Will "answers" be obvious?

[jl2000]

Hi -
I think it's extremely valuable to know which topics have been correctly answered or reached some other successful conclusion.

That being said, it would also be useful to be able to include "limit search to topics that have been answered" to the Search function.

Good luck.

[Dorothy_Krause]

I believe the answer to both questions is yes, Josh. One caveat tho, is what happens if the OP marks a question as answered correctly, then a problem is found with it. The question is whether that marker can be changed so it doesn't mislead others, and who can change it.

[jl2000]

Dorothy - Thanks for the response. I understand and agree. "You can make something fool proof - but you can't make it damnfool proof."
JL

[SuiteSpot]

I think the saying is "You can make something fool proof you just can't make it idiot proof" :-)

[_Pat_Chiri_]

I was wondering if Adobe Technical Support would monitor the new Forums for MAJOR issues that surface with their software.

If not to address major issues, at least acknowledge that they exist and will be addressed maybe sometime in the future.

If I understand the current Forum format, Adobe doesn't look, nor comment on any thread or individual post.

All support is supplied by the participants and there is never an official Adobe response to anything, no matter how serious the issue.

I always wondered about a Company that didn't at least peek at their user Community to see what was going on, (and maybe actually post an answer to a question every now and then).

Will any of this change with the new Forum, or is it business as usual..

[John T Smith]

I'm not sure that "never" is a good word... there have been Adobe employees posting in various forums... just not "all" of the time

I would guess that the forum people will be watching the operation of the new forum software... if nothing else, the Forum Hosts should be able to funnel comments to the software engineers

As far as product support... I would not expect that to change

[Jacob Bugge]

It has been said elsewhere:

In many cases there are more than one answer.

Maybe especially in the Photoshop and Illustrator forums an answer marking may lead to unfinished threads with a great loss of useful interchange, maybe especially if a point system should be implemented.

I am not the only one against answer markings, and points, and some other things.

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

The pattern seems to be that after a major update (such as the release of CS4), that the Forums ARE monitored, and responded to, by a goodly number of senior Adobe engineers particularly when a dot release is still in the works to fix any major problems that may have crept into the released Retail version of the software.

Once that is done, there is less participation by the Adobe personnel who will already be needing to begin work on the next version.

[Dorothy_Krause]

One advantage to having the experts group working in the forums is that they have fairly direct reporting abilities into Adobe for significant issues... much better then us mere hosts have.

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

I am DEAD against ANY answer marking or "Points" system.

Those "markings" just cause confusion because they are often applied by people who have a very narrow perspective, and insufficient knowledge of the wider picture, so that they do not understand the full context (and further ramifications!) of the topic under discussion.

That has been one of the things that has been more than evident to me when I have visited the MM Forums and is one of the reasons why I now avoid them completely.

One particular case that I remember was the total inability of the Contributors and Community "Experts" in the Kuler Forum to understand the difference between Kuler RGB and CMYK "values" and their translation when used in conjunction with RGB/CMYK working spaces!

[_Pat_Chiri_]

"I would guess that the forum people will be watching the operation of the new forum software... if nothing else, the Forum Hosts should be able to funnel comments to the software engineers."

This statement is exactly to the point I was trying to address.

What essentially is the position of "The Adobe Corporation" in the support of this New Forum !!!

Are the only posts to any threads going to come from only participants ?

Why would a Host have to funnel select comments to Adobe, when it's in their best interest to view and digest user comments and issues on a regular basis ?

If it was my Company, I'd actively monitor the User Community with MY NAME ON IT, and selectively respond to major issues (when appropriate).

I wouldn't wait on a random view by an employee, or host, to funnel major issues that are impacting my Customer base.

Rather than Adobe taking a causual approach to the Forum, look at it as an effective tool to enhance the customer experience, build loyalty, and increase sales...

[D__McCahill]

Well, if you look at the top of the page, it does say User-to-User forum. If Adobe was to take the hands on approach that you seem to be advocating, then it would quickly become a tech support forum. All messages that criticize Adobe would be pulled, and probably unsolved problems would be hidden somewhere, as a marketing tool.

I kinda prefer it to be an open, user-to-user tool where a thread in PS Win called "Photoshop CS4 is a disaster" can exist and get over 700 postings. I have seen marketing department controlled boards for other companies that are far less useful to the consumer.

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

Pat:

If you want direct interaction with Adobe personnel, subscribe to one of their Technical Support Services.

http://www.adobe.com/support/programs/creativesuite/

These Forums were set-up to be USER-to-USER Forums almost certainly because it provides a way for users to get FREE help without costing the Adobe Corporation anything except the provision of Server Space.

If any of the Adobe engineers choose to wander through these forums, and answer questions in their own time, consider that a fortunate bonus because they have no obligation (and are not paid!) to do so!

[PJonesCET]

It is my understanding (not I said my understanding) that the adobe forums and other forums of other companies are sole for users to help other users. so far as the company is concerned they don't give a rats behind what goes on. They just provide server space. And, it is a method of the company to get out of trying to provide true Tech Support.

The only one exception in all forums I read the NTTP base Office.Mac.excel forum on the msnew.com server.

There is one lone fellow That is an actual MS Employee That frequents that one newsgroup. give answers and reports to his department what possible bugs users have found.

Other people MVP's are super users that have more knowledge but don't work for MS. On Mozilla there are groups of people that are again super users, and have first right to use new versions before anyone else. But are still are not employees. Most other Company groups are the same way they are provided server space, to keep users out of company employees hair. It cost less that way. Even Apple's Support groups are not populated by employees.

The day of actually talking to a warm body at a company whether through phone, letter, or email; has long, long past . except for the first 30 days. when you hit that 31st day your own your own.

[Dov Isaacs]

There are a number of Adobe employees, including myself, who monitor one or more of these forums for any number of reasons including getting customer feedback (good or bad) about products, workflows, etc. And there are times that we intervene both on the forums and behind the scenes to correct serious customer service problems or to get evidence of bugs such that engineering can work on them.

What is important is that participants of these forums do understand that the forums are absolutely not an official vehicle for Adobe customer support or technical support, but rather, a means by which users can assist each other, especially with "how to" questions. Typically, the Adobe employee participants do not respond to questions unless we realize that the other users are not answering questions that we could readily respond to or the responses are wrong.

- Dov

[jl2000]

Ann -

Not all posts are borne out of "sufficient knowledge of a wider picture". In fact, when I search or post a question to the forum, my perspective IS very narrow because I'm focused on a specific issue, like "what is the @##$ keyboard shortcut for doing whatever?" I don't need "wider picture awareness" to know if I get the correct answer or not. And when I do get it, I check the topic "answered" so the next newb user gets to the answer faster. If there are further ramifications the discussion will probably reflect that, as is the case on this thread. But most of the time, in my experience anyway - there's a narrowly focused question hopefully followed by useful answer(s).

jl

[Ann_Shelbourne1]

Josh:

Just subscribe to your thread; and personally check any answers given for yourself to see if they work for you personally.

There is no value to others in you posting whether or not the answer was "Correct" because you admit that your knowledge is limited; and your frame of reference is narrow; so why would your judgement concerning the level of "Correctness" be worth a gnat's hindquarters to anyone else?

The attitude expressed in #15 is a clear example of EXACTLY why the ability to check boxes concerning "Right" answers needs to be absent from the Forums.

[dave_milbut]

>The attitude expressed in #15 is a clear example of EXACTLY why the ability to check boxes concerning "Right" answers needs to be absent from the Forums.

bingo!

[D__McCahill]

> what is the @##$ keyboard shortcut for doing whatever

What if there are more than one shortcut to doing what you wanted to do? What if there is a better way to do it, without using a shortcut. Those answers might be more useful to you, but if you leave after getting the first one, then you miss out.

I'm not enamoured with the "right answer" feature either whether or not it is going to feed into the points system (I haven't heard that "officially" from anyone).

[_Pat_Chiri_]

Okay, I stand corrected.

As a User-to-User Forum, all comments to my post make sense.

But I still consider it foolish for Adobe not to take
full advantage of a wide range of Forum discussions that take place online about thier products from Customers.

Keep it User-to-User, but as a Corporate policy at least acknowledge that useful Customer data resides here and is taken at face value to make the product better.

As far as subscribing to Technical Support services, that's always an option (for a fee).

But I was talking about an open Customer Forum that any Company would be foolish not to view and monitor from a distance (even if they refuse to offically acknowledge it).

Anyway, I get the feeling I'm beating a dead horse.

I need to lighten up on the caffeine...

[dave_milbut]

>But I still consider it foolish for Adobe not to take full advantage of a wide range of Forum discussions that take place online about thier products from Customers.

they do. but you have to pay for actual support. :)

>but as a Corporate policy at least acknowledge that useful Customer data resides here and is taken at face value to make the product better.

lots of times we here from people who've talked to lazy customer service reps who direct customers here instead of helping them themselves.

you must not be too familiar with the "heartless monster corporation" concept are you? :)

>But I was talking about an open Customer Forum that any Company would be foolish not to view and monitor from a distance (even if they refuse to offically acknowledge it).

they do monitor it. but they don't officially acknowledge it. XD

[Dov Isaacs]

Adobe Technical Support is not supposed to refer callers to the User-to-User forum to fix or workaround bugs. User-to-User forum referral should only be for "how do I do" type questions where the caller indicates that they don't want to pay for the Technical Support call or if the "how do I do" question is beyond the scope of what Technical Support either knows or could look up in any of their "how to" scripts.

- Dov

[dave_milbut]

> Adobe Technical Support is not supposed to refer callers

yea, we kinda figured that, but someone usually takes pity and helps them anyway. :)

[D__McCahill]

> who've talked to lazy customer service reps who direct customers here instead of helping them themselves

In addition to what Dov said, sometimes they send people here when they have needs that customer service can't handle, like picking up a dll file from an old version.

[Jacob Bugge]

The thread linked to in this post shows the weakness of Right Answer: dave milbut, "The Big Picture" #140, 4 Mar 2009 7:16 am

And so does this thread: http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.59b81cab, with the following comment:

First there was an answer to the OP question which did not state the actual issue. Then there was a 1st answer which held the convenient workaround to be used once or twice, if the OP wanted to keep a certain setting which is by no means certain. Then there was a 2nd answer which held the most straightforward solution, if the OP did not want to keep the setting, namely to change the setting and no longer need the workaround. Probably the OP was totally unaware of the setting.

The OP was happy with the 1st answer and probably never visited the thread again but might very well have been happier with the 2nd answer. And so might subsequent readers.

With Right Answers and Points the flowering of threads with multiple answers or with supplementary/better/broader subsequent answers may wither.