Active Captain Interface

[ranger58sb]

And my point is that if the developer doesn't know, then he's not done a very good job of testing.

Sure. But then every car manufacturer who sends a car out of the factory with a defect... is suffering from the same problem. And every TV maker, every you-name-it manufacturer...

Not good, not excusable... but then life happens, perfect or not.

And some (many?) are faced with balancing the cost of testing versus return from the product. Don't know if that matters, in this case...

-Chris

 

[BandB]

Sure. But then every car manufacturer who sends a car out of the factory with a defect... is suffering from the same problem. And every TV maker, every you-name-it manufacturer...

Not good, not excusable... but then life happens, perfect or not.

And some (many?) are faced with balancing the cost of testing versus return from the product. Don't know if that matters, in this case...

-Chris

Well, I've had every car for decades delivered problem free. Yes, there have been some recalls after millions of miles on the models, but that's beyond testing. The problems here are obvious functionality not ready. We're not talking about anything that would have required extensive testing. If it is seen on day one of use, then I fault the developer. If it isn't found until 500 people use it for months, then that I would be more tolerant of. Also, here we're talking software vs hardware in your examples so here we're talking basic usability testing while in yours we're talking quality assurance of hardware.

This is basic stuff. You can't post a review. You don't have all the same functionality in the new version as the old. This is the unnecessary stuff that brings about discussions like this and an initial negative situation. My biggest emphasis on testing and documentation of new programs or software changes was always that we wanted the user's initial experience to be positive and have them fully on board. On day one, we had support everywhere, training, explaining, making sure all experiences were good.

AC could benefit with having their own support forum but a huge caveat there, not if the person running it was going to be defensive.

I've provided a lot of support since it came live, just telling people how to still access the old version. One simple piece of information. A two day delay for more testing and documentation would have made AC's life easier.

 

[OldDan1943]

Per A/C: Folks, remember you are criticizing the 'child' of the developer, the 'father'. Gotta sneak up on him. Always preface it with a positive comment and then make positive suggestions.
I don't know how many people are on his 'team' either.

Bugs are undocumented 'features'. LOL

 

[KnotMeUp]

AC could benefit with having their own support forum but a huge caveat there, not if the person running it was going to be defensive.

Like they wrote for multiple weeks in their newsletter, their Facebook group with over 10,000 members has hundreds of postings about the new website with hourly updates. I've reported 2 problems which were fixed within a day (both were problems with other products interfacing to Active Captain).

I think they've done a pretty good job of getting it all going under a huge company with a million users and a lot of daily access. Jeff appears to be the point person for all contacts and he's been doing a great job of helping everyone to get going. The negativity here is like politics today - it doesn't seem like the facts matter.

 

[BandB]

- it doesn't seem like the facts matter.

The facts do matter. It was brought live with many missing features and no documentation as to how to use the old site still or as to what was missing on the new site. Those are key facts. Some thing that's acceptable, some don't.

It is also the only website or software I'm aware of that uses Facebook as their support site and discourages other communication. Maybe that's leading edge or maybe it's just strange. That's for anyone to form their own opinion.

Stating these facts, I say all this as a strong supporter and user of AC who has recommended it to dozens, perhaps even hundreds, and will continue to do so. It is still the only site that offers what it does.

 

[rwidman]

Like they wrote for multiple weeks in their newsletter, their Facebook group with over 10,000 members has hundreds of postings about the new website with hourly updates...........

Not every AC user can access the Facebook group. Some because they choose not to be on Facebook and some because they have been "evicted" from the group. That leaves no support except for second hand such as posting issues in another forum (such as this one) and hoping someone has found the solution to the issue.

Facebook is "social media", not a support forum for a commercial product.

 

[OldDan1943]

I think it-would best if there was a facility for users to comment directly and securely on AC.
Keep it in house, so to speak.