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Updates to Autodesk Discussion Groups

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Message 1 of 59
wrighte
1766 Views, 58 Replies

Updates to Autodesk Discussion Groups

On June 4, Autodesk is upgrading the technology behind our discussion groups. The result is a significant improvement to posting & replying, navigation, search and other features. While we launch this upgrade, the discussion groups will be unavailable from 3pm (PDT) Thursday, June 3 and Friday June 4.

As part of the upgrade, Autodesk has taken the decision to discontinue the time-honored use of the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). This was a difficult and bittersweet decision, given the company’s past investments to maintain NNTP, but one necessary to continue providing the state-of-art web experience Autodesk customers have come to expect. For active NNTP users, we know this will change your workflow when using the forums. To help transition to the web-based forums, the new updates include a simpler, more intuitive interface to post and reply, bookmarking and e-mail notification features to track favorite posts, and more powerful search tools. While not a substitute for the NNTP experience, the streamlined capabilities of our RSS feeds also provide an enhanced and alternative offline forum reading experience.

Autodesk is excited about this change, and is confident that all the valued users of our discussion groups will quickly appreciate and benefit from the improvements to this web experience.


Eric Wright
Product Manager – Support & Learning
Web & eBusiness
Autodesk, Inc.


Eric Wright
Sr. Web Product Manager
Autodesk Knowledge Network
Autodesk, Inc.

58 REPLIES 58
Message 2 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

{quote}

bittersweet decision, given the company's past investments to maintain NNTP, but
one necessary to continue providing the state-of-art web experience Autodesk
customers have come to expect.

{quote}

The only thing Autodesk customers have come to expect in the way of web based
discussion software, is not even worthy of being called stinking, rotting,
garbage, because to date, that's what you've given them.

--
http://www.caddzone.com

AcadXTabs: MDI Document Tabs for AutoCAD
Supporting AutoCAD 2000 through 2011

http://www.acadxtabs.com

Email: string.Format("{0}@{1}.com", "tonyt", "caddzone");
Message 3 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

{quote}

Autodesk is excited about this change, and is confident that all the valued
users of our discussion groups will quickly appreciate and benefit from the
improvements to this web experience.

{quote}

Eric, would you be willing to make a wager on that?

--
http://www.caddzone.com

AcadXTabs: MDI Document Tabs for AutoCAD
Supporting AutoCAD 2000 through 2011

http://www.acadxtabs.com

Email: string.Format("{0}@{1}.com", "tonyt", "caddzone");
Message 4 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

the best support of autodesk are these useful discussion groups, where
people help others (without getting payed for it).
your update and support policy really force me into alternatives to
autodesk.


wrighte wrote:
> On June 4, Autodesk is upgrading the technology behind our discussion groups. The result is a significant improvement to posting & replying, navigation, search and other features. While we launch this upgrade, the discussion groups will be unavailable from 3pm (PDT) Thursday, June 3 and Friday June 4.
>
> As part of the upgrade, Autodesk has taken the decision to discontinue the time-honored use of the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). This was a difficult and bittersweet decision, given the company’s past investments to maintain NNTP, but one necessary to continue providing the state-of-art web experience Autodesk customers have come to expect. For active NNTP users, we know this will change your workflow when using the forums. To help transition to the web-based forums, the new updates include a simpler, more intuitive interface to post and reply, bookmarking and e-mail notification features to track favorite posts, and more powerful search tools. While not a substitute for the NNTP experience, the streamlined capabilities of our RSS feeds also provide an enhanced and alternative offline forum reading experience.
>
> Autodesk is excited about this change, and is confident that all the valued users of our discussion groups will quickly appreciate and benefit from the improvements to this web experience.
>
>
> Eric Wright
> Product Manager – Support & Learning
> Web & eBusiness
> Autodesk, Inc.
Message 5 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

Where is the research data that says users have come to
expect a "state-of the-art" web experience? Was there
a poll/survey made available to users that support this?

wrote in message news:6398145@discussion.autodesk.com...
> necessary to continue providing the state-of-art web
> experience Autodesk customers have come to expect.
Message 6 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

Goodbye, people.
It was nice while it lasted.

>discontinue the time-honored use of the Network News Transfer Protocol
>(NNTP)
>upgrading the technology

(Heh)
and black is white, up is down, etc.

--
Herman Mayfarth
Tekton Construction Services
www.tktn.com
Message 7 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

Also Eric, I find it interesting that the beta forums provide
NNTP and web-based access. Are you saying the beta
portal is not a "state-of-the-art" web experience? Or is it
Autodesk's intent to drop NNTP access there as well?


"Jason Piercey" wrote in message news:6398477@discussion.autodesk.com...
Where is the research data that says users have come to
expect a "state-of the-art" web experience? Was there
a poll/survey made available to users that support this?

wrote in message news:6398145@discussion.autodesk.com...
> necessary to continue providing the state-of-art web
> experience Autodesk customers have come to expect.
Message 8 of 59
Kent1Cooper
in reply to: wrighte

I am at least willing to try out the new website interface before passing judgment on whether the touted state-of-the-art changes actually *are* improvements, and/or whether the improvements compensate for the loss of the Newsreader option. I would hope others will do the same -- maybe they'll find themselves able to use it in place of the Newsreader approach; maybe not.

It would be admirable if you could introduce the improved website interface *before* eliminating the Newsreader option, leave them overlapping for a while, and let people compare them and respond. It would be even more admirable if you could reconsider whether to go through with the elimination, based on the reaction.

But since I don't think it's likely the decision to limit the forum to website access only will be reversed, as a result of all the negative reaction so far, and since I hope this thread at least has AutoDesk's ear, I will put in my request that you fix a problem of which I've seen no acknowledgment that AutoDesk is even aware, despite its being talked about repeatedly here.

Please, if it's not already one of the anticipated improvements, make the website capable of handling pairs of angle brackets without deleting them and everything between them. [Sometimes it doesn't happen exactly like that. For instance, sometimes it seems the angle brackets and a double-quote character between them remain, and everything else disappears (though it doesn't survive that way when passed along in a reply), and today there was one posting where I think it didn't have the problem at all. But I haven't been able to discern under what conditions it's different.]

Given:

1. the purpose of this forum, and
2. that so many postings here include AutoLisp code, and
3. that angle brackets are so commonly used around defaults in (get...) function prompts, simply to emulate native AutoCAD command prompt defaults,

it is laughable that one can't post code like that without risk of its having parts missing as others find it on the website. Just in the last day or two there has been yet another instance of someone copying and pasting code from postings, and having it not work for them because of exactly that issue.

Fixing that would be at least bring it closer to "state of the art" for a forum like this.

--
Kent Cooper
Kent Cooper, AIA
Message 9 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

I'll try it too, but based on previous experience and in contrast
to what Eric's carefully-worded comments about what Autodesk
customers have 'come to expect' seem to be trying to imply, I'm
already thoroughly convinced that the intended purpose is to
imped, hinder and obstruct your ability to continue to benefit
from the free, peer-to-peer support that has been available on
these groups for so long.

This looks like little other than Carl Bass' way of getting even
with you for not going on subscription and providing Autodesk
with free product testing services.

--
http://www.caddzone.com

AcadXTabs: MDI Document Tabs for AutoCAD
Supporting AutoCAD 2000 through 2011

http://www.acadxtabs.com

Email: string.Format("{0}@{1}.com", "tonyt", "caddzone");

wrote in message news:6398616@discussion.autodesk.com...
I am at least willing to try out the new website interface before passing
judgment on whether the touted state-of-the-art changes actually *are*
improvements, and/or whether the improvements compensate for the loss of the
Newsreader option. I would hope others will do the same -- maybe they'll find
themselves able to use it in place of the Newsreader approach; maybe not.

It would be admirable if you could introduce the improved website interface
*before* eliminating the Newsreader option, leave them overlapping for a while,
and let people compare them and respond. It would be even more admirable if you
could reconsider whether to go through with the elimination, based on the
reaction.

But since I don't think it's likely the decision to limit the forum to website
access only will be reversed, as a result of all the negative reaction so far,
and since I hope this thread at least has AutoDesk's ear, I will put in my
request that you fix a problem of which I've seen no acknowledgment that
AutoDesk is even aware, despite its being talked about repeatedly here.

Please, if it's not already one of the anticipated improvements, make the
website capable of handling pairs of angle brackets without deleting them and
everything between them. [Sometimes it doesn't happen exactly like that. For
instance, sometimes it seems the angle brackets and a double-quote character
between them remain, and everything else disappears (though it doesn't survive
that way when passed along in a reply), and today there was one posting where I
think it didn't have the problem at all. But I haven't been able to discern
under what conditions it's different.]

Given:

1. the purpose of this forum, and
2. that so many postings here include AutoLisp code, and
3. that angle brackets are so commonly used around defaults in (get...) function
prompts, simply to emulate native AutoCAD command prompt defaults,

it is laughable that one can't post code like that without risk of its having
parts missing as others find it on the website. Just in the last day or two
there has been yet another instance of someone copying and pasting code from
postings, and having it not work for them because of exactly that issue.

Fixing that would be at least bring it closer to "state of the art" for a forum
like this.

--
Kent Cooper
Message 10 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

If users were demanding a "state of the art web experience", then everyone
would flock to the 'web experience' on their own, and they would not have
shut NNTP down.

We use NNTP because it's easy and fast, and better.
Message 11 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

On Thu, 27 May 2010 06:31:46 -0700, Jason Piercey
wrote:

>Where is the research data that says users have come to
>expect a "state-of the-art" web experience? Was there
>a poll/survey made available to users that support this?
>
> wrote in message news:6398145@discussion.autodesk.com...
>> necessary to continue providing the state-of-art web
>> experience Autodesk customers have come to expect.

Is Autodesk implying that its web based discussion groups is
"state-of-the-art"? Me thinks they have not looked around too much. I
mean, this has remained the same for years. If that is state of the
art, then the art has not changed for quite a while. You only have to
look at the many web based forums (discussing all sorts of things)
around to see that there is heaps of forum software around that leave
the Autodesk one for dead.

Oh yes, and the research line is what is called a "throw away line" in
the business world. The best thing to do with such a line is to do as
it says - throw it away.

--

Regards,

Ian A. White, CPEng.

| /| / WAI Engineering
| /_| / Sydney 2000
|/ |/ Australia

www.wai.com.au

mailto:ianwhite@wai.com.au

callto://waiwhite on Skype
Message 12 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

>'come to expect'
because Adesk has crammed it down our throats.:)

> intended purpose is to impede, hinder and obstruct

Personally, I doubt it is that diabolical, Tony.

Methinks you are imputing intelligence where very little exists, only greed.

Ergo, contempt for their customers.

> free product testing services

Yah:)

Fact is, virtually all the other peer to peer support fora out there these
days are html based, so what's the BFD?

Well, to me it is the barnyard stink of corporate doublespeak.

Discontinuing support is an "upgrade." yeah, right.

Who cares, since this place is going down in a few days anyway.

'Nuff said.:)

--
Herman Mayfarth
Tekton Construction Services
www.tktn.com
Message 13 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

state of art... cool... looking forward to see many funky flash animations

Herman Mayfarth wrote:
>>'come to expect'
>
> because Adesk has crammed it down our throats.:)
>
>
>>intended purpose is to impede, hinder and obstruct
>
>
> Personally, I doubt it is that diabolical, Tony.
>
> Methinks you are imputing intelligence where very little exists, only greed.
>
> Ergo, contempt for their customers.
>
>
>>free product testing services
>
>
> Yah:)
>
> Fact is, virtually all the other peer to peer support fora out there these
> days are html based, so what's the BFD?
>
> Well, to me it is the barnyard stink of corporate doublespeak.
>
> Discontinuing support is an "upgrade." yeah, right.
>
> Who cares, since this place is going down in a few days anyway.
>
> 'Nuff said.:)
>
Message 14 of 59
dgorsman
in reply to: wrighte

It says users are expecting state of the art, not what is being delivered. That matches rather well with reality.
----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


Message 15 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

I'll take the absence of reply as "No". So in reality the
users are not expecting such a thing, rather Autodesk
is pushing it on them regardless of what they want.

"Jason Piercey" wrote in message news:6398477@discussion.autodesk.com...
Was there a poll/survey made available to users that support this?

wrote in message news:6398145@discussion.autodesk.com...
> necessary to continue providing the state-of-art web
> experience Autodesk customers have come to expect.
Message 16 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

I actually like the bulletin board forums much better then either news
reader or ADesk's web based stuff. Just a much more intuitive interface.

CadTutor has been around a long time, keeps everything very
professional, and the software is very user friendly.

The Swamp does nice job as well.

-David
Message 17 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

David Bethel wrote:
> CadTutor has been around a long time, keeps everything very
> professional, and the software is very user friendly.
>
> The Swamp does nice job as well.

But Autodesk isn't going with vBulletin or SMF....


--
R.K. McSwain
http://cadpanacea.com
Message 18 of 59
wrighte
in reply to: wrighte

I think you'll be happy with the improvements for supporting code in posts. See attached screen shot with a sample post from the new system that includes:

1. angle brackets typed in
2. pasted code (specific paste function that preserved formatting, and provided variable width window within the post)



--ERIC


Eric Wright
Sr. Web Product Manager
Autodesk Knowledge Network
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 19 of 59
Anonymous
in reply to: wrighte

What about indents? Looks like it was removed from that paste
unless they were absent to begin with. I also don't see code within
the angle brackets, unless << code within angle brackets works >>
was supposed to be it.


wrote in message news:6400743@discussion.autodesk.com...
I think you'll be happy with the improvements for supporting code in posts. See attached screen shot with a sample post from the new
system that includes:

1. angle brackets typed in
2. pasted code (specific paste function that preserved formatting, and provided variable width window within the post)



--ERIC
Message 20 of 59
Kent1Cooper
in reply to: wrighte

I don't see any angle brackets at all in the code portion of that image, only the double ones around the claim "code between angle brackets works." Am I missing something?

And I agree with Jason -- what about indentation?

--
Kent Cooper


wrighte wrote...
....See attached screen shot with a sample post from the new system that includes:

1. angle brackets typed in
....
Kent Cooper, AIA

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