Scott,
While you have first hand knowledge of the inner-workings at Declude under the new management, many around here have no clue as to whether or not this list is even being monitored, and I think that's what is really at issue. Free and open communication is the best way to go. I think the biggest issue for those around here is the lack of public feedback, though not necessarily the lack of answers.
Personally, I'm aware that it is monitored and I was already confident that the feedback here was important to the folks at Declude, but it is a little unsettling for even myself, and certainly others with even less exposure to Declude, to see discussions regarding important matters go unanswered in this forum. For instance, I have no clue as to how best to approach the F-Prot issues that we have been discussing for the last week, and it seems that Declude should have chimed in publically in the first days. Although I know they are listening, I have no clue as to what they are thinking or if any decisions have been made regarding it.
For discussions that don't revolve around using the product, these lists are often the best places to discuss such things. A couple of weeks ago I posted about a multiple-processing bug that had been previously reported to Declude through the support channel. Others around here had also indicated that they had seen this, and I have a feeling that it was the combination of all of our reports that helped them conclude that this was a bug that was real and needed to be addressed. I now know that they have figured this bug out, but no one else around here does, and I think that follow up is vital. Without this list the burden falls so much more on the individual and many individuals don't have the patience or time to follow through with the data acquisition or testing required to accurately show what is going on, and of course working within a vacuum isn't the best way either. Without the follow up, it requires more work for us to keep up with what is going on and what we may consider to be important. I think you understand these things.
I do realize that the new folks at Declude have taken a pounding from time to time on these lists by people that are uncomfortable with the changes. That unfortunately is a reality of such lists, and I would hope that this doesn't prevent them from participating more in public. Someone will always be unhappy, but you were able to manage this quite effectively and for the good of the product. I would hope that this reality, or other factors, aren't keeping Declude away from participating more in the lists. In the very least, they should set up a page on the site for bugs and plans for when they will be resolved, or what is being done to resolve them (not everything is a bug in Declude of course). This would be very helpful if it was in fact timely.
Matt
R. Scott Perry wrote:
If Scott would chime in here and say "DON'T worry Doug these people know
their stuff, you are in good hands." I would order a renewal. But he left.
I'm not completely gone. :)
Everyone does things differently, and I knew when I sold that company that the new owners wouldn't do everything exactly the way that I did. Any new way of operating has its tradeoffs. As you pointed out, one of the changes is that there isn't as much of a company presence on this mailing list as there was before. It used to be that I was a major contributor to this list. However, a lot of what I was posting was stuff that others could have posted (as they are now).
What is happening, though, is that the list is being monitored. You would be surprised at how many times one of the owners would be discussing something with me, and then bring up a post from this list. And this definitely includes some "A lot of people are asking for Feature X."
Right now the company is at a crucial point -- it is seeing how it can manage without my daily involvement. My personal opinion is that they are doing a good job with it.
-Scott
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