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