JoomlArt Forums 32,862 posts

[wooohanetworks Friend wooohanetworksJoin date: September 2008Posts: 1239Downloads:0Uploads:2 Thanks: 148 Thanked: 138 times in 41 posts]

#284659

I rather use a new post for this:

Have you ever been to other clubs? I think not, as you are here really in a favorable position with Joomlart.com. Here you have a large community that helps each other, here you have a support ticket option, here you have the option to call on JA Developer, to mark you need assistance from support staff when posting a new question etc..

You may never been to Yootheme.com, there you have to agree first, when signing up, that the forums are not monitored, that there is no support from the company, no help ticket system, no nothing. When you then have a problem with some extensions, from the company itself you only get answers that comes one time, no follow ups, no interaction with clients, most threads are full of posts that are never to be answered, as there is no one giving a **** about the clients needs. This must be some whacky IT Students side income stream but it is not a professional club. Yet, the designs are good, the extensions too, but there is no real support from Yootheme and when an issue is adressed you have some sidekick moderators who only tell you they told it the dev team but they do not know when it will be solved, I suppose never. The members also can’t help each other a lot, most do not know or are getting the same uninterested in helping like the company reflecting back on the users behaviour. And Yootheme is more expensive then Joomlart.com indeed.

Yet, you get some super important free extensiosn from Yootheme like Yoo Holidays, making your site snow or fireworks or Halloween bats fying around. The more they throw out free extensions, the less they care about paying clients. This is easy to see through, a marketing scheme in it’s definition. Now they have the YooLogin Module which is also used by VirtueMart.net but for what, looks totally misplaced, not fitting to the site design. I threw it out again and use the icons, but will also replace those again. This club is whacky, you have to check the facts.

😉

[scotty Friend scottyJoin date: March 2008Posts: 2339Downloads:0Uploads:13 Thanks: 76 Thanked: 827 times in 595 posts]

#284667

skewered;103318

I believe expired members should have access to the forums.

why?
Because of the lack of interaction and support via the forums….

Ehh you only ever started ONE thread where you did receive help but you never bothered to respond. Is this the “lack of interaction” you are referring to?

Actually if cost less than $50 to renew (13.5 cent/day). You get access to at least 12 more templates, 2 extra domain licenses, and support for 12 more months.

It would be ludicrous for JA to give lifetime support for a one-off fee and as I said above… the cost of membership in the first place would have to be greatly increased.

The current system is the best way to operate their business and the cheapest way for us, the customers, to avail of their services. FACT!

[skewered Friend skeweredJoin date: October 2007Posts: 14Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 3]

#284687

scotty;103343Ehh you only ever started ONE thread where you did receive help but you never bothered to respond. Is this the “lack of interaction” you are referring to?

Actually if cost less than $50 to renew (13.5 cent/day). You get access to at least 12 more templates, 2 extra domain licenses, and support for 12 more months.

It would be ludicrous for JA to give lifetime support for a one-off fee and as I said above… the cost of membership in the first place would have to be greatly increased.

The current system is the best way to operate their business and the cheapest way for us, the customers, to avail of their services. FACT!

There is no need to be rude or yell, I stated my opinion – did it ever occur to you that perhaps I figured it out for myself, and given the large number of unanswered queries on here I don’t exactly bother checking back, or start threads since its generally quicker to figure it out myself?

You’re very fond of a per day cost of membership – its twice now you’ve used that as an example of why this is the ‘best’ way, but I don’t see that as relevant. The cost to me is the delays and investment of my time in operating my website. Perhaps you signed up with different expectations and your needs are better suited to this business model, however for myself and, I suspect, many others whose unanswered messages mention the delays they are experiencing from the lack of support provided by this forum, its not.

[bennitos Friend bennitosJoin date: May 2008Posts: 1717Downloads:0Uploads:39 Thanks: 39 Thanked: 474 times in 407 posts]

#284690

<em>@skewered 103379 wrote:</em><blockquote>There is no need to be rude or yell, I stated my opinion – did it ever occur to you that perhaps I figured it out for myself, and given the large number of unanswered queries on here I don’t exactly bother checking back, or start threads since its generally quicker to figure it out myself?

You’re very fond of a per day cost of membership – its twice now you’ve used that as an example of why this is the ‘best’ way, but I don’t see that as relevant. The cost to me is the delays and investment of my time in operating my website. Perhaps you signed up with different expectations and your needs are better suited to this business model, however for myself and, I suspect, many others whose unanswered messages mention the delays they are experiencing from the lack of support provided by this forum, its not.</blockquote>

I didnt think Scotty was being rude but actually had a good point. If you make one tread asking for help and dont respond when someone puts an efford in doing so, thats rude if you ask me.
Also i think its odd that you start with your first tread that the support is so bad.

If you dont want to do any work yourself, then maybe you would have been better off paying someone to make the site for you.

Almost impossible to make a template that would work on every webhost in combination with every extra component without some finetuning. Yes there are templates with bugs in them ofcource but its a fact that most problems on here are caused by bad webhosts, 3th party extensions, not up to date joomla versions, users who dont know what they are doing and so on.

About the unanswered treads, you could also use the premium support option so you get a ticket and can folow the progress. Dont think they are many unanswered posts every day. Next to what JA answers every day, i also check all unanswered treads and many users with me.
Take a look at this topic alone, mj1256, mfcphil and scotty. Only a handfull of users who help loads and loads of users. But well if you dont post??????

[scotty Friend scottyJoin date: March 2008Posts: 2339Downloads:0Uploads:13 Thanks: 76 Thanked: 827 times in 595 posts]

#284694

skewered;103379Perhaps you signed up with different expectations…[/quote]

No. I read the agreement and knew exactly what I was signing up for. Did you? I’m not going to complain about it afterwords and try to get more for my money.

skewered;103379You’re very fond of a per day cost of membership – its twice now you’ve used that as an example of why this is the ‘best’ way, but I don’t see that as relevant. The cost to me is the delays and investment of my time in operating my website.

When you make a purchase you do not see the cost as relevant? Really?

That is usually the first thing I look at. Am I getting value for money? Am I paying to much? Does it sound to cheap for what I expect to get?

You must work out what your website is worth to you and how much you are willing to pay to have it with no bugs. I suspect the figure you come up with will be more than the $49 it cost to renew your membership and avail of the support that IS available on these forums.

I think you have a bit of a cheek to be honest. You come on here complaining about the ‘lack of support’ and yet you’ve only ever had to start one thread, which you did receive help on.

The fact that in the 3 months and the 47 downloads since you have been here you have only had to post one thread seeking help, which you say you never bothered to check, says that what you downloaded either had very few bugs in it or you found the solution to your problems with a forum search because it was already answered by support or another member.

I’m not saying support is perfect (who’s is?) but it is not bad and it’s certainly worth $49 a year!

I would love to know how much the users complaining now that they no longer have access to the forums would have been willing to pay in the first place if it included lifelong membership?

scotty wrote:

There is no need to be rude

I apologise if my post came across as rude. It was not my intention. When it is – you will know.

[skewered Friend skeweredJoin date: October 2007Posts: 14Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 3]

#284699

scotty;103386

I apologise if my post came across as rude. It was not my intention. When it is – you will know.

Thank you for the qualified apology, my view was that you did come across as rude – the implication is that because I have not posted numerous requests for help that therefore I do not have a right to an opinion. Since your so fond of the per day analagy perhaps you could provide a per day number of unanswered questions where I would be considered ‘qualified’ to have an opinion?

Again, I would like to reiterate that I have simply provided my opinion, and I accept that others have the right to disagree, however the disagreements seem to center on attacking my so-called lack of contribution to this forum rather than the reasons I stated why I disagree with ending forum access. I accept your view that it is a better business model for JA to do it the way it currently is, however my view is different and no less valid because I chose not to (in my opinion) waste my time posting on these forums, but applied myself to the problem in a more constructive manner. Again, this is the point I made about I could simply save myself the cost of membership and be in no different position than I am now.

I did read the user agreement and am well aware of it – I am not quite clear where I said that I hadn’t read it or was not aware of it – but that doesnt mean I have to agree with it on a personal opinion level, which is the question that was asked by the OP. Its lovely that some community members have the time to assist others, but I simply don’t, which is not something I ever agreed upon as part of the payment for this membership or feel the need to apologise for, and again, it comes back to the question of is this a community driven forum or an official support forum, and I feel that the arguements provided above actually re-inforce my point that if it is a community driven forum then shouldnt it be open access, since then there would be a greater number of community members willing and able to assist other members. This is the question that interests me and is the point of this thread, rather than playing ‘who-has-the-higher-post-count’.

Regarding your business model point, I am not disputing JAs need to make money, but you ask if people would be willing to pay more for lifelong forum access and an increased presence from JA staff, and I honestly would – I actually don’t have any issues with the cost of the membership, however am I willing to continue paying for a membership for forum access rather than new templates, based on what I have observed over the past year? No.

[scotty Friend scottyJoin date: March 2008Posts: 2339Downloads:0Uploads:13 Thanks: 76 Thanked: 827 times in 595 posts]

#284720

We’ll have to agree to disagree Skewered. Of course you have the right to your opinion and believe it or not I do respect it. But personally I think a member who has posted one request for help, and received it, has no basis on which to complain about the ‘lack of support’.

I did read the user agreement and am well aware of it – I am not quite clear where I said that I hadn’t read it or was not aware of it – but that doesnt mean I have to agree with it on a personal opinion level

I’m afraid it does – or else you can’t join. That is why it is called an ‘Agreement’ – you agree to it! Like all User Agreements once you click that little Accept button you are bound by it’s T&C’s. The T&C’s of JA state that once your subscription expires you no longer have access to the Members Only area of the site and that is what this thread is really about regardless of what we think of the level of support offered within that member area.

I believe, like everything in life, you get what you pay for. Go cheap – you get a cheap product. Go expensive – you get a higher quality product (or should at least). What you get for your money at Joomlart is extremely good value and not expensive when you look at the cost of other template clubs.

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