby's first forum"

 

lol!!! That's precious - I love that analogy!