Hi All, If you go up on www.curiouslabs.com youll find that weve launched a new home page, and added an all-new section called Curious News. The goal of this new section is to make announcements from Curious Labs more visible and more accessible for users. This is part of our new overall efforts to better communicate with customers. This new section will be updated on a timely basis with the key news items of interest to customers. We also added some new sections to the Curious Labs website. Youll find more details on the latest and recent news from Curious Labs at: http://www.curiouslabs.com/go/news And youll find answers to the top Technical Support issues at: http://www.curiouslabs.com/go/techfaq Both of these new website sections are also accessible from links in the Curious News section on the new home page. Regarding specific dates for the release of Poser 5 Macintosh and Pro Pack for Poser 5, were currently not at a stage where we can release details. We want to take the time to do these products properly, and they are months away. In the interim Curious Labs continues to offer a Macintosh solution through Poser 4, and the Pro Pack for Poser 4 solution, both through its web store. People have also been inquiring about an SR3 for Poser 5, and the beta forum. Were working on a SR3 for Poser 5, and we do plan to release an SR3 updater. Were not at a stage yet where it makes sense to release a beta updater into the community. Well look into how to best work with the beta forum, and post information there within the next week. Regards, The Curious Labs Team

Nice to see your still here. Thanks for update.

Hmm. I still can't connect to the site. I've been able to once since the restructuring, and even then it took forever to open. Odd

ok...ignore my post in the previous thread... well, some of the "team" could participate actively over there in the beta forum....or here to answer questions.... Or do you guys prefer to handle all correspondence through your web site? That would be cool if the questions got answered promptly... Why not start up a tech support forum over at your site ??? IMO, direct contact with your users would be a big plus...you guys are getting all distant feeling and too official...bring back the personal contact...be part of the group..you will find most of us don't bite...at least all that often...and your core users may feel a bit more like you give a rats as well....I'd be willing to bet your sales would even go up...and if any upgrades or new versions of Poser are forthcoming, some of us may even buy them. I won't...no matter what, however, until the working patch gets released....

heyas; well, they might not have enough staff left to handle responding to so many posts/questions. i hope you guys got rid of the i-frames ;)

Excellent news Thanks for taking the time to post this wonderful news. ladynimue

Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the info. Any way you could make this kind of communiquweekly or biweekly? Even a notice of "no change in status" would be great. Thanks again!

It makes more sense for the commnication to happen at/from a single site. This coomunity is spread over many sites (PoserPros, Animotions, 'rotica...) CL cannot be at all places. However, they can set up a single place where all can come. Makes more sense.

Thank you for letting us know that you've got the website spiffied up and refreshed with new information. With all of the server problems around the world this last week, it is great news and very reassuring to know that your site is available again. For all of the queries, there have probably been a thousand others who checked your website but didn't post about it. I will agree with Dave-So that most people here don't bite... and are starving for information... and really liked the chatty informality of the past. Friendly communication is one of the things which makes Poser and the Poser community different from all those other software packages on my computers. You have to balance letting us know what is up with not releasing confidential data too soon (if you answer 1 question another 6 get asked "while you are here"). This site and others have "interviews", but interviews tend to be formal and limited to one-time events. May I propose something like "a weekly fireside chat" which would have the following parameters.... It would be strictly informal and governed by the same manners as a gathering in a livingroom. If your Liason said "we hope to get this addressed within the next couple of weeks", then members ought not to be champing for an answer at 7:45 a.m. >>>east coast time<<< of the annointed day but accept that something might take a day or two longer and an estimate is only that. A press release or official statement posted by "the boss" is a different matter, and can be held to more stringent expectations. Over the 10 years or greater lifetime of a product a few hours isn't going to make a difference. Patience would have to go both ways: your representative would have to understand and tolerate the needs of the community, too. If you take too much time out to answer questions, then you don't have as many hours to labor over the problem... so our nagging ought to be restrained to reminders rather than whines. If questions and concerns could be directed ahead of time to an email address ("firesidechat@curiouslabs.com" for example), then you get feedback as to what the community needs to know, you can decide how much information to give out, you can decide whether to wait a bit longer before answering a particular question while phrasing a response which says that you are not ignoring it, you can decide to concentrate upon a single topic or to scattershot over a variety of concerns. This is better than posting something off-the-cuff and then spending a weekend trying to do damage control. People submitting ideas, questions, complaints, concerns whatever, ought to get a return email saying that it has been received. Feedback is critical. Even if the body of the response is a form letter, it still lets a person know that their issue didn't get lost in the aether but is in the queue. It needs to be understood that information and answers might be delayed if the only person who hs been handling something isn't immediately available (down with the flu, at a trade show in another country, or :gasp: taking a few days vacation in the wilderness). Your representative will have to be vague enough to protect privacy while still indicating that the issue has been directed into the proper channel. It will need to be made clear that only the Director/CEO/President/ChiefPoobah can make official statements; anything else is hearsay. It may be accurate, but it is not official. Any person acting as Liason will be doing their best to facilite communication, but any free-flowing river is going to have eddies, logjams, torrents, and underwater snags so that navigation is sometimes difficult. A representative who is combining information from various sources might not be seeing what the Captain sees. If a correction has to be made, it ought not be regarded as back-pedaling but as elaboration based upon more complete data. Matters for the "fireside chat" ought to be public concerns. Items such as "I can't get my registration code to work" is almost certainly private, since private data would have to be discussed, and is best handled via Customer Service (hi, Tori {hug}!), whereas items such as "will you have a plug-in for xxx?" or "can you make the texture map in the face-room bigger?" may be of vital interest to thousands of people. An important consideration (perhaps the most important) would be regularity. Part of the anger shown in the past has been due to uncertainty, doubt, delays, and confusion. Anything which mitigates that will help the relationship between customer and maker. One of the joys of Traveller's PropsClub is his outstanding timeliness: there has been a link in my mailbox every Monday for 3 years. If he is going to be on the road or expects a delay, he'll post something ahead of time and often throws in an extra tidbit or two. He is reliable. There are many extremely good artists in this community but only 3-4 who have kept to a schedule. They are well-respected. If your Liason says "Everybody will be at Siggraph next week" or "The office will be closed for the holidays" with some friendly message that things will continue depite a short break, folks will understand that they aren't being deserted or kept in the dark... and it is a reminder that you are human, too. The day of the post should be early enough in the week so that further responses can be made if something critical comes up (Fridays at 5pm are NOT GOOD - don't do it then), and it should be something that people can rely on. Anyway, this is a suggestion: take it for what it is worth, think about it, get some feedback internally and externally. If you do decide to have a scheduled channel for communication the parameters can be better adjusted. I believe that opening a dialogue is vital, but understand that it might be a while before something like this is set up. Carolly

Carolly, That's an EXCELLENT suggestion! And then posting the transcript would be the finishing touch, for those who couldn't make it to the chat. It'd probably need a moderator to filter off topic questions though (nicely). It would also be a great marketing tool for CL, and certainly help with their PR problems. I'd be a lot more likly to purchase a product that advertised a weekly chat/discussion on issues and use. Great idea! Jim

Hi CLT, Well I guess if Curious Labs considers it important and useful to their business to communicate with this cross-section of customers, the corporation will find a way of doing so. To that effect, I guess Carolly's thoughtful suggestions would provide both a venue and a healthy environment where such exchanges could take place. I hope that the executive staff will give her suggestions some consideration. We are, however, a very diverse group of people. Our life experiences vary greatly as do our expectations. Communications with such a diverse Consumer panel can be very useful. It can also prove difficult and at times even seem unmanageable. I would, as many here, I'm sure, very much like to participate in such a panel. It is my belief, that communications between professionals conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect can only serve to improve relationships and contribute to the development of a better product. I am ready to work with Curious Labs and other members of this community to achieve those goals. Best regards, Q

You might want to rethink the Subject titles you use. I looked at this one for a day or so, and didn't think it would contain anything interesting. However if you had used something more descriptive, such as "Latest News," I would have read the thread immediately.

Great idea, Carolly. I have a topic for next fireside chat : what is the answer of CL to the upcoming Daz Studio program ? Are CL at war with DAZ, or will they cooperate ? ... And now, the commercials. ... Compiler

The newletter, perhaps such is the nature of the beast, lacks substance...more of a headliner....but then again, what more to say? Also, a monthly newletter is hardly worthy of "communication" with the customer...IMO... I'd like to see, as my above post stated, Curiouslabs directly participate in this forum...not on a monthly basis, but actively, as in an ongoing dialog...its their program we're all here for.... In addition, they should drop by the other major forums as well...routinely chat in all of them...time commitment?...yes indeed....but we're worth it, aren't we???

Dave-So, I'm not sure if we're worth it, but our money is.

isn't there an old saying.. "money speaks louder than words" ??? :)

I'd dearly love to see dates associated with any updates. Curious Labs keeps referring to the current update as if it were a new one, and I don't think we've had a new Service Release for a month or so.

Dave-So There are a couple of other things they would need to consider. Even if it was worth it to have somebody speak for them in an established chat or interview framework, that person would also have to read the forums in addition to relying on the queries and concerns which come into the mailbox. That takes a lot of time. Communication through a liason should go both ways. To use the navigation analogy again, there are always currents underneath, water changing color, drift gathering in clusters... a lot of pattern recognition would be going on. An employee would have better access to information and would be trusted to be discreet with it. A member of the community at large might have more perspective and time. Jim, That's a good point about posting the transcripts. That way there would be some quantitative way to see how information is flowing, whether all points eventually get covered, whether questions have already been answered, and how long it takes before a point is adaquately addressed. Somethimes we humans get pretty emotional. Having data ought to help all around. Even if the "fireside chat" was unofficial it would need to accomplish something and that something ought to be measurable in more than good will. Quixote, There are enough of us reasonable people around. A designated chat might not be the perfect environment, but by looking at the building blocks and fitting them together in a few ways we can make suggestions for setting something like this up. If the feedback from the community indicates some priorities that may help define what shape something like this ought to take. Chat is more personal, but even in that instance I would want the first message from the Liason to be something like a typical interview post of questions and responses... and then people could add remarks and other questions and the conversation would evolve. Moderated chats over in Compuserve (where I'm a sysop) often work like that. This helps keep things on track (I appreciate chaos theory... but not when 20 people are typing at the same time). Carolly

Carolly: As you know, a panel is a statistical and marketing term. Its size and scope can vary greatly. Indeed, it can encompass everybody who uses or plans to use Poser. I encourage Curious Labs to consider your thoughtful proposal. I pledge my efforts and talents to help make this a reality, if needed. I do insist, however, that all parties conduct themselves as professionals and that these chats (or meeting of the virtual panel) be conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect. To that end, a strong moderator would be an absolute necessity. Hopefully, CL will think that it's in their best interest to consider and accept this plan and that a more satisfactory form of communications can be restored. Thank you for your suggestion, Carolly. Q