[OPEN] Open Thread for Feedback on Community

[Tiana_Y]

Hello Everyone, 

Welcome to the Community Feedback Hub and thank you for joining us here to provide your insights!  

In this open thread, we invite you to share your great ideas to improve our Communities, features you’d love to see, share event ideas, etc. Please feel free to share any topic, that you do not see already in the Feedback Hub, that you think should be there. 

Please note that this thread is for feedback on the Community, not for product feedback. 

We’ll be looking out for popular topics and common issues, and we’ll promote those to their own thread for a deeper conversation as needed.  

Your input is so valuable to help us keep improving our Communities—so please take the opportunity to share your feedback with us! 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas. And, please feel free to tag me, or any other Community Manager in your posts.

Wishing you the best,  

Tiana.D 

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@hamsterHamster wrote:

 Also, I cannot access my profile (rolling user icon issue) ...

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@hamsterHamster 

Go to http://accounts.autodesk.com and log in.

After that return to the forums and you should see your upper right profile access back to normal.

[hamsterHamster]

@TheCADWhisperer : just before you posted, I clicked Autodesk logo and got unlogged, after logging back, the rolling issue wasn't there, thanks. Went to that 70 pages list of subscriptions and..............yeah, found this forum, unsubscribed. However, by posting this answer I will be listed here again! 😄 Can't we just unsubscribe within the thread itself? Or, at least, have a search option in that MySubscribtions list.

[ROakley_Trility]

only been using autodesk since 1988, thanks for showing me how to find support 🙄

you  may notice I didnt complain about not being able to start a support case, I commented on the poor model that Autodesk uses to manage and service support for their products.
The only times the autodesk support has been ok is for things like contract/licensing anything else they are not much help and just refer to posts on forums for help (I already read them or in some cases wrote them, I have other accounts ranked 11 😜 but each new employer means a new account due the stupid way that your sign in is linked to your account)
I have a few of my old answers bookmarked due to the fact the workaround I came up with still has to be used YEARS later due to Autodesks poor perfomance with their community engagement and insistance on catching the eyes of nontech managers with glossy new bells and whistles that look great in a presentation but provide no real use when using the software for the actual work that is required, meanwhile there are dozens of great tools that we want and need that just dont work, year after year, new features that are broken on top of the old features that are broken. Stop trying to look good on a brochure, make the product work we (the grunts, cadmonkeys, DigitalEngineers, whatever you want to call us the users) will sell the product for you [hey boss I can output this project for 20% less cost because this tool works, look I can show you] you have a team of sellers and recomenders already but if i ring the resseller to come show me how to setup and use BIM, 5 non-cad people turn up and ask 50 pointless questions because you guys dont even have a proper plan for how its to be used you just kick it to us and when we untangle the mess, bam you try to sell our own setup back to us.

[JDMather]

@tobias  reports:

Screencast upload error in posting to forum - Autodesk Community - Inventor

[TheCADWhisperer]

@davidpbest reports:

I don't see how to post the screencast URL - I keep getting "invalid HTML was found in the message body".

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-design-validate/rigid-joint-discrepancy-in-maintaining-spa...

[Kent1Cooper]

I concur with those who point out the huge problem of having who-knows-how-many subjects mixed together in one thread.  How is it to be indicated that a particular issue has been resolved, or how is someone supposed to find the post that tells them what to do about their problem?

And I really object to the fact that the "old" Community Feedback Forum is not accessible any more.  If an issue is raised that I know was addressed in that Forum, I can no longer find the topic and direct someone to it, but the subject needs to be re-hashed from scratch.  And for the many legitimate problems raised there, there will apparently be no way to know when any of them is resolved.

[AllenJessup]

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@ROakley_Trility wrote:

How about you drop the model where support is supplied by the reseller and actually provide an Autodesk support portal...

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Guess I was a little bit confused by that. I've been using AutoCAD since 1986 and still have things to learn. They're moved the page to start a support request numerous time. As I'm sure you're aware.

[jacktoler1]

Sorry if I am misunderstanding the correct use of this feedback thread, but I did have something I would like to ask about if y'all will hear me out!

I was wondering if there was any way that Autodesk has implemented, considered implementing, or could consider implementing a live chats or video calls with other community members through either the software itself or (more likely) through the Autodesk website? I have noticed many times as I have looked at community forum posts that people do not get responded to for months or even years for solutions that seem somewhat simple, and I've also noticed many people simply not understanding ideas provided through text based communication. Additionally, I've personally experienced situations where I provide a solution to someones problem, they respond days later saying that I misunderstood the question, I respond with a new solution, they once again claim that I misunderstood, and this continues on and on for multiple weeks at a time.

I feel that a live chat of some kind, similar to a Zoom call, would easily fix this issue but is currently not really done with forum posts. Obviously people can just start doing Zoom calls, but it would be hard to support this kind of behavior unless there is some sort of "request to schedule a video call" button or section when writing a reply to a forum post.

Additionally, there would be the issue of people finding the post later on with the same issue, only to not have the option of reading through the answer because it was handled in a Zoom call. This could be fixed if there is some sort of expectation/recommendation that one of the users within the call records the call and later uploads it to the original forum post, that way any future users can re-watch the Zoom call and get the same in depth look at the solution. I am not very well versed in how websites work, but I would understand if this could easily become an issue on the website because a large influx of videos with large file sizes being uploaded, so I understand if that is part of the reason why this could be a bad suggestion.

If this is considered however, then potentially if it is simple enough and inexpensive, adding a similar video call experience into the website directly and automatically recording, saving, and attaching the results to the forum post could be very beneficial to anyone in the community asking the question, solving the question, or finding the forum post later on. Additionally, having these interactions be recorded and uploaded, through Zoom recordings or otherwise, would hopefully prevent any misconduct or unprofessional behavior within the calls and could lead to any negative/unhealthy people being banned from requesting/joining calls.

I personally have noticed that conversations within forum posts are extremely limited, often take extreme lengths of time to be properly answered, and are overall a difficult experience for those asking questions and offering answers. I feel that pushing for screen sharing video calls and live interactions with community members can solve many of these issues, lead to more in depth solutions, and overall improve the community and social networks within it.

Sorry for the long post, and obviously since I am sure this suggestion has been requested many times before, I am extremely interested in hearing about why it may be a bad idea to implement it if I am wrong about anything I mentioned. I look forwards to hearing back from anyone with better ideas, or criticisms of this form of community interaction, or with advice on where to take this idea if this wasn't the proper place to post it.

[davidpbest]

When I try to post to forums I often get an error message that reads " "invalid HTML was found in the message body".  I'm not putting any HTML in the body.  It seems to happen randomly.   Sometimes I am trying to attach a link to a screencast using the either "My Screencasts" pulldown (which never works) or "Paste Screencast URL" and doing a paste of the URL link in the box provided (which it always objects about with the above referenced error).   What's going on here - this is very frustrating.

[JDMather]

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@Tiana_Y wrote:

Hi @JDMather, 

The other boards were not working for a few reasons when we looked at them

1. as mentioned it lacked closed loops,

2. and engagement on our side,

3. mostly due to lack of consistent community management, so they became stagnant boards.

4. We felt that we needed a single new board that collected all of the feedback from our users in a more constructive and concise way. That is how this board will help. It will collect feedback in a more organized structure that will also have more consistent community management.

5. These were great questions, ...

Best, 

Tiana.D

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1. I am not seeing loops being closed under this new format. How has anything changed (for the better)?

2. I am not seeing much in the way of Autodesk engagement here? Your customers (and those helping your customers) are here 24/7/365.

My boss would be all over me if issues were not being addressed in my work (she wants them addressed yesterday, if they get to her, I am sure to be "corrected").

3. See #1 & 2.

4. I see a "trash can", the digital equivalent of the "circular file".  I am not seeing "more consistent community management".

5. Well, as you might have picked up, I am not a fan of what I call "Dilbert Speak".  (Or more correctly, Dilbert's boss speak.)  Generally when your customers post questions to the forums they are solved within hours if not minutes.

This is the kind of response to issues that I have come to expect.  When a student comes to my office - it is time to take action.

Did I mention, "Welcome to the Forums?" 😁  Hey, the emojis are working again.  I stand corrected.

[Kent1Cooper]

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@Kent1Cooper wrote:

I concur with those who point out the huge problem of having who-knows-how-many subjects mixed together in one thread.  How is it to be indicated that a particular issue has been resolved, or how is someone supposed to find the post that tells them what to do about their problem?

....

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@Tiana_Y , let's get more specific about what a ridiculous idea this open thread is, with a scenario:

UserA puts something into this thread -- they don't know how to do X.  UserB puts something in -- they are getting an error when they try to do Y.  Seventeen posts down the line, UserC describes for UserA how to do X.  Twelve posts further down the line, @Tiana_Y reports that whatever caused the error UserB got in trying to do Y has been fixed.

So both UserA and UserB have been "satisfied," but neither of them knows without reading through all twenty-nine posts that a solution to their problem has been posted, and neither of them can mark UserC's or Tiana.D's posts as accepted solutions [unless they are Expert Elites with that superpower].

And if Tiana.D, who as the OP can mark things as solutions, realizes somehow that UserC's post is there, and knows enough to realize that it resolves UserA's issue, and marks it as solution [or some Expert Elite knows, and does so], and also marks her post as a solution for UserB, there will be two indications of accepted solutions at the top of the thread.  But they will be solutions to different problems, and there will be no way of knowing which problems they resolved.  Ultimately, there could be dozens or scores or hundreds of accepted solutions listed, to who-knows-which issues.

I can't picture any way this can possibly be more helpful to anyone than the former arrangement -- it's just a really badly conceived approach to the purposes of this Forum.

[hfcandrew]

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@CGBenner wrote:

Agreed,... I'm doing a little deeper digging to see if I can find the board owner.  Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

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Any progress?

[kevint5011]

Is it possible to merge previous user names?

I've been using these forums for 20 years with various logins. I started with an anon one back in CAD days & learning autolisp, then I realised I should identify myself so I used my real name for Revit. Then the cloud logins started, so I get a new one every time I change employers. By rough count I've abandoned 6 or 7 logins over the years. Currently I have 2 active logins, this and my shiney new employer one.

[pendean]

>>>...Is it possible to merge previous user names?...<<<
@Anonymous Nope, no matter how many times you ask or whom you ask 😉

[Kent1Cooper]

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@kevint5011 wrote:

Is it possible to merge previous user names?

....

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This is a perfect example of some of the problems I described above.  I'm sure this same question came up [probably more than once] under the previous format, and I'm pretty sure it was answered in the negative, and by an official Autodesk personage such as perhaps our mysterious friend @Discussion_Ad .  And there may have been more of an exchange about it than simply is-it-possible/no.  But I can no longer go and look for that exchange, to refer the current questioner to it -- the question has to be answered all over again.

And if this is considered a satisfactory answer to the question [even if not the one they were hoping for], should it be marked as an accepted Solution?  It's not like the entire "topic" would be resolved, since there are many unrelated questions raised.  Who will mark it?  The poser of the question can't, because they're not the OP, so who decides whether their question has been answered?  If there's an indication at the top of an accepted Solution, it won't indicate what issue it's a solution for.

And if someone else has the same question and finds the current one here somehow, they will be lucky in this instance that a response came immediately after the question.  But that won't always the the case.  If the response is twenty posts later, with many unrelated posts on multiple issues intervening, how is this someone else supposed to know that there has been a response at all, much less how to find it?

[CGBenner]

@hfcandrew 

Hello!  I finally found something out about the location of this forum.  Since it is accessible from within the product itself, at this time the feeling is that the location of it in our forum structure should be left alone... otherwise it would break the in-product links.  I am attaching a screenshot sent to me from the product team.  I hope this helps.  🙂

[davidpbest]

When I'm stumped and go searching for answers on Fusion 360 issues, I find potential contributions to my problem sprinkled over tens of forum posts, intermixed with completely irrelevant information in the same thread.  What should be a straight forward process turns into a lengthy treasure hunt.  Other support forums I moderate and use seem to have a better system (moderation) to keep threads on topic, and mechanisms for the moderators to take an off-topic query and automatically generate a different thread specific to that topic.

[A.Acheson]

Forum Issues:

1. Message toolbar on a cellphone, the numeric list 1,2,3 indexing is mapped to the attachment button and not the numeric list.

2. When numeric list works whole paragraphs are indented and not just the individual lines. Very difficult to operate especially from a cellphone where I assume a lot of users respond.

3. Make the forum and especially message replies more stable . I have on multiple occasions wrote detailed replies only to press post and have a mismatch error message pop up and wipe away all your message content. In one instance this happened 3 times in a row.

The work around at the moment is to copy all of the message content to the clipboard  before pressing post to ensure all the time and effort doesn’t go to waste.

Forum Improvements:

1. Install a button to go to recent post. This will avoid a lengthy scroll to some of the longer threads that could have 60 plus messages.
2. Allow user to search there own notifications in order to effectively retrieve  content that they may have worked on or a conversation they may be a part of. Useful to answer similar new post or even to go back on old threads that may not have gotten solved. 
   3. Have a dedicated iLogic expert on the VBA Inventor forum. From time time to time one of the team drops in but other than that it is left to the user to help each other out and in some cases the higher end questions can go un answered. 
   

[hfcandrew]

The in-product link is wrong, its a 404 error dead link. It links to: http://www.meshmixerforum.com/

Could you get that updated to?: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/meshmixer/bd-p/6013

[HughesTooling]

See the slow post problems back again, hit post nothing happens, hit post again and get this and you answer is deleted!🙄 This problem has been around on and off for years on the old community form! Posing in this black hole thread where it'll probably disappear never to be seen again!