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Forum Software Drama Killing Forums

Shawn Gossman

Shawn Gossman

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Do you think the drama in forum software communities' aids in killing forums or discouraging people from starting them?

Why or why not?
 
Some fans, I believe they get paid to defend certain software, does not make it easy for forum admins to make a free choice.
 
meetdilip said:
Some fans, I believe they get paid to defend certain software, does not make it easy for forum admins to make a free choice.
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I don't know if I would go that far. But some scripts have their core sycophants that will defend their choice poison until they are blue in the face, even which confronted with facts that negate their position.
They seem to take personal offense if you say anything negative about their chosen software. But that behavior has been around for decades. It's why you see the term fan-boi frequently.
 
Tracy said:
They seem to take personal offense if you say anything negative about their chosen software. But that behavior has been around for decades. It's why you see the term fan-boi frequently
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It sure has.

It was like that with vB when XF was born. Now it's like that with XF. It's like that with all the free platforms, too.

Fan-boys are everywhere.
 
Shawn Gossman said:
It sure has.

It was like that with vB when XF was born. Now it's like that with XF. It's like that with all the free platforms, too.

Fan-boys are everywhere.
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The thing here is because the developers of Xenforo came from vBulletin and their loyal supporters moved to Xenforo right after.

It’s like movies and shows. Some prefer to watch a movie or a show if their favorite actor is in it.

As for me, I’m glad that I was able to try other softwares and I was never glue to one platform. I used SMF for years, then Invision, then vBulletin and now Xenforo.

I always use a platform that I prefer to use and I like. I don’t jump on one when others discuss it and swear by. The same thing applies to music. If a song sucks to someone else and I enjoy it, I’ll still play it.
 
frm said:
What's the correlation between the forum software's support community and a community that you want to start?
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The attitude on a support site can kill peoples desire to participate, thereby reducing the odds of them going to the site for support. That can result in someone not liking the script eventually. A friend of mine is in that exact position.
 
Tracy said:
The attitude on a support site can kill peoples desire to participate, thereby reducing the odds of them going to the site for support. That can result in someone not liking the script eventually. A friend of mine is in that exact position.
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I do agree with this.

I've seen such poor support forums (all different software at that) over the years that I really try hard to do it myself.
 
Shawn Gossman said:
I've seen such poor support forums (all different software at that) over the years that I really try hard to do it myself.
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Over on the XF site generally I figured out the answer to the questions I posted over there before either staff or others replied. I also generally tried to remember to post the solution that I found in case others ran into the same issue.
That desire to "help" out over there slowly decayed over the last few years, a lot of that based upon certain developer/staff attitudes that was developing. I won't mention specific names as they tend to have a hissy fit like a child if you do and lash out using their positions within the company... but they know who they are and their next step would probably be to try to find some reason to revoke my license. They already tried to get me to let them refund the license extension into 2027 that I had purchased.
 
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It seems to be all support forums.

I purchased Davinci Studio (a video editing software) and needed help with a big issue. Joined the forum, got generic responses, and practically no one wanted to help.

It made me regret buying it.

And as much as I hate it, ChatGPT solved the problem for me and was friendly about it.

It's easy to throw up a support forum. It's not easy to give friendly and quality support, though.
 
That’s the problem nowadays. ChatGPT is more than capable of giving the correct support in a friendly manner. Even when you are not. ChatGPT has solved real life problems for me. Solving stuff like technology, mechanical things is one of them.

If forums don’t adapt to this, support forums will eventually be replaced.
 
Cedric said:
If forums don’t adapt to this, support forums will eventually be replaced.
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How can a support forum be completely replaced if there was never any material to train the AI on to begin with?

I suppose software developers could devote their time to writing manuals, and hope that AI could take the technical writing that may be written in, as it could be written by the developers themselves, to the level of understanding a user requests.

That doesn't go without saying that they cannot be replaced unless AI has a blueprint of what it needs to spit out. And any error in the manual will still lead to a ticket or some form of support, eventually, as the software morphs or option labels are changed or moved.

Perhaps support forums will slow down, but they can never cease to exist; the only other option would be a ticketing system if you don't want a bunch of end users trying to answer the question before dedicated staff members can.

Your message just had the sense that AI is a know-all, when in reality, it only knows what is publicly available, at least for now.
 
frm said:
How can a support forum be completely replaced if there was never any material to train the AI on to begin with?

I suppose software developers could devote their time to writing manuals, and hope that AI could take the technical writing that may be written in, as it could be written by the developers themselves, to the level of understanding a user requests.

That doesn't go without saying that they cannot be replaced unless AI has a blueprint of what it needs to spit out. And any error in the manual will still lead to a ticket or some form of support, eventually, as the software morphs or option labels are changed or moved.

Perhaps support forums will slow down, but they can never cease to exist; the only other option would be a ticketing system if you don't want a bunch of end users trying to answer the question before dedicated staff members can.

Your message just had the sense that AI is a know-all, when in reality, it only knows what is publicly available, at least for now.
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Have you ever tried to block AI completely? It's a lost cause, really. It'll find a way eventually. Even Cloudflare's AI blocker needs to be continuously adapted to this. There's also people training AI, it gathers info from public yes, but also from what people give to AI.

I wasn't talking about the replacement on short-term. And no, they will never really cease to exist. But nowadays it's already more effective to ask AI about a certain support topic rather than browse the support forums. So eventually, this will only increase.
 
AI will eventually be unblockable.

Search engines will go AI, and if you block AI, you'll block any ability you have to be on search.

AI is getting forced on us...
 
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