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.

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

Sad.

Peasant Girls?    Are they cheaper than minions?  

I could be appeased with bacon, beer or pudding.

Edited to add-

New PC items?  I missed that.  Any links to that page? (if it is still viewable)...

Quote:

Nope, nobody has gone crazy.

No... really, I'm quite mad... insane actually... a genuine looney.  I take pride in it and work hard at maintaining a high quality of insanity generally reserved for eccentric millionaires and inbred royalty. Please don't undermine my lunacy.  It is all I have.

Quote - Render Modules for Kerkythea, Indigo, etc

better OBJ Import and DAE Import as standard across versions (guys DAE is NOT a pro feature....)

Poser2Kerythea would be awesome! I use it all the time to render my own models, to have it work without having to go through PoseRay would be great. 

And I agree DAE is NOT a pro feature... making it so defeats the intent of the format.

Oh yeah...  It would be really cool if it would work smoother for people who CREATE MODELS FOR POSER... I wouldn't know where to begin on this subject... but there just seems to be too much (unintentionally) voodoo, hidden features/methods, unclear/nonintuitive methods, and just generally obnoxious little quirks that it often makes converting a model that works fine elsewhere a real pain in the rump...   My most often snarled line when tweaking stuff in Poser... "AHHH, come on... WHY?"   

I went crazy a long time ago!

That was not in response to the previous question... it is just a general statement.

I thought it was a poll or something.

Thanks DustRider. I did understand the part about the credit vs voucher thing, what I was wondering about was whether DAZ  still has a search choice for "DAZ originals"...  

Basically I use my month PC voucher to by older "DAZ originals"... with the old store finding something I could use took a while... Now with no apparent way of telling what is a "DAZ original" I would have to spend even longer using trial and error at checkout or memorize who is a DAZ artist and who is a PA...  Before the new store changes I was already questioning whether or not I was really getting anything out of PC membership... I think with the new restriction it is probably no longer $$$ worth it for me... It WOULD be if I bought more stuff, more often, especially now that they added the inclusion of the PC discount into sale price... But, I guess DAZ will probably lose a lot PC members who buy infrequently and justify the membership based on the old voucher system... which is what I do/did. I was hoping they would get the new forums open soon... there are a few questions I wanted to ask about certain store and site details... I think though it is gonna be a madhouse when they do.... people with dumb gripes, people with legit complaints, confused people, angry impatient people and impervious willed fans... and very tired mods.

I don't want to restart whatever it was that exiled the old thread to the twilight zone, I just wanted to state why I asked the question and that there was NO harm intended... 

Thanks again DustRider and anyone else who may have tried to answer my questions.

Damn... I never got my questions answered. This happens every time I forget to check back on a thread... Now I'm wondering if my comment about leg loving dogs and the Ninja assassins from TV guide (actually it turns out it was Reader's Digest) had something to do with the post removal...

Sorry CD.

Thanks, I see the archive link now... I guess I did not see it before, or I was looking in the wrong place.

Thanks everyone.

@ bobbystahr- Thank you and yes I have considered it, but unfortunately the day that I went to post my models here was (literally) the day after the policy change where one could no longer link a free item to to another site. At the moment I prefer to keep all my models at one site (ShareCG) so I can more easily keep track of the number of downloads and comments... I want to know what people like and what is most useful to them so I can focus on that sort of stuff... I'm too forgetful to put things elsewhere, I'd just forgot to check back on them etc...

If they ever go back to the old policy I'd gladly do it though.

I have to say this again: IT IS STUPID TO HAVE A TIME LIMIT TO EDIT A POST.

REALLY.

This is the only site that I visit that works this way... What a visual mess... what a waste of server space trying to fix one little mistake.

Attached Link: http://www.sharecg.com/v/48232/browse/Poser/Caprina-Solarium

so I'll try again...

and the link does not work either....

I'll try that again too...

Well, the link works but it won't take the image...

I took no offense, I was just clarifying. Actually I'm kinda glad you happened to say what you did in the first place. At least now I know I'm not the only one who thinks the 15 min window is an odd choice. 

Actually I was being facetious... people in general get bent out of shape over the littlest stupid things and I don't think people fighting or misunderstanding each other is at all interesting,actually it is quite annoying.  

My general response to most bothersome,unfortunate or dangerous events in life is... "Well, that was interesting" or "Well,that was fun"...  I don't actually enjoy what happened, I just generally feel the need to attach a semi sarcastic or facetious note to the events that proceeded. I sometimes help design products and I've found that people respond less favorably to a statement like: "The design of the hinge is way too sharp at the rear and could lead to a sever pinching hazard" They tend to ignore the suggestion as opposed to saying "although the general shape and angle of the hinge is esthetically pleasing, it is quite possible that the small pieces of flesh that will accumulate in the hinge due to it's sharp edge may mar it overall performance".  Most of the time people will snicker at that and consider the suggestion. I sort of meant it like that.

So my point was more or less like: "An open edit option is a better idea since it will allow someone to go back and fix something they wrote as opposed to having to make another post some time later(and possibly several responses later) where the person who may take offense to what was said may not ever notice it... unless that is the intention, which could be one possible option of such an odd choice in edit function,since I understand some individuals do enjoy conflict and rivalry, although that does not seem to make sense given the nature and purpose of these forums."

One nice feature I recently (just now) discovered about this text window (that what I'm calling this box I'm typing this in) is that at the bottom it tells you how many words you've typed... which is currently 324.... which tells me I typed way too much to communicate the simple idea: "Sorry... Thats not how I meant that".