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.