Ouch!!!
Quote: "More you give, less they care..."
I am one of those 'silent' 7000, and kind of get a bit irked that people interpret that as 'I don't care'.
Let me explain...
Over a few years when I have been learning various products, I have subscribed to some sites that offer similar features (downloads, tuts, forums etc).
Many times (and I dare say we have ALL experienced this!), you may have a quick question to ask, and do so, and then get ridiculed as a newbie with instructions such as 'RTFM'. This ends up having the effect that as you go on, you would rather spend longer searching the net hoping that your question has been asked and answered on one of the other forums.
Yes, legit owners can always read the manual, but until the recent online one was released by newtek, searching the book was a pain when you didn't always know what you were looking for (e.g. I wanted to know how to make something appear from invisible to visible. Whilst I now know it's accessed by the E button and then the graph edited, I couldn't find anything in the manual that actually stepped me through it, however when I asked on a forum (not this one!) , I got the default RTFM answer!)
Also, as I recently posted on another topic so won't go into detail here (and yes, the answer was satisfactory in it's honesty, but still frustrating nonetheless), up until now (at least I hope the change is soon!), simply lightwave has a bit of a name with the people I liaise with as a bit slow with anything new.
The quality is superb, and I appreciate that quality takes time to produce, but some of us just want 'down and dirty' quick tips on a variety of subjects, something not given by this site (again not a rant, just helping me answer the post!).
So with the qoute 'More you give, less they care...', reality is Simply lightwave gives quality, at the expense of quantity, so they don't really give 'more'. Many of us I believe would like more of a mix to help us learn quicker.
So getting back, why the lack of interaction by registered people? I believe it is a mix of everything posted (e.g. some just want the tuts and nothing else), and my points that if you don't give the users new stuff, they won't come back (which I know is being addressed! Just an observation point).
But please don't class us all as careless people who are just on the take. Some of us have a history of negative experiences with forums, others just have nothing to say, but certainly from me, I have found this site to be intriguing enough to keep coming back. I am now finding my voice, and look forward to simplylightwave internet site v2...
Thanks for taking the time to read my observations,
Kevin McPoland
kevinmcpoland@breathe.com