The forum is not user friendly

[leenale]

I agree with the person writing on the forum like 3 days ago. This forum clearly need some work to make it more user friendly. I was going to go and ask a question about photoshop 3D tools, but my experience of the forum was so bad that I just had to find the forum feedback section.

I list few things here and hope they help as constructive feedback:

1) the forum top page is not clear. I couldn't figure out how to get to the forum feedback section. All the entries should be as important and not hide half of the topics as tiny text in the end of the page.

2) Forum is super laggy (at least for me). I'm waiting almost 30 seconds before the page starts to load after clicking a link.

3) The topic page is even worse:

I have to scroll down and THEN I find this teeny weeny topic thread panel. Why is there so much clutter around?

4) I had really hard time even finding how to start a new discussion (also it's a strange way to put it. The button I was first trying to find was something between "ask a new question" or "new message thread")! The tiny link after other text is on intuitive. Please make a button on top of the discussion thread to make it easy to find it. Maybe something big and blue so the eyes pop on that right away. Even better: make one button on top of the list and one under, so the person doesn't need to scroll up and down when they want to as a question.

5) Also, after getting frustrated not being able to find how to make a new thread I went in one of the threads and tried to make a comment, but there was no answer button. I seriously thought that the whole forum just had broken.

Only after going in and out the other thread I realized that since the question has been "answered" (it even states "SUPPOSEDLY answered in the thread), I couldn't comment on the thread anymore. It's really important have ability to answer in already answered questions, so you could comment "I'm sorry this solution didn't work for me, could you have anything else?", or even comment "thank you! this helped!" so people google searching the question would be able to glance in the thread and see if this actually works or not - OR if the solution doesn't work, they would be able to see the other solutions later in the same thread.

But if you want to close the thread, PLEASE add a notification saying "this thread is closed and can't be commented", so I wouldn't think that the forum is broken.

After writing this all I went back to the same thread and suddenly the answer button was there - so the forum DID BREAK. My bad.

(if you wanna try to duplicate the problem, use the search bar and get into the conversation from the search results.)

6) The reason why I got frustrated in the forums enough to find the comment section was the fact, that I wasn't able to change my language. So as you can see from the previous screenshots, half of the page is in Finnish and the rest in English. I went in my settings and found the language option, but it doesn't let me to change the language.

And now when I went in and tried to take a screenshot of the problem, it did change the language. Why is the forum so finicky?

7) The forum layout doesn't look like from the year 2017, but like something from 2004. So much little text and clutter. The forum layout before had its problems, but it was still 100 times better than this one now. What happened?

I agree I'm really frustrated in the forums, but I also know that it's not the moderators' fault. Thank you for giving us this support and I really hope you will put this message forward to solve the issues. I love adobe products and I think that the forum could (and should!) represent the company better.

[stevenh8916002]

I think you have some really good points here. I hope the Adobe powers that be take these things into account.

[stevens84681973]

I agree. I spent 40 minutes on hold with customer care who then directed me to Adobe Forums.  I am simply trying to change a credit card on one of their products/companies, tubemogul.com and alas...

I think that like you, we all walk away with less respect for adobe as a brand/company.  Especially seeing that no one from adobe has responded.  So much for brand management....

[John T Smith]

Yes, people have been complaining about the Jive software used for the forums since the day Adobe switched from their old software to Jive

No, nobody here can help with a credit card problem (OR inept chat support)

Some Change/Verify Account links https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1465499 that may help

-Credit card https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/membership-subscription-troubleshooting-creative-...

However, seeing as the company you mention is not (as far as I can find out) directly associated with anything discussed on these forums, I doubt that the links I posted above will help

[Guest]

yes you are right. I didn't get the help which i needed. I have a new website  [website deleted by moderator] and i was searching for some tipps concerning CSS but i couldn't found anything... very sad. Please get updated your search-algorithm. BR.

[Nancy OShea]

fredl98474637  wrote

I didn't get the help which i needed. I have a new website  [website deleted by moderator] and i was searching for some tips concerning CSS but i couldn't found anything...

Go to the product forum desired, for example Dreamweaver or Muse.

• Dreamweaver support forum
• Help with using Adobe Muse CC

Click on Content from the top menu bar.

Under ACTIONS, click on Start a Discussion

[Dave Merchant]

I know many users agree with the layout complaints in the original message, but they are all because of intentional decisions by Adobe to guide customers into NOT creating new questions. Adobe wants you to search the existing discussions first, in case the question has already been answered. One thread with ten replies is easier for staffers to manage than ten identical questions. In the past, the 'create discussion' button was much more prominent but it has been replaced with tools that direct you towards searches instead. There's only a very limited ability to customize the page layout and functionality of the site, since it's not Adobe's software and it's running on a third party server. It's less buggy than it used to be, but there are things which have to be disabled for security reasons (such as the blogging engine and the ability to upload files) however it's impossible to remove all the hard-coded references to those tools that pop up on other pages.

As to why only part of the page is translated, that is perfectly normal behavior on any forum - the UI text that is generated by the software (links, button labels, etc) will be translated where possible to fit your account preferences, but the content posted by users will not be. If you wish to read a specific message in another language, there's a "translate" button at the end of every post.

I share your frustration but none of these issues is going to change anytime soon. Adobe is pretty much locked to this forum platform because the millions of existing posts have become an essential part of the Help system, and there isn't the interest nor the capability to allow a ground-up rebuild that would migrate all that content to a new service.

[John T Smith]

>isn't the interest

There was an interest in doing that... back in July 2015 I was contacted by an Adobe employee (after I posted several suggestions) who was working on a ground up effort to create a new/different forum (not going to post a name, this was all private conversations)

>nor the capability to allow a ground-up rebuild that would migrate all that content to a new service

Here it is the end of 2017 and still using Jive... so it looks like you are correct in saying that migrating out of the Jive system to a new system isn't going to be done

[Dave Merchant]

I know about the 2015 thing, but it never got beyond scribbles-on-a-napkin. When folks realized that you can't export a JiveX dataset to another platform the die was cast. Hotel California rules apply.

The current site does what it needs to - it reduces calls to Customer Care to a level their staff can cope with, and requires not much more than a monthly payment. We're using Jive's CDN and 99.99% of the code is their problem to maintain, so Adobe can close for the Holidays and it keeps on ticking along. If the forums came in-house then the human and infrastructure costs would skyrocket, and there absolutely no way to prove that such a move would lead to a balancing increase in subscriptions. As a public company that's the only thing that the board are allowed to care about.

[Ann Bens]

I share your frustration but none of these issues is going to change anytime soon. Adobe is pretty much locked to this forum platform because the millions of existing posts have become an essential part of the Help system, and there isn't the interest nor the capability to allow a ground-up rebuild that would migrate all that content to a new service.

If the Help was properly written (and up to date) there would be no need for posts to get part of the Help.

Big part of those posts are rubbish and will send you on a wild goose chase.

[Glenna777]

It feels more like Adobe prefers to have users flounder through information useless to their quest in hopes they will give up then go away rather than avoiding repeat questions.If it were not for the fact that I encounter so many pdf files that require I have acrobat I would abandon Adobe products as I am constantly having to remove Adobe from one of my devices so I can install it on another just to repeat the process over and over.Times change and most people have multiple devices they use. Monthly charges of $ to $30 per device adds up quickly if you have multiple devices yet replacing devices in your account to be able to use multiple devices is so frustrating and time consuming that it drives one to pay high fees to use Adobe.

[Nancy OShea]

I've read this twice and still have no idea what your question is.  I assume it's Acrobat related.  And there are dedicated user forums for various Acrobat topics.  See links below.

Acrobat

Post back if this is not what you're looking for.

[Abambo]

First you do not need uninstalling when you are using a product on multiple computers. You can have 2 activations at a time. Deactivate on one comuter and activate on a third one is quite simple.

Second: You can ask the same question over and over again. You may, however, get refered to the correct answer on a different thread.

Third: Adobe is for sure a company that loves making money, but they also value their customers and want them going on using Adobe products. I think their strategy can’t be that bad, as they are developping their business quite successfully.

[Roland_Rick]

I use my Adobe subscription on 4 computers - but only me and no one else - and due to circumstances: often offline. The necessity to have an internet connection for deactivating first another computer, then activating the computer you are currently working on is super inconvenient.

Concerning your 3rd point: It is super OK to make money, but it is not necessary to push this to the limits. I am quite sure, Adobe will also successfully develop their business, if they allow e.g. 5 concurrent activations to private subscribers without increasing price.

Something completely different: I would be lucky, they solve the super slooooooow Lightroom 7.x issue asap.

This does lead to the conclusion: as subscribing customer, you do not get sufficient return on investment anyway, but for that, slow crappy software, performance never analysed by a profiling tool. I am sure, we will wait an infinite time, until Adobe fixes this; means: never, they just wait until faster hardware is available and this is extremely non sustainable behaviour and for that, Adobe helps, to blow planet Earth a little bit faster.

To me, Adobe has the same max. negative company image like Bayer, Monsanto, Nestlé, Novartis etc. (this names just as example/placeholder for so many others): with their greedy behaviour and shareholder value only mindset, they just accelerate blowing up the planet. What finance industry does not realise: We have only one planet, there is no spare one aside.

However: all this does has no effect on it, the Forum is super inconvenient and illogical built up. Self guidance is something else.

Live long and prosper

PS: I suffer slightly of Asperger and my special knowledge born with, is to detect system immanent/intrinsic relations, errors and problems, normal persons never will be aware off. To me, this is as easy and normal, as for you detecting the difference between black and white is. For that, you can take the conclusions and relations I mention above as a fact. No need to start a discussion about it.

Abambo  wrote

First you do not need uninstalling when you are using a product on multiple computers. You can have 2 activations at a time. Deactivate on one comuter and activate on a third one is quite simple.

Second: You can ask the same question over and over again. You may, however, get refered to the correct answer on a different thread.

Third: Adobe is for sure a company that loves making money, but they also value their customers and want them going on using Adobe products. I think their strategy can’t be that bad, as they are developping their business quite successfully.

[Abambo]

Roland_Rick

I use my Adobe subscription on 4 computers - but only me and no one else - and due to circumstances: often offline. The necessity to have an internet connection for deactivating first another computer, then activating the computer you are currently working on is super inconvenient.

You have 2 possibilities: Take 2 subscriptions or do the activating/deactivating game. That is neither an error nor a problem. It's a matter of choice.

Something completely different: I would be lucky, they solve the super slooooooow Lightroom 7.x issue asap.

There is a problem for some people using specific configurations. It's not a general problem. A big issue is the increase in amount of data that needs to be shuffled around with modern hardware. If you (as Adobe) have an existing product like Lr, it's very difficult to get to the cutting edge of performance without breaking the existing. This is not to defend any problems. This is just to make sure that some of the complexity is understood.

For that, you can take the conclusions and relations I mention above as a fact. No need to start a discussion about it.

That's contrary to my disorder I have. When I stop discussing, that does not mean that you got me into your camp, that simply means that I do see no sense in a discussion.

But the topic here was that the fora are user unfriendly. I think everyone here agrees that there are ways to do better.

[Birgit_Pohl]

I'm on mobile and needed 30mins to find this forum, because I have some complaints to make.

Well, time is up. Now I need to leave the train to go to work.

Btw, I have absolutely no problem with dublicate posts, especially when there are certain ppl are being asked to post a certain amount of posts per month.

Questions, come, questions, come. I'd love to help u. But support stays support. Can't help with that.

[John T Smith]

>there are certain ppl are being asked to post a certain amount of posts per month

I have been reading/posting on the Adobe forums since 2002 and Premiere 6 that came bundled with a ready made Pentium 3 editing computer (that is version 6, not CS6) and I have never talked to anyone who told me that they, or anyone they knew, were asked to post messages... I have certainly never had a forum Admin ask me to post more messages

What is the source of your information?

[Szalam]

Yeah, I've never heard of people being asked to post any certain amount at all. The forum has enough traffic as it is, it doesn't need to be inflated!

[Abambo]

Yes, the forum is not user friendly. But I always found what I needed and I got quite top advice, if you know to whom you should listening.

[ikbendeknapste]

you are so right , this forum is not user friendly. One would expect to make life easier for someone but here everything becomes more complicated.

How can you  ruin something that was ok before ?

[Ann Bens]

ikbendeknapste​ Nee hoor dat ben ik

I cannot find a darn thing on the forum so I have bookmarked everything I find usefull.

[MadisonLeupp]

Thank you for the detailed feedback, leenale. Sorry for my delayed response, I was on leave for the past month.

We're looking to redesign & update a lot of the pages you mentioned. This should happen in the next few months and this is incredibly valuable feedback to have. Really appreciate you taking the time to write this out- and for everyone else on the thread adding their thoughts.

-Madison

[Guest]

Certainly agree with you on this forum not being user friendly! As a business owner it's most annoying that there's more nonsense to go through just to even Ask a Question! Most times I haven't found the answer I need and wind up having to ask! Too much time is wasted going through these forums or searching! Time is money!!

[isaiahl62145789]

Well said, I tried posting something a few days ago and gave up after like 30 seconds... I only came back today because I REALLY needed to post something.

[ilsepilse]

i'm also trying to find out..