Anyone know of any progress on Daz, ever since they have had the changeover it seems to havw died the death! It ,as well as Renderosity, were my favorate browsing sites sort of hope it gets better.

I had to replace my hd. When I tried to reload Daz4 there was a big problem. All the install files I had for Daz3 will not accept the serial number..ugh

Well I wouldn't say it's died the death, exactly—the store seems to function well enough (although there is very little I feel I want to buy at the moment) and the forum works after a fashion. However it's not very appetizing—fine if you like consumer complaint forums, though.

Since I wrote the above the store seems to be functioning a bit better, but your right nothing new seems that interesting, I think they've not been doing much but getting the store back up.

sorry about your install problems vitachick, their is nothing worse! Have you used the serial numbers that are in your account on Daz they might be a bit more up to date.

Ok what happened is page was only opened to 30 items. I had to open to 50 items..It's opening now..

I wondered why they went with the built in website forum software, versus a very popular/flexible forum software, such as PHPBB, MyBB, ProBoards, etc?  They are easy to integrate, and very proven, common, familiar, comfortable and widely accepted.

I was just surprised what they have for forums.  The edit screen is a little "basic", the sorting is awful (but I hope thats fixable) and they lost some options on search that used to be helpful.

(also surprised they changed the name of the old forums to forumarchive, versus just making the new forums something like forum2...now every Google link to all those years of content is wrong)

I understand they have to progress, but they're gonna lose alot of sales from me til they get the 'already purchased this item' feature working again, just can't afford to take the chance of rebuying what I've already bought, n I'm not gonna do a search of my pc to see if its already been bought, not lazy, just overloaded with enough '3d chores' as it is

& would be nice to search order history by date, like we used to do

& I agree with this, 3doutlaw  :

''(also surprised they changed the name of the old forums to forumarchive, versus just making the new forums something like forum2...now every Google link to all those years of content is wrong)'' (/quote)

& the search inside the old archives doesn't work, either (or at least it didn't when I tried doing a search the other day) & can't go digging in a zillion pages looking for stuff.....shame to waste those years of info

not downing DAZ at all, its just that some things make it more pleasant to work with 3d, some things just make it harder to work with 3d

I agree with the already purchased feature, you have to be so carefull about stuff lost in the depths of your runtime! and sometimes they change the promotional picutre so I've ended up with the same thing twice. 

I imagine they will get it sorted, but boy is it going on a long time! 

i also miss the *old daz3d......... lots of threads gone, threads with links to freebies.........

 my links too. cant be bothered to make more freebies i think.

I seemed have no "my downloads" section...  I only get what I already have downloaded in the pass..  

Tom, look under 'My Downloadable Products' in your dashboard

(thats presuming its there, of course)

grylin, none of the old stuff is gone (temporarily you can't access the old member only forum, but the rest is there), you just need to change the word forum in the url to forumarchive.

**
**Things are definitely improving over there bit by bit.  Frustrating, I'm sure for them even more than for us.  I'm sure they're planning to put back in some of the features that are missing in the new store & forums

**
**

the old forum was renamed archive because they will delete it later on...

the search on the old forum never worked right anyway....lol

there still working out various bugs in the store and the forum...but we all know how daz soon works out.......lol

Quote - the old forum was renamed archive because they will delete it later on...

the search on the old forum never worked right anyway....lol

there still working out various bugs in the store and the forum...but we all know how daz soon works out.......lol

 

I don't remember reading anything about them deleting the old forum at some time. I think that they realise the importance and usefulness of some of the infomation there.

It should have been done faster, but the fixes are starting to show. In six months it will all be a bad memory. And the old forum still exist, as mention, forumarchive.daz., it is a valuable resource and of course DAZ will keep it available.

I'm getting a lot more rendering done since I'm not surfing as much.  And I found out that I really like Rendo's gallery.  And these forums are nice, not quite as busy, but still helpful abd friendly.  And Rendo's getting more than of my 3D money too.  So I'm happy here for now.

i also miss '' already bought the item'' and items order history where we could sort  by date or number etc ( i have 2412 bought items)

I admit the new site restrict my orders for now

I've really just started learning 3d art (and loving it!) and buying items from Daz, but they have removed a lot of stuff that I wasn't able to get right away. I intended to get Young Teens head & body morphs. It was even in my cart waiting for me to purchase, but now it's gone. Any chance they will add some items back into their store?   

I find it very sad, but I have to stay away from Daz site for a long while. I have no idea what they are doing, but negotiating their site is enough to drive a soul to drink!

Firstly, is it really necessary for every web page to have numerous elements irrespective of content? The result makes progress there like going through treacle. The Renderosity web pages are so much faster.

Next, as a long-time current member of the Platinum Club I was given a Coupon by e-mail. When I tried to buy an Item using the Coupon it failed, no explanation given, just thrown back to the “Home” page. Tried again – same result. The Item met the requirement for “Published Artist = DAZ”, so must have been in the other condition - “*At this time, other Published Artist Products, New Releases and certain "Resell" items are also excluded” - category. May one ask politely just how we are expected to know which these excluded Items are? We waste time and effort going through a whole lengthy routine only to wind up frustrated and angry.

Tried to communicate with a note in the “Commons” – and was told that I was not authorised to do this. Yes I was fully logged in – and tried again using a different browser.

I now have a “Father’s Day” Coupon via another e-mail – but was forbidden access to even read the thread in the “Commons”! Banned already?

Such a sorry state – it used to work before, but some people (suits), will always think they know better. There are still many problems there that should have been sorted out before the introduction – now they just serve to drive one away.

The Father's Day coupon announcement is some forum bug, there is thread pinned to the top of the commons forum about it. Underneath the announcements. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/2219/

There's a thread in the PC forum about that voucher, I think they've changed things so it now works on new releases. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/1934/

I found out one thing, that if you would learn 3d.

you don't need to learn daz or poser at first.

you need to learn the free student versions of max and maya and zbrush (free version sculptris).

that are the programs the big content creators use to create models to sell in shops like daz, rendo, cparadise,..

and not programs like carrara, hexagon, bryce,..

as they want the people to believe.

Quote - I found out one thing, that if you would learn 3d.

you don't need to learn daz or poser at first.

you need to learn the free student versions of max and maya and zbrush (free version sculptris).

that are the programs the big content creators use to create models to sell in shops like daz, rendo, cparadise,..

and not programs like carrara, hexagon, bryce,..

as they want the people to believe.

If you are a student that works for you.

As I am not a student I would have to pay much, much, much money - for a hobby. For hobbyists (yes, yes, for advanced artists too) DazStudio and Poser and Bryce and Vue are working nicely.

Quote - > Quote - the old forum was renamed archive because they will delete it later on...

the search on the old forum never worked right anyway....lol

there still working out various bugs in the store and the forum...but we all know how daz soon works out.......lol

 

I don't remember reading anything about them deleting the old forum at some time. I think that they realise the importance and usefulness of some of the infomation there.

They did write something about deleting the archived forum after a year or so. That was in the old forums.

If you want to search the old forums (for informations: use google and search with site:forum.daz3d.com and the word you are looking for. Exchange the forum in the url you get with forumarchive and you are there.

I just noticed that I have been looking at DAZ store pages that are over a week old. I was beginning to think it was odd that the store wasn't being updated. I suddenly had a thought that I was seeing cached copies so I pressed Ctrl-F5 (which pulls the page directly from the server and not from a cache) and lo and behold a new page with stuff I hadn't seen before. The old store didn't have this cache issue, and I don't know any store that does! How many people are having this problem withough knowing I wonder? Caching issues are supposedly behind the "Not so-and-so?" messages—getting other people's wishlists, so maybe this is all the same problem. I'm wondering if I only have to do the Ctrl-F5 once (per computer). I will have to monitor it.

Well - the "not so-and-so" seems to be cleaned. I wasn't somebody else since some days and I heard from others too that they were themselves now.

You NEVER saw the wishlist of somebody else. The most you could see was the number of items in that wishlist. Trying to see it led to instant login screen - which made you get to your own wishlist.

Quote - You NEVER saw the wishlist of somebody else. The most you could see was the number of items in that wishlist.

Yes, that's all I meant.

I've been seeing "Not so-and-so" right up to today. Despite it being fixed, you will still see it if you are still pulling pages from cache.

Its no fun to visit there anymore... too many problems, nothing changing very fast and a general feeling of frustration and disappointment.

Sad.

Quote - Its no fun to visit there anymore... too many problems, nothing changing very fast and a general feeling of frustration and disappointment.

Sad.

I tried posting a new thread there today and the moderator locked it up telling me to post on one of the old ones.

Funny thing is, the threads on the forum don't update when  you post to them.  So even if I posted to the older thread, nobody would see it.  It's been like over a month and it's still broken.

I've honestly never seen anything like it.  Daz went from being one of my favorite forums on the net to easily one of my least favorite.

It's just terrible what they did to that site.

I must admit, I do miss the old forums too. The new doesn't seem friendly even on visual terms. That stark white feels, err, threatening and serious. Slate grey was nice...

I read an article on Daz's site the other day that the reason for the total overhaul was that the old store and forum software was at it's limits for what it could handle, and had been so for years. Rather than being able to add features, the site team was spending all their time patching and 'holding their fingers in the dam' kind of work.

Not that this appears to have changed for the better. HOWEVER, they admit it was bad all around, and they have promised to make it worth your while, for your patience.

Yes, the new software was a bit disappointing to them, and woefully executed, but it's coming around.

Add: Frynayser, I was having that problem too with the page caches, 'til my computer locked up in Gimp and I had to do a hard reset. After that, it seems to have flushed it out.

Quote - I must admit, I do miss the old forums too. The new doesn't seem friendly even on visual terms. That stark white feels, err, threatening and serious. Slate grey was nice...

Exactly!

That's one of the things I dislike most about the forum.  It's so hard and cold to look at.  I used to have the background color black on the old forum just to make it easier on my eyes with the contrasting letters, but now there's not even an option for that.

And everything's just all spaced-out... and bland.  So uninviting.

I'm still willing to check it out for the shop and upcoming products, but you can't really get a good thread going on a board that doesn't update sequentially.

I also miss the old event threads that used to hype up products before they came out.  Now they just churn them out without so much as a word.  It's all just turned very cold :(

Quote - > Quote - Its no fun to visit there anymore... too many problems, nothing changing very fast and a general feeling of frustration and disappointment.

Sad.

 

I tried posting a new thread there today and the moderator locked it up telling me to post on one of the old ones.

 

Funny thing is, the threads on the forum don't update when  you post to them.  So even if I posted to the older thread, nobody would see it.  It's been like over a month and it's still broken.

There is a view threads with new posts option which works. I semi-sorts by posting date, even - that is, which page a thread is on depends on when it was created but on any single page they are sorted by date of last post.

It's interesting how many dislike the background of the new forum. I seem to be special: I like it and dislike white writing on black very much (the reason I am not writing/reading here often).

Quote - > Quote - I found out one thing, that if you would learn 3d.

you don't need to learn daz or poser at first.

you need to learn the free student versions of max and maya and zbrush (free version sculptris).

that are the programs the big content creators use to create models to sell in shops like daz, rendo, cparadise,..

and not programs like carrara, hexagon, bryce,..

as they want the people to believe.

 

If you are a student that works for you.

As I am not a student I would have to pay much, much, much money - for a hobby. For hobbyists (yes, yes, for advanced artists too) DazStudio and Poser and Bryce and Vue are working nicely.

you don't have to be a student to download the free version of max or maya or any autodesk program, you can download the free versions on their website.

The free versions are working for 30 days. After that you have to buy it ...

I prefer to use my software for a bit longer. ;)

I was just comparing the old forum to the current one, and the what strikes me is that the old one was actually quite functional in style, not particularly friendly, and there was a lot of white (at least  by default, which I used) as in the current one. However, the main difference is, I think, a feeling of almost agoraphobia due to the lack of clear boundaries between posts and between subforums, etc. This lack of structure leaves the eye to wander and I feel like my mind is glazing over as I read it. I'm sure the lowered contrast is also a factor here. But as a priority they really need to get it to bump threads to the top when they have been posted to. I think it's a mistake to underestimate the impact of this foible. They should not have been so dadblasted set on this "tight integration" thing, and got some well-established and scalable forum software like vBulletin, which some the busiest forums on the internet use.

By the way, the cache flushing seems to have worked permanently. No more "Not...?". I'm sure we were told to do this, but it's really hard to find clear answers on that forum.

Quote - The free versions are working for 30 days. After that you have to buy it ...

I prefer to use my software for a bit longer. ;)

no the versions is working for a full year.

and then you just need to renew it for new serial.

trust me, i'm doing this for over a year now!

Link? Please?

Because I could only find 30 day trials ...

Quote - I wondered why they went with the built in website forum software, versus a very popular/flexible forum software, such as PHPBB, MyBB, ProBoards, etc?  They are easy to integrate, and very proven, common, familiar, comfortable and widely accepted.

It sorta bugs me too.  There's a few specific threads I'm keeping up with but I'm otherwise trying to wait things out.

**I'm one of the Platinum Club Victims... ** and I've decided to drop my platinum subscription and switch to Renderosity.  (I may even pick up Poser Pro 2012.. its $299 till the end of the month.)

Nothing seems to work... including the massively over loaded complaints department.

I'd prefer if Daz would simply say they screwed up and give a delivery date for fix.   Maybe put a 'closed for business sign till end of month' flag on the site.  I intensely dislike this 'maybe tomorrow' attitude towards fixing all this.

Its as though they want me to test their web site and tell them what they are doing wrong.  I resent that.  Richard?  What can't you guys test it?

What I can't figure out is why...  I mean.. I spent $6000 over the last year or so.  I'm certainly not the only person who's done that.  Who decided to launch a half assed untested web site and antagonize the customers.  Hell... run it in parallel to the old one.  Flip the switch when the databases start matching.  I really don't get it.

I'd like to end a more positive note...  I can't.

One of the very annoying things about DAZ's forums now is the site's inability to bump threads or sort the the order in which they where posted, this has been leading to many posts where several people have asked "SORT OF" the same question... which in turn has been leading to a lot of "thread merging" which may seem like a sensible option to some (yes, I realize the Mods are trying to keep order), but to those who's threads have been merged, it is seeming like a reprimand or a way of hiding threads. I realize it is NOT MEANT that way, but in the real world PERCEPTION is everything.

I can see where this MAY seem like a way of combining topics of similar concern... but SIMILAR is not SAME and if your THREAD becomes a POST and several people post in a row about another SIMILAR but not SAME topic, thus leaving your post one page behind you are you are pretty much SCREWED unless you choose to FIND the MERGED THREAD and REPOST your concern/question, otherwise it will be buried quickly... especially if it is some variant of a problem that fewer people experience. THE PROBLEM IS VERY REAL TO THE INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCING IT, yet not being able to get an UNDERSTANDABLE answer to their VARIANT of the problem is leading to BIG TIME FRUSTRATION and resentment. Not everyone out there is a CGI expert and assuming that a person will "get it" if they read through 8 pages of posts is well... I'll be nice... "missing the point" of why people are making these posts and the familiarity people have with the software in general...

I've already come across several questions that people have asked, but are lost in order sort limbo... simple things that I "sort of" know the answer to, but still feel someone with more knowledge about the subject is better off answering... yet will probably never notice that post... I don't like answering if I don't really have an accurate answer or I think my terminology is off... it usually causes more harm than good.

It used to be if one had a question, they could just ask it on DAZ's forums... even if it was a question that was a FAQ (or Stupid FAQ With Obvious Answer), it got an answer. If one felt like helping out, they could stop by and see if there were things they could help out with... Now its a wreck... I just finished reading through two merged threads and had a difficult time following what was going on... with some people answering questions asked two pages back others reposting their original question, new posts , etc... it was like a noisy community tax referendum meeting. And believe it or not, without avatars it actually makes it harder to figure out who said what if you are not familiar with the screen name.

I have been looking into several of the merged threads for a while now and maybe it is just me but I'm seeing a lot of ANNOYED people out there... I also sense that the Mods are starting to feel like besieged riot cops and seem a little snippy at times.

I think what I'm getting at is the forums were a great sense of community, they helped people understand the software, they gave noobs a place to start, older members a place to help and contribute, a quick personal answer though perhaps often less "profession" than "support help" is often more accurate and in a way more binding in creating a "team" or "community" feeling, comfort and trust in the software leads people to buy more and experiment with their craft more... it grows the brand and brings stability to it. So in this case and in MOST cases the forums are VITAL to the health of an E-commerce entity.

Some people argue that DAZ does not really HAVE to give a forum and that as such it is less of a priority than the store... Yes, to a certain degree. But given the state of technology (it's not 1998 anymore) and common nature of such features in the CGI (and art in general) community , not to mention that it is the front line help desk ... it is more than necessary to have a functional set of forums to maintain a competitive edge. They sort of go hand in hand... especially now with Genesis and DS 4.5.

Quote - One of the very annoying things about DAZ's forums now is the site's inability to bump threads or sort the the order in which they where posted, this has been leading to many posts where several people have asked "SORT OF" the same question... which in turn has been leading to a lot of "thread merging" which may seem like a sensible option to some (yes, I realize the Mods are trying to keep order), but to those who's threads have been merged, it is seeming like a reprimand or a way of hiding threads. I realize it is NOT MEANT that way, but in the real world PERCEPTION is everything.

I can see where this MAY seem like a way of combining topics of similar concern... but SIMILAR is not SAME and if your THREAD becomes a POST and several people post in a row about another SIMILAR but not SAME topic, thus leaving your post one page behind you are you are pretty much SCREWED unless you choose to FIND the MERGED THREAD and REPOST your concern/question, otherwise it will be buried quickly... especially if it is some variant of a problem that fewer people experience. THE PROBLEM IS VERY REAL TO THE INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCING IT, yet not being able to get an UNDERSTANDABLE answer to their VARIANT of the problem is leading to BIG TIME FRUSTRATION and resentment. Not everyone out there is a CGI expert and assuming that a person will "get it" if they read through 8 pages of posts is well... I'll be nice... "missing the point" of why people are making these posts and the familiarity people have with the software in general...

That's exactly how I saw it.  It would be one thing to shut down threads and merge them on an actual functioning forum, but to shut down a thread and to simply merge them with another thread like 10 or 11 pages down is really basically a slap in the face to the person asking the question.

There is 0 chance it'll ever get answered.

And the irony, or the thing about Daz's old forums was that there was literally no question I'd ever seen asked that wasn't answered one way or another.  That's one of the things I used to find remarkable about Daz's old forum.  Now it's the polar opposite.

Quote - It used to be if one had a question, they could just ask it on DAZ's forums... even if it was a question that was a FAQ (or Stupid FAQ With Obvious Answer), it got an answer. If one felt like helping out, they could stop by and see if there were things they could help out with... Now its a wreck... I just finished reading through two merged threads and had a difficult time following what was going on... with some people answering questions asked two pages back others reposting their original question, new posts , etc... it was like a noisy community tax referendum meeting. And believe it or not, without avatars it actually makes it harder to figure out who said what if you are not familiar with the screen name. I have been looking into several of the merged threads for a while now and maybe it is just me but I'm seeing a lot of ANNOYED people out there... I also sense that the Mods are starting to feel like besieged riot cops and seem a little snippy at times.

Exactly what I stated above.  Agree 100%.

And also, one of the things about the old forum, was that there were so many questions already answered.

When I started getting into rendering a year ago, all I had to do was just ask a question in google and I'd be directed to a thread already on the Daz site where the question was thorogouhly answered in detail.  With pictures and links and detailed explanations.

They threw all that away when they tossed out the old forum.  And the new one isn't even coming close to covering it.  I can't even imagine what it must feel like to pick up Daz right at this moment without any substantive support to help get people started.

Quote - I think what I'm getting at is the forums were a great sense of community, they helped people understand the software, they gave noobs a place to start, older members a place to help and contribute, a quick personal answer though perhaps often less "profession" than "support help" is often more accurate and in a way more binding in creating a "team" or "community" feeling, comfort and trust in the software leads people to buy more and experiment with their craft more... it grows the brand and brings stability to it. So in this case and in MOST cases the forums are VITAL to the health of an E-commerce entity. Some people argue that DAZ does not really HAVE to give a forum and that as such it is less of a priority than the store... Yes, to a certain degree. But given the state of technology (it's not 1998 anymore) and common nature of such features in the CGI (and art in general) community , not to mention that it is the front line help desk ... it is more than necessary to have a functional set of forums to maintain a competitive edge. They sort of go hand in hand... especially now with Genesis and DS 4.5.

As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a single 3-D rendering software around that can exist without a forum.  From Blender to maya to z-brush and so on...

Daz apparently isn't prioritizing its forums by allowing this problem to persist for over a month.  I think they've made a huge mistake by dismissing the community aspect their site used to have.

Quote - It should have been done faster, but the fixes are starting to show. In six months it will all be a bad memory. And the old forum still exist, as mention, forumarchive.daz., it is a valuable resource and of course DAZ will keep it available.

...or DAZ will no longer be the top Dawg! This was a poorly executed and unneed obstacle to all their loyal fans and customers.

Quote - **I'm one of the Platinum Club Victims... ** and I've decided to drop my platinum subscription and switch to Renderosity.  (I may even pick up Poser Pro 2012.. its $299 till the end of the month.)

 

Nothing seems to work... including the massively over loaded complaints department.

 

I'd prefer if Daz would simply say they screwed up and give a delivery date for fix.   Maybe put a 'closed for business sign till end of month' flag on the site.  I intensely dislike this 'maybe tomorrow' attitude towards fixing all this.

 

Its as though they want me to test their web site and tell them what they are doing wrong.  I resent that.  Richard?  What can't you guys test it?

 

What I can't figure out is why...  I mean.. I spent $6000 over the last year or so.  I'm certainly not the only person who's done that.  Who decided to launch a half assed untested web site and antagonize the customers.  Hell... run it in parallel to the old one.  Flip the switch when the databases start matching.  I really don't get it.

 

I'd like to end a more positive note...  I can't.

You pretty much articulated how I feel and I'd imagine most of the loyals feel about the whole thing. Their sales HAVE to be way down! On the upside, it's a great time for Rendo who has maintained their own status quo and functionality in a usable manner which we all know and are weel adjusted to.

I really think that DAZ has placed themselves into a vulnerable position here. I really hope they manage to pull it together and FAST! They might potentially never recover if this drags on for too long.

I am continually amazed at DAZ3D's outstanding ability to shoot themselves in the foot, and then be totally amazed that it "hurts". But what I find truely amazing about it is that they do it over and over, and apparently expect different results each time.

The forums were their software support and documentation. They were easy to monitor and find new topics you were interested in. Now they are such a dis-organised mess I find it frustrating and not very enjoyable to spend any time there (which means that there is less chance that I will spend money there as well). It's almost like they have this unique talent to succeed, but also have a great compulsion to self destruct. They get a lot of new users with the software givaway, then they try to chase everyone (new and old) off by rolling out a new website that clearly wasn't ready for prime time. Now, not only is the software lacking good documentation, but they crippled their forums that provided much of the information needed to assist people in using their products. I really don't get it.

I understand that they are working hard to fix everything, but WHY didn't they do most of this work prior to going live? Do they like looking incompetent? Or ..... maybe they really are incompetent? I honestly doubt that they are incompetent, because they do come up with some outstanding products, and seem to understand and be able to follow through with good business practices ...... most of the time. It's almost like they have a sort of Jeckell and Hyde syndrom going on. Maybe they need to hire a GIBIO on their management team (Good Idea ... Bad Idea Officer) to run their ideas by before making big decisions.

Well, I hope they will get it all fixed in the next couple of months, before they chase too many customers away. As it stands right now I'm begining to wonder if my PC membership is going to continue to be worth the investment like it has been in the past. You can't even use more than one coupon when you check out right now.

Common DAZ - we all want you to succeed, but please quit trying to chase us away!

Quote - It's almost like they have this unique talent to succeed, but also have a great compulsion to self destruct. They get a lot of new users with the software givaway, then they try to chase everyone (new and old) off by rolling out a new website that clearly wasn't ready for prime time. Now, not only is the software lacking good documentation, but they crippled their forums that provided much of the information needed to assist people in using their products. I really don't get it

Wow, we're definitely on the same page here.  That's exactly what I was thinking.

Especially like after February when they started releasing their software for free up until the point where they released Michael 5.  It just seemed like the community was riding high.  With so much excitement from all the products being hyped up on the forums.  I was on like practically all day.

Then they released Daz 4.5 right before nuking the site, and everything went dark for over week on account of their inability to get the new forums up and running (notwithstanding, of course, the most critical factor of the non-functioning store).  So it was just like they were getting hot and they just put out the fire all by themselves, without anyone else pushing them into it... 'Shooting themselves in the foot' for no apparent reason is totally the right analogy here.

And actually no.  They did have a valid reason for moving to a new site... But the manner in which the move took place was completely haphazard and disorganized to othe point where it's apparently created about as much of a headache as it was meant to alleviate.

Ultimately they should have tested, and tested, and re-tested the site some more prior to rushing live.  I have honestly never heard of an online retailer going live with a non-functioning site and then taking several months to try to get everything in line.  To me it really is kind of, I don't know, maybe a little shocking.  Cause you really don't see this type of website launch from major retailers, ever.  Especially to the point of frustrating even the most loyal subscribed customers (i.e Platinum members)

It's like a brick and mortar store grand opening with the cash registers on the fritz and shelves falling apart.  I mean, what is going on here :-S

Quote -     It's like a brick and mortar store grand opening with the cash registers on the fritz and shelves falling apart.  I mean, what is going on here :-S

That's funny... I said virtually the same thing... I can't find the thread at DAZ (who could) but luckily I wrote it on a notepad-like app an a tablet while I was out waiting for someone, so I had it saved... This was probably about two and a half weeks into the site change:

"I feel bad saying negative things about this whole site revamp, but the whole thing feels odd...
Hard to describe exactly, but it is like you used to go to the local book store, you knew everyone there, it was a pleasant atmosphere, soft lighting, nice music playing and you knew where all the books you liked were... and then one day you go back and.... The front door requires an entry keycode, the first floor is a coffee bar,the second floor a tattoo parlor and for some reason all the books are located on the third floor, there is now an escalator- but that only works sporadically, There is a different way that the books are organized that you don't really get, The lighting is SUPER bright, the music is acid fusion punk polka jazz played at high volume, and there does not really seem to be anywhere to sit... Oh, and the bathrooms are now located in the basement.
So now you kinda don't really feel so comfortable there... yeah, its just a store, you are really only there to buy books and leave... but part of the draw of THAT place was the fact that while you where there you would see your friends that also shopped there, you would talk about what books you where reading, you get curious and check out some of their selections you would joke around get a coffee or tea at the snack counter and feel at home... yeah, the coffee bar is bigger and right at the first floor, but there are no more seats- only stools at counters... there are more stools but stools are not like chairs, you wonder why the books are are on the first Third floor (you get maybe, the coffee bar draws in people who just want coffee, but why a tattoo parlor in a bookstore and why on the second floor instead of the third?... in case people did not realize the store had one or that they themselves might want a tattoo? building code?), Yeah the stark bright lights are cool in an Apple store but, in this setting they are too bright... The new filing system sounds cool but it really is a pain because it is a lot different from the old one... The old book club you used to belong to has changed too and now you have to spend your coupon all at once or lose your remaining credit... you are not too crazy about that either and don't really see a reason for that...
You are not really mad at the owner... but you just feel kind of out of place... is it nitpicking or just disliking change?
When the owner said they were gonna fix the place up you said to yourself, "I hope this goes well... sounds like it shouldn't be so bad..."
Now you just feel sorta disappointed.
Ah, its just a store what's the big deal, right... you don't care when the supermarket moves the dairy section around or the beer is with the soda... why should this be a big deal?"

That was a couple of weeks ago (I guess). Since then I have learned a bit about the nature of the software they chose (if that is indeed is REALLY the software)... I have come across numerous articles that warn small businesses against going live before working out the bugs and at least having some familiarity with it first, most of the common (store) complaints and issues seem to more or less correlate with the ones DAZ has been or is experiencing. I would really hope they did at least a minimal amount of research before changing and where at least aware that these issues were quite possible, since I really did not have to expend a lot of time finding out about it. 

I've been to a lot of meeting where a client sat down and pulled out every stop to make their product's design process go smoothly and they still got screwed by bad luck and unforeseen events... and I've seen clients who obviously care nothing about results go against all sane advice and warnings to proceed in the direction of ruin and STILL get surprised by the results.... You never know what happens behind the scenes. Good luck to them and I hope they take stock in the value of the community they helped create.

I'm just pished that I cannot get to buy anything when I find something..It won't work in Firefox and IE grinds to a halt.

I can't even get in so far today, hope it gets resolved soon:(

Well here it is in a nutshell,

being as digital delivery is the primary business of DAZ (Digital Art Zone) they have failed in the most disasterous way by launching this new website.

This is an inconvenient truth of which there is no denying and at this point cannot be defended. The moderation staff is going to be busy there and here and everywhere for a long time as I suspect the rabble is going to get more intense as this goes on longer.

If Digital is your business then that website is not a great example to put forward, not at all.

McGyver13

I saw your original post over at the Daz site and thought it was brilliant and very accurate.

Never upgraded past.
trueSpace 5 ,No longer use at all.
Poser 5 ,No longer use at all.
LW 7 ,No longer use at all.
C4D 9 ,Will replace with Autodesk.

Why Blender does not fix there damned object ,edit mode I'll never no.

DAZ Is crashing and burning and all I can do is watch.

zBrush ,I have never had a complaint with any part of their operation.
App ,Forums ,Educational Materials ,ect ect.
If All CGI Companies followed zBrushes example.
CGI Realms would be a lot better off.