dells hated forums

Noted. Thanks for the comments.

Chris,  The most difficult issue remains ease of navigation and search, which just do not exist in any meaningful way on the current DCF.

What ever Dell paid Telligence to develop this forum appears to have been a total waste of Dell resources because of two increasingly apparent outcomes:

1.   DCF has NOT become the premire Social Networking Site for computer owners/users.  DCF will never replace Facebook/Twitter/NextBestThing to Sliced Bread in the social networking world, so unlike plans from a year ago the DCF is NOT "Best-in-Class" to those of us using its dismay.

2.  DCF Wiki's are dismall and all but unused, the Gamers section is dull beyond belief, the XPS Club which those of us who requested it is totally lackluster, and the general public still does not understand that those of us who hang out in General Hardware are NOT Dell employees and can not actually speak for Dell Corp.

3.   I find the XPS 730X thread to be so long that the middle 40 pages are not accessable, making navigation impossible.  I am so glad that I do not read the "Has anyone taken delivery of the XPS 435 thread" what a total pain in the neither regions to find anything there.  Meaningful threads yes, available to any one who does not have a cast iron stomach and a few weeks to wade through the muck, a total waste of DCF resources.

I know that the moderators must be just as frustrated and I understand that RichardM has promised a group/committee to work out a "new forum" but if Telligence continues to dominate the outcome it will just be a continued waste of Dell's resources.

Sorry for the long thread that does not offer answers,

Best,

Darrell WV

I have to agree with both of the above posters. To me the biggest issue with this newer forum is lack of speed. It runs incredibly slow and is almost totally UN navigable especially with threads that are more than 1 or 2 pages in length.

I have stuck around to help with the void left by many of my predecessors who provided me and the rest of the community with valuable help and assistance. And to add another note the "inviting" of some 20 or so VIPS to me was a big joke. While some of the invitees were worthy of the invite there are several that I have to personally question as to why they were included. It seems to me Dell was more interested in the "Social Media" types rather than the tried and true members who have been around the forums for years. Now two of them have been granted VIP status without any or very little support type posts other than in the storm or idea room.

From all the comments that are being floated around it does seem that the social mediates were more impressed with Dell's responses than the old timers and embraced the Dell social media aspect of this whole community rather than making this once again the premier support web site. Goodness knows that the Dell hired support personal cannot meet the needs of the vast majority of users and this trend does not seem to be reversing.

ronss

While I don't dispute your overall comments about some of the software issues with the current version of the forum software, it appears that you don't understand how to use it, eg:

 "you cannot even post a link here-"

That's a totally incorrect statement. We can and many people do post links in threads on this forum. To add a link, highlight the text in your post that you want to be the link. Then click the link (chain) icon on the second line of the Compose window's toolbar, 4 positions left of the Smilie icon. The link icon isn't active unless/until you highlight some text in the post. A new window opens when you click the activated link icon. Paste the URL into the box in the new window, choose whether to open the link in the current or a new browser window and click Insert. That's all there is to it!

And in case you haven't noticed, I inserted a link  (above) that opens this very thread in a new browser window. :emotion-4:

Ron

okay..i quess that works highlighting the text...but most forums..the chain is allready made to use...lots of folks here probably don,t know that either....still dislike the forums. all the time and effort folks like me that put into this forum has turned out to be a waste of our time, and lots of it...i don, t know how may hours i spent trying to help others here, around 1300 hours .

Well I joined the HP forum today. My daughter wants a new laptop and she has requested an HP. I could not convince her to get a Dell so I guess I will enter this brave new world. I will continue to stay here for I have 3 Dells to administer. If you look for me on the HP forum I will be dallascowboys1 they would not give me enough characters for dallascowboysworldchamps.

And to add another note the "inviting" of some 20 or so VIPS to me was a big joke. While some of the invitees were worthy of the invite there are several that I have to personally question as to why they were included. It seems to me Dell was more interested in the "Social Media" types rather than the tried and true members who have been around the forums for years. Now two of them have been granted VIP status without any or very little support type posts other than in the storm or idea room. From all the comments that are being floated around it does seem that the social mediates were more impressed with Dell's responses than the old timers and embraced the Dell social media aspect of this whole community rather than making this once again the premier support web site. Goodness knows that the Dell hired support personal cannot meet the needs of the vast majority of users and this trend does not seem to be reversing.

Sorry I haven't met your standards for being a VIP community member Davet50. :emotion-4:  I don't quite know what you mean by calling people "Social Media" types, is it supposed to be an insult?  I understand that the forums are the main concern to forum members and think I have respected that.  (FYI:  The meeting was about the Dell community and not just the forums.)  I didn't bring up many issues I wanted to talk about because I wanted the forums to get the attention they needed.  IdeaStorm has many of the same issues as the forums so I can understand your frustrations with the site not working properly.  I would rather have the sites function properly than get new functions that may or may not work and therefor cause more problems.  While some disagree on the social media aspects that Dell is trying to introduce I think Dell's decisions should be respected as long as they fix the community sites in the process.  I think if Dell fixes the community sites and is able to find a respectable way to tie them together with social media aspects while maintaining the integrity of the forums it could be a positive thing.  Dell isn't trying to force members to use all the sites and functions but is trying to make it easier for those who choose to.  Lets not forget that the issues being complained about are with Dell and not with each other.  I'm not trying to start an argument but felt I was being unfairly judged and wanted to make a few counter points.  

Thanks Ron!

Even I was not aware of how to do it that but then I knew that links are permitted; as in a reply to my post you too had given the link of Cenrix Intl so that I may buy a mobo just for USD 29 only. And honestly I wanted to ask you about it but because of my appreciation of the price in my way, the posts started deleting one after the other and I just forgot to ask you how to do it.

 once again lots of thanks to Ronss and to you, Ron

...embraced the Dell social media aspect of this whole community rather than making this once again the premier support web site.

Davet50, what specific Dell social media aspect of this community are you referring to, and what is a "Social Media" type?

DCF Wiki's are dismall and all but unused

I was fortunate to be at the recent "Day at Dell" for some of the forum VIP's.  I personally only use the "forum" section of the site so I can't comment on the entire "community".  But, Dell did get an earful from us on the "new forum" and it's poor response time, continued problems and confusion for users.  Dell is working with the Software implementation vendor on a new version of the community software but it's still in the early stages so it will be a while before it's finalized and on line.  We did try to impress upon the Dell staff that response time and navigating the site were priority issues when they implement the new site. 

To those of us that only access the forum section and do support,  the forum section as it is today is a giant step backward from the old Dell Users Forum.   With the multitude of implementation problems (when it first went on line) and the problems that have never really been addressed it does seem to those of us that only use the support forum section that the Vendor "had no idea" about a forum.  As a "PR tool" the current "forum" is a major disaster for Dell (as was the move from US based to overseas telephone support). 

Being an Ancient Dell customer from the PC's Limited days of 8088 I can say that while there have been changes that I have learned to adapt to the changes.

I don't get the time to use the forums as much as I used to due to my work increasingly becoming more than 60 hours a week.

There won't be any whineing from me about that because I am just glad that I still have a job in the worst economy I have seen in 45 years.

My father a depression era baby says he has not see things this bad since 1938.

The biggest problem I have is a lack of accountability for the persons providing phone support.

Hey Bugbatter,

Darrell WV:

DCF Wiki's are dismall and all but unused

Please don't generalize. The Spyware/Virus WIKI's are maintained and used on several sites.  Fortunately WIKI's can be edited. I'm sure the authors could use your help in upgrading them rather than complaining about them.

 I am not generallizing, but am very specific.  If I look at the public use of this DCF, there are issues which demonstrate just by looking at them in a very gereral manner.  The Wiki section does not let me know the access count for a post, like the General Hardware Forum, so I have to look at topic postings to see:

Desktop 2009:  Oct/1; Sept/0; Aug/2; Jul/1; Jun/2; May/4; Apr/0; Mar/0; Feb/0; Jan/3 = total topic postings this year 13

GamersGrimore 2008-2009:  Nov/1; Dec/0; Jan/1; Feb/0; Mar/0; Apr/1; May/0; Jun/0; Jul/0; Aug/0; Sept/0; Oct/0 = total topic posting since starting 3

RigConfiguration 2008-2009: total topic posting since starting 3

Disk Drivers 2008-2009: total topic postings since starting 3

Buisness Management 2008-2009: total topic postings since starting 3

And the really large Wiki topic posting of Tutorials and How To's: 2008-2009: total topic postings since starting = 50, 42 of those are from 2008 and only 8 are from 2009.

I stand by my original statement posted here:  DCF Wiki's are dismall and all but unused.  If the DCF is going to be reviewed for greater PUBLIC use, then someone somewhere at Round Rock needs to pay some sort of attention to the public.  Sounds too simple to be true, but that is the only way that Dell can return to its spot as being "Best-in-Class"

And as I said in my original post, I do not have solutions to these issues, I wish that I did, then I could go over to IdeaStorm and register as a new user, because my "one login to access all of the Dell Community and my Dell account" is not recognized in that section of the "Community."

Best wishes,

Darrell WV

Darrell, the dual logon issue was discussed at the Dell meeting and that is another action issue that will be addressed and eventually there will only be one log on.

Dell is standing in a number of different markets. I come from what may be called the "Enterprise" side: sites with mainframes, minis, "servers", desktops and laptops.

Then there are a number of "consumer" sides to the market ... a market IBM has wisely abandoned for its low-margin return.

IdeaStorm was a brilliant idea if Dell wants to connect with consumers. The issues there are not 'social' issues, but neither are they (for the most part) tech issues.

Are there many fluff suggestions? Undoubtedly. But apparently Dell wants to hear the static and to consider its level and value.

For me, most tech issues are moot. Been there, done that, routine stuff. Organizational and strategic issues, however, are of real interest to me. Anyone can do tech. That's hobbyist stuff.

Not to say hobbyists have no value, quite the contrary. I have no doubt it saves Dell $$ and lost sales, so it could not be insignificant. But it's still the blue collar end of computing.

Ouch!  Have you had enough sleep Phubert? :emotion-4:  

I don't think I'd go as far as Phubert.  I give the forum guys/gals props for what they do.  There's satisfaction in knowing that your experience or research has helped someone else.  IdeaStorm uses the same stuff just expressed in a different manner (ideas on how to do things differently in the future).  While the forums help people daily how often does Dell actually use one of the ideas from IdeaStorm?  Do we really have that much of an impact on what Dell decides to do?  I think we help shape things a little but in the end Dell does what it wants anyway.