Just once, I'd like to ....

SkyForum posted 31st of March 2010 in Community Voice. 7 comments.

Has anyone noticed? I have. A dramatic decline in posts to the forum and most new posts coming from brand new people asking the same questions over an over as well as posts (that have turned almost pointless in their content) from a core group of Boonex users.

I think there's some serious issues developing here. There is a whole hearted lack of support from the developers for Dolphin 7 and now we're seeing a dramatic decline in interest from it's users. Except for a core set that don't know when to give up and the brand new user who is just starting down the path of lack of performance/faith and communication from the creators, many have given up and disappeared.

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Dolphin makes it easy to deploy and manage dating sites, social networks, online clubs, or web- communities. We run community sites ourselves, and we pass this experience on to you.

I am sorry, but I just don't see this here. My site has been nothing but difficult to assemble. Although I do not have the ability to code in PHP, I most certainly have a basic set of skills that should allow me to easily install this software and solve minor issues. Only in rare cases have I not needed outside help.

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A community is only a community as long as people still live in it.

Just how many projects is Boonex working on? Does anyone know? I know there's a version 6 and as far as I can tell it's still in development without any real conclusion. I have never used it so I can't speak to it's reliablility but watching the forums gives me some idea that many problems still exist that have not been fixed to this day.

I want to pay my $999 (or whatever Prime is right now) and become a full fledged member of Boonex but I just can't see myself clear to do it. Every day I come here half expecting the site to be gone and the infamous 404 page not found error. I have actually been involved in another community where that happened and it's an experience I have no desire to repeat.

The way I see it, I already have about a thousand hours in the initial development of TowNation (my site) and l expect to spend another thousand or so before the site becomes truly functional and open for business.

If I spend my money here, what guarantee do I have that a year from now you will still be here to service my needs?

This is a direct request to the Boonex team. I really need you to step in here and tell us what your plans are. Where are we going? I am truly hoping that I can get a response, not from just one of you that has been sent to put out the fire, but from several of you so we know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we are not just wasting our time once again. It truly is time for a Rah Rah session from the developers.

This is not a bash blog and I have no desire to start a thread where everyone is bitching about every little thing. All I am looking for here is a little help in goading the Boonex establishment into communicating a little better with us. If you want to help me with this, then have at it. If you want to bitch about specific problems, please, take it somewhere else as it will defeat the purpose of this post.

 

Just once, I'd like to ..... make a post in praise of the Boonex team and it's accomplishments instead of complaining because of a poorly thought out idea or the lack of communication between the developers and the end users.

 
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Nathan Paton
I suppose my blog posts have gotten to you.
houstonlively
I really hate it when....
Andrew Boon
Sometimes telling much about plans just hurts. We all know that 7.0.1 is due very soon and we're woking on Unity updates. Everything less is not as important right now.
danielmarseille
I also think there is a decreased activity on the forum
I think the officers should spend a little time to respond to the forum

I think there is also a decrease in activity on bug reports
look at the number of members registered - on Dolphin 7.0.1 - only 59 members - http://demozzz.com/dolphin701b/index.php
I personally stop testing and bug reports - and weird stuff
often not considered because of bugs - or anything odd D7

This may explain the reduced activity

you do not use D6 - you see more surely not ever use D5
Yes little bug in D6 - but nothing serious - I have a site with 6000 profiles and D6 works very well - like a Swiss watch

for me at weak point on D6
lack of reactivity between members - I have not yet made the upgrade to D7 -
but I think with D7 and the new chat system and wall - this should improve the reactivity between members

on D7 is true that there are still bugs - but I think you can trust bonnex - to set the maximum Bugs
As you can see in : http://www.boonex.com/trac/dolphin/roadmap

the bonnex software - it's a dolphin
I see the evolution since the release of the version of D5 - there every time of great change -
boonex for me - it's a kangourou -
DosDawg
SF,
your post was well thought out and a great cry for direction. As you can see there was none given. Developing with this platform or any that have been released by these developers, is a tight-rope walk to say the least.

If we all wake up tomorrow, and there is the dreaded 404 on the prescribed domain, have no fear, there are backup plans should that ever occur. There are many of us who just like yourself have sank thousand(s) of hours into this community and this application. Its not going see more away, even if it went away, its not going away.

Just as other fallen or abandoned open source apps that have been revived from the dead, Dolphin too shall rise up above the waves and in all of her infinite glory be the performer she was meant to be.

Regards,
DosDawg
DosDawg
there was some real community interest in this one eh SF. that is what i am talking about. now had you been writing about the effects of raising peas with natural sunlight compared to synthetic lighting, im sure you would have gotten way more feedback.

I think we should rename unity to Kohler, and there are a few who know what Kohler manufactures

Regards,
DosDawg
silverado350
I too noticed more and more people are getting discouraged. I feel it stems from the lack of frequent updates.

Newcomers download and install Dolphin then quickly find out that that their site is basically screwed until the next update. As I have stated in the past ,What is the logic of going so long before releasing an update? I get updates from Firefox,Adobe and Java seems like every other week. I get updates from vBulletin like very month. Why cant Boonex do the same? Send out updates see more in smaller packages. It would make make more sense to do that than to have a forum that is flooded with complaints and confusion.
 
 
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