I need to get this off my chest
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[do I qualify as old faithful?]
Hi Rob,
There is a search....
...that uses Google Custom Search to search only the forums.
The reason it can only search the forums is because the forums and main site run on different software.
There is a separate search for the main site also. Both work.
Where's all these locked areas you mention?
We've a few private beta-testing forums requested by developers. We also have a private premium forum to share news. In fact at last count we had 22+ hidden forums where lots of things are happening. These are all community requested and driven projects that typically result in new tools and ideas for the community.
The PluginStore came from such a think-tank. Along with Vertex Tools, Artisan, BuildEdge etc...
So opening up everything would mean no focused dicussion groups between Pro users and Developers?
Our Premium forums are locked because we share early content and promotions there. There's no 'secrets' in there. The Pro discussion always happens in public.
Greed, killing, hate...
All strong words but I've yet to see where you get this from? A URL would help? Or an example?
Your book ....
So, to be clear on this.
Can you tell me what appears here....
http://sketchucation.com/emails/june-newsletter.html
...did we not, at that time deal direct with Pakt. Who had a campaign in place to market 3 books? Did we not send out 186,000 emails promoting your book?
Can you post the ranty email you received so others can read it? Along with the remaining correspondence that occurred 31 May 2014 09:20am GMT?
Or let me put it up here so it gives this discussion some added value?
I don't judge no one. And everyone is free to express an opinion.
But throwing around wild statements that have no basis isn't very endearing or part of the charm that makes this a great community.
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@rob d said:
Dear old faithfuls.
I sure fit into this category...
I've been part of the @Last community since 2004 and I've been part of SCF from the very beginning...@rob d said:
I hate what they've done with these forums. I can't stand it, and what they've done has directly impacted on me not contributing my tutorials or help for the last couple of years. I feel like I did back in 2007 when the beautiful community on the old SketchUp Pro forums died overnight.
I've been here since the very beginning and I - personally - find that this community is far more like the old @Last SketchUp forum...!
Please remember that Google closed the old forum and opened Google Groups...
Some of the "old faithfuls" then initiated the SCF...@rob d said:
Today I found out that there's no forum search and you have to use the sketchucation search bar at the top which gives you results outside the forum.
Crap... You can also use the search function...
@rob d said:
Less and less people are visiting, as can be seen from the lack of activity around the 2015 release. It seems like this place has been killed off by greed.
Are you high or something...?? Not sure what you've been smoking, but you're wrong...!!
SCF has been growing with app. 10.000 new members since October 9th, where it reached 300.000 members...The lack of activity around the 2015 release is - IMO - caused by the fact that SU2015 is far more stable and offers 64-bit...
@rob d said:
As for me, I'm going to reach out to Trimble and ask them to take matters into their own hands and set up a forum for professional SketchUp users.
Why don't you just join the official SketchUp forum...??
Sorry to be so frank, but I can't see you've been contributing much to this community...
You want to promote your books through SCF and when you do, you feel it's unfair that you need to pay for advertising...??
Tell me where do you can get free advertising... It doesn't exist...!I won't miss you...
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I see a huge link on the bottom of your post that leads to a massive advert for your book, for a person that gives nothing back to this community you certainly asking for a lot.
Greed you say, that is rich coming from you.
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I think I need to make a seagull smilie.
Handy for when people swoop in, make a lot of noise and shit on everything then bugger off leaving nothing useful behind.
That was just a random thought, nothing to do with this thread. -
I expected a big old pile-on so that's fine. I did say this was a rant, and I probably have been having a bad week, so please take what I said in that context. This is why it's in the corner bar.
By the way, I'm not claiming to be a big part of the Sketchucation community. I was a fairly big contributor in the days of the old forum, and I liked this forum when Coen was in charge. My main input to the SketchUp community has been two books, which by the way are not written for monetary gain but for the desire to give something back to the community I loved being part of pre 2007 and for a good while after (and hopefully will again). I've evangelized SketchUp in several magazine articles. I've commissioned and edited a SketchUp/Vray book. So that's a community member, maybe not as valuable as 2000+ posts on here, but we makes our choices of where to spend our time.
For a long time this forum has been the Quasi official one, and as such I just don't like that it's monetized in the way it is, and censored in the way it is. Sorry if that offends some of you. It's my opinion. Doubtless my opinions were fixed even more by the email I mentioned. I'm not going to post it up here (Richard) because it's not right to put private communication in public. What I will ask is, please don't squash well meaning community members in this way in future. Just because Sketchucation is selling its own books doesn't mean other authors can't say "Hey, here's my book. Please tell me what you think". You don't squash people who mention rendering software or paid collections of trees, so why squash me when I mention an update to my book? I had to get this off my chest because I'm sore about it and most people reading this will not know that the forum is being censored in this way.
Thanks for pointing me to the new official forums. I didn't know about that and it makes most, if not all, of what I was saying irrelevant. Apologies, I will go take a look over there.
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Not sure what to think, as I wasn't party to the conversations you've had. I don't see the problems in the forum. Is it being killed off? Less participation?
So now you want to create a pro forum. Who will be allowed in? On what criteria? Why does it have to be restricted? Are the newbies and hobbyists a problem?
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Richard said: Where's all these locked areas you mention?"
This is what I'm talking about:
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They aren't locked. They are the parent container for those sub forums.
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You're kidding me? For years I've not had access to SketchyPhysics because I thought I had to pay for it.
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Do you know where the D'oh thread is.
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@rob d said:
For a long time this forum has been the Quasi official one, and as such I just don't like that it's monetized in the way it is, and censored in the way it is.
You're mixing things up...
Even back when Coen was in charge, SCF needed an income...If Google and subsequently Trimble had sponsored SCF, I'm sure they wouldn't need to care too much about people advertising for various products...
On the other hand... If Google or Trimble were sponsors of this community, SCF couldn't claim the independence they can today...However, since SCF is a privately held community and independent from Trimble, they do need an income...
There's plenty of volunteers here, who contribute and keep this place a great place to be a member of - and they all do it without any monetary incentives...This community have expanded a lot over the years and with such a huge member base, it's not cheap...
I don't even want to guess or estimate what the expenses are for hosting this community, but I'm certain it isn't cheap, hence an even greater need to have an income...@rob d said:
Just because Sketchucation is selling its own books doesn't mean other authors can't say "Hey, here's my book. Please tell me what you think".
As far as I can see from the June newsletter as well as from the link in your signature, you can't be seriously claiming that SCF is squeezing you like a simple man...
From where I stand it looks like you're getting far more promotion than anybody else...!!
@rob d said:
You don't squash people who mention rendering software or paid collections of trees, so why squash me when I mention an update to my book?
Once again you're mixing things up...
Please tell me why you should have free advertising, while others have to pay for it...?!?
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@rob d said:
You're kidding me? For years I've not had access to SketchyPhysics because I thought I had to pay for it.
You're joking - right...
Then you shouldn't have access to the Plugin section as well...
If you can see it - you have access...
"Secret" sections are only visible for users who have been appointed to them...
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Thanks for seeing it as it is Fred.
Now I need to go to the shop in my Lamborghini to get some caviar and champagne.
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Did you get the unicorn leather upholstery for the Lamborghini Rich? Apparently twins vomit will make it supple and shine.
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It has everything you can imagine and whatever else you can dream of/up.
Sent from my
iPhone 9 -
Well, I assumed that the lock icons were part of the premium membership. Simple assumption to make though ultimately the wrong one. Were these lock icons never part of the premium package? I remember questioning it at the time and didn't get an answer to suggest they were anything else. See http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15%26amp;t=55831
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Looks like you got some good answers there, but perhaps it was assumed you were asking about the Premium forums.
When the question was asked specifically it was answered in this thread. http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=179%26amp;t=58570%26amp;p=533007%26amp;hilit=forum+locked#p533007 -
The forums have certain areas that a user needs to subscribe to to get access. Adding these in your user panel is a simple click and save.
Like any of the foreign language or special interest forums.
If everything was open then the board would be a mess to navigate as the activity would be too extreme.
We have it setup so that a member adds additional forums that fits their interests.
And this is and always will be free.
There is only one unaccessible forum that is the Premium forum. This is to protect URL of premium content getting into unscrupulous hands.
If you have issue with this approach then feel free to express it.
But I find it personally insulting to allocate greed to this community and its stewards.
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@rich o brien said:
But I find it personally insulting to allocate greed to this community and its stewards.
In addition to being insulting, it is completely unheard...!
A formal and unequivocal apology is appropriate in this case...
Plain stupidity is rarely rewarded...! -
I have obviously completely misunderstood. I completely and unequivocally apologize to the forum owners for my comment about their greed.
@frederik. Stupidity is not the issue here. It is well known that if you place certain signs up then people take notice and act accordingly. A lock is one example, a red triangle is another. If I've been duped, how many noobs have missed out on accessing the content in these forums and subforums?
@richard. Thanks for taking the time to explain. Regarding insulting the forum stewards, I don't remember doing that. As far as I know this is a commercial enterprise run by you and a number of others, so I assume decisions to create a locked area (paid or not) is down to you. I implore you to take this episode seriously and somehow clarify for people how they might use these forums. Nowhere have I ever seen a message about opting in to forums. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyhow. I shall beg your pardon and take my leave. Richard if you wish me to edit the original post let me know and I'm happy to do it.
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