I must say that I agree with the original post and quoted comment within. I’m 100% for people being treated with respect and dignity in forums, emails, pm’s, at home, at the workplace, and in a place of business where consumers and retailers engage in ethically binding transactions. I also agree that the earth won’t open up and swallow a person whole if he or she is having a problem with their weather software. They will not be struck dead by a lightning bolt unless the conditions were proper for such an event to occur.
That being said, there is another perspective to consider being open to in this specific case of purchasing and running WD software. Many of us are newcomers, not only to the hobby, but to the WD platform. Many of us can get around a computer very well but still get lost in programming lingo. Many of us have a desire to learn something new and accept the consequences as such. We will make mistakes. We will not see the obvious. We will become over zealous and ask questions prior to making our own investigations. We will not have read each and every post in the WD forum prior to asking what the more experienced people consider to be a dumb question. We will be new. We will need guidance. We will need patience and tolerance from the people that went before us.
This is not free software. As consumers, we anticipate a reasonable ethical transaction that includes a fair level of support. I’m not suggesting that owning a copy of WD means you are out in the cold after you paid for it. But perhaps this software business (and I would consider it a business) has reached a point of saturation on the developers side where he needs to make some important decisions. If Bill Gates after stealing the DOS platform attempted to market and implement more sophisticated versions on his own and with no outside help, he wouldn’t have gotten very far.
This agreement works both ways, in my opinion. Just as we are not expected to bark out orders and have pointless debates with the developer, I would also expect an equal (if not higher) level of respect to the people who support this business. Having questions or posts simply ignored for one reason or another is pretty much worse than expressing anger and frustraion out in the open. You have to remember, we are supporting this software business. If we are ‘too stupid’ or ‘don’t have enough spring in our step’, or from the wrong part of the planet to get any kind of response, then this is a distortion of how a business is supposed to be run.
It is also of my opinion that this weather hobby thrives and grows on new sales of equipment. This means newcomers flocking to the forums. And yes…it may ruin all the fun you’ve been having as a tight knit ‘polite’ community. It’s just reality. Perhaps if the author of this software is up to his neck in fixes and improvements, maybe it is the responsibility of the old timers to step in and help. Running away from the problem isn’t going to make it any better. Criticizing how people post without providing any individual and specific feedback isn’t helping matters much either. The idea that you are allowing the new guy to struggle and become even more frustrated to the point of venting off anger to the big cheese, is what I would consider more detrimental to the hobby than the poor slob griping and complaining.
If someone posts a ‘dumb’ question or if someone doesn’t provide enough info, Why do these posts go unanswered? I can tell you from personal experience in this forum that repeated unanswered posts have been fueling my fire…especially when I see all the posts around me being responded to in a timely fashion. I know this discussion leans heavily toward beta versions. But the overall message is clear. So the question is, what reaction does one expect when consumers get ignored?
There are more than 10,000 posts between the people who posted in this sticky. Maybe it’s time for all this experience to step up to the plate and help out. I do see Brian scrambling around prioritizing like a one-armed paper hanger in a windstorm. All that experience quietly observing isn’t helping matters. If new people reach unprecidented levels of anger, then I would think that pretty much shifts the burden of responsibility to the more experienced people allowing it to get this far.
And what’s worse is that based on what I’ve read in this thread, I risk my potential for receiving continued support simply by calling it as I see it. It’s backwards.