Dedicated Forum Moderator (ie Jim Wilson 2.0)

[Amorphous - Julian]

I’ve noticed since Jim Wilson’s departure, this forum is less frequented by VW personnel, and  user request less likely to get attention.

 

As a VW customer that has paid for a few upfront licence fees, as well as ongoing VSS subscription, I propose a dedicated person (I believe Jim Wilson was ‘VW customer experience officer‘?) be appointed to moderate this forum to fill the gap left by Jim. This person has this dedicated role, and should ensure majority of user requests gets a response, even if the response is ‘your request had been read by the VW moderated and is noted, a response will be provided ASAP’.

 

VW should set itself a few goals on this forum, for example, in any given month. I suggest the following:

(a) 75% of all Feature Requests, Troubleshoot, and Known Issues posts get an official response 

(b) Top three items voted by users in ‘Feature Request’ in each month MUST make it into the next full VW release or SP release 

(c) Moderators would link any new Feature Request to older posts with the same request, so this forum doesn’t become a repository of new issues that are never achieved 

(d) Set a goal: for example in any given calendar year, set a target that no less than 10% of all submitted requested are processed and made into the next release. Publish this number for forum members to see. 

[Jeremy Best]

I like the intention of your suggestions @Amorphous - Julian. Regarding this one: 

 

2 hours ago, Amorphous - Julian said:

(b) Top three items voted by users in ‘Feature Request’ in each month MUST make it into the next full VW release or SP release

 

I expect this one could never be a solid rule because there are conditions outside Vectorworks' influence that factor in what features can be realised, including capabilities of current hardware and software standards, as well as the usual time and financial resources available for development. 

 

 

[Marissa Farrell]

Though Jim's presence is no longer around in a Vectorworks employee capacity, I want to assure you that many employees are reading the forums every day.

We may not respond to every post on here as we have other priorities, but nearly everything of importance with regards to issues or potential improvements is being discussed internally among us and bugs as well as feature requests are being created.

 

Please don't think that when we lost Jim that you lost us, we're still listening.

[Kevin McAllister]

The forums certainly do feel different, though I know there are lots of VW employees around all the time and I really appreciate when they interact. I've also found I've been less active in the forums (I've only made a few posts in the past 😁). If I had to try and define why I think it might be this - Jim personally took a lot of ownership in building this community and many of us decided to invest in Jim and his passion for Vectorworks. His commitment was probably beyond what was required by the job, the difference being investing in the community personally vs monitoring the community professionally. Jim definitely did both.

 

The forums have always had ebbs and flows, so how it feels now may also be attributed to that. The calm before the storm as it were, since things tend to get busier here in anticipation of a new release. From my own perspective I tend to be around more when I'm actively drawing in Vectorworks every day, which isn't the case at the moment.

 

There are a LOT of amazing people here who are still very active and sometimes it takes the right question to get them to chime in and problem solve.

 

Fingers crossed that the forums will find their groove again. They have been and are very important to me personally.

 

Kevin

 

 

[Christiaan]

Bring Back Jim!

[Christiaan]

On 7/10/2019 at 3:18 AM, Jeremy Best said:

I expect this one could never be a solid rule because there are conditions outside Vectorworks' influence that factor in what features can be realised, including capabilities of current hardware and software standards, as well as the usual time and financial resources available for development.

 

Agreed Jeremy. A better idea might be that the top three items each month should have an official response from VW about where they are on the roadmap and why.

 

I really miss Jim's no nonsense transparency. Instilled a lot of confidence and helped me understand why certain things are as they are.

Edited July 11, 2019 by Christiaan

[Cadplan Architecture]

On 7/10/2019 at 12:28 AM, Amorphous - Julian said:

 

(c) Moderators would link any new Feature Request to older posts with the same request, so this forum doesn’t become a repository of new issues that are never achieved 

 

Yes, for example pleeeeese improve the much moaned about stair tool, window tool, and folding doors tools!

[Cadplan Architecture]

On 7/10/2019 at 5:26 AM, Marissa Farrell said:

Though Jim's presence is no longer around in a Vectorworks employee capacity, I want to assure you that many employees are reading the forums every day.

We may not respond to every post on here as we have other priorities, but nearly everything of importance with regards to issues or potential improvements is being discussed internally among us and bugs as well as feature requests are being created.

 

Please don't think that when we lost Jim that you lost us, we're still listening.

That's good to hear. Are you able to update us on when the door, window and stair tools will be improved eg SP5?!

[Christiaan]

52 minutes ago, Cadplan Architecture said:

That's good to hear. Are you able to update us on when the door, window and stair tools will be improved eg SP5?!

 

I wouldn't hold your breath for feature improvements in a service pack. Generally they're for fixing bugs.

[RussU]

2 hours ago, Christiaan said:

Generally they're for fixing bugs

There has been the occasional feature addition via service pack, Revit import, IFC support, cloud services etc. But generally, for an overhauled or new feature you'll need to wait for a major annual release.

[Christiaan]

Ah yes that's true. But we're also talking about the door/window and stair tools!

[RussU]

2 minutes ago, Christiaan said:

 But we're also talking about the door/window and stair tools!

it's not like yourself, @Christiaan , @_c_ @Bas Vellekoop and many others have been asking for a wee while now...

I rarely need to use it in my day to day work. I'm lucky enough where everything is generally a custom build, I need to direct model everything for manufacture on CNC. So I need ludicrous amounts of detail, especially on staircases and the like.

 

For me, I'd like to see the stair/door + window tool produce these cnc files, but I've never asked, because it would be a very very big ask. I don't think your comments about localisation, or @_c_ requests for rebates are unreasonable though.

[line-weight]

On 7/10/2019 at 5:26 AM, Marissa Farrell said:

Though Jim's presence is no longer around in a Vectorworks employee capacity, I want to assure you that many employees are reading the forums every day.

We may not respond to every post on here as we have other priorities, but nearly everything of importance with regards to issues or potential improvements is being discussed internally among us and bugs as well as feature requests are being created.

 

Please don't think that when we lost Jim that you lost us, we're still listening.

 

That's all good - but there really needs to be someone actively maintaining and managing the forum. Someone who doesn't have other priorities and who takes responsibility for its health.

 

In fact, it's quite amazing to me, having seen, since his departure, the flood of positive comment on here about Jim W's role and its importance to users, that VW management have not sat up and realised they need to make sure it is taken over properly by someone else equally capable and provided with similar agency. The one aspect of the VW experience that is universally seen as positive, the thing that keeps people on board in spite of all the problems, and they do nothing about it.

 

*waves frantically at VW bosses*

Edited July 15, 2019 by line-weight

[Art V]

1 hour ago, RussU said:

For me, I'd like to see the stair/door + window tool produce these cnc files, but I've never asked, because it would be a very very big ask. I don't think your comments about localisation, or @_c_ requests for rebates are unreasonable though.

Currently I'm dealing with CNC stuff regularly and the tendency is towards using STEP (3D) files (instead of 2D DXF) and have the CAM software take care of the needed stuff. Most CAM software have dedicated postprocessors for the cutting/milling/etc. machines for generating optimal output.

 

If VW would produce CNC file these would be generic CNC files and there are already quite a few options out there to convert e.g. STEP files into generic CNC files.

Considering that a dedicated postprocessor easily costs approx. a few hundred to 1,000+ USD (on top of the CAM software itself) so yes I agree it woud be a very big ask and would rather have VW spend their programming resources onto something else.

 

A better option might be to have CAM software integrate with VW, as is the case with some other CAD Programs (e.g. Siemens NX and Solidworks are two programs for which integrated CAM/CNC solutions are available, but they aren't cost effective for occasional use). Given that Vectorworks is not really a solid player in the mechanical/manufacturing realm as far as I can tell there will probably not be much interest from those CAM integrators.

[Art V]

24 minutes ago, line-weight said:

 

That's all good - but there really needs to be someone actively maintaining and managing the forum. Someone who doesn't have other priorities and who takes responsibility for its health.

 

In fact, it's quite amazing to me, having seen, since his departure, the flood of positive comment on here about Jim W's role and its importance to users, that VW management have not sat up and realised they need to make sure it is taken over properly by someone else equally capable and provided with similar agency. The one aspect of the VW experience that is universally seen as positive, the thing that keeps people on board in spite of all the problems, and they do nothing about it.

 

*waves frantically at VW bosses*

So much for being away for a while, it's a big surprise to see that Jim is no longer at VW and his dedication to the forum will be hard to match. I agree that Jim made a big difference when he took up the maintenance and topic tracking on this forum, esp. the quality of responses really improved also because of using his internal channels to get more information and (attempts) to increase priority on some issues.

 

A good dedicated forum moderator is beneficial for both the forum users and VW, compared to what I see on other CAD forums it really makes a lot of difference and Jim did a really good job and will be missed as moderator, so I think it is a good idea to follow up.

[Cadplan Architecture]

6 hours ago, Christiaan said:

 

I wouldn't hold your breath for feature improvements in a service pack. Generally they're for fixing bugs.

 

An email just came through about a presentation session for VW2020 on 1st October in London. I'm not really a betting person but I would put ££s on there not being any worthwhile improvements to teh stair, door or window tools!

[_c_]

On 7/10/2019 at 6:26 AM, Marissa Farrell said:

Though Jim's presence is no longer around in a Vectorworks employee capacity, I want to assure you that many employees are reading the forums every day.

We may not respond to every post on here as we have other priorities, but nearly everything of importance with regards to issues or potential improvements is being discussed internally among us and bugs as well as feature requests are being created.

 

Please don't think that when we lost Jim that you lost us, we're still listening.

 

Dear Marissa,

 

we are a large nameless crowd with one voice, this forum. VW must put here a person with the power of taming a crowd. This isn't a gift everyone has. Jim had it.

While VW is "listening" we do brew any kind of fantasy as to the possible answers to our complaints -or lack thereof.

There is no limit, in any direction, to the kind of suppositions we can make. As a rule -such is the nature of a crowd - these fantasies are not positive nor good for you.

 

Ciao,

_c_

 

PS

You are too kind for being thrown into this pit, get out of it!

Edited July 16, 2019 by _c_

[Nicolas Goutte]

22 hours ago, Art V said:

Currently I'm dealing with CNC stuff regularly and the tendency is towards using STEP (3D) files (instead of 2D DXF) and have the CAM software take care of the needed stuff. Most CAM software have dedicated postprocessors for the cutting/milling/etc. machines for generating optimal output.

 

If VW would produce CNC file these would be generic CNC files and there are already quite a few options out there to convert e.g. STEP files into generic CNC files.

Considering that a dedicated postprocessor easily costs approx. a few hundred to 1,000+ USD (on top of the CAM software itself) so yes I agree it woud be a very big ask and would rather have VW spend their programming resources onto something else.

 

Out of curiosity (as one of the developers taking care of interiorcad's NC-Export): when you tell "quite a few options out there to convert e.g. STEP files into generic CNC files", are you taking about wood CNC machines or metal/plastic ones?

 

[Art V]

16 hours ago, Nicolas Goutte said:

 

Out of curiosity (as one of the developers taking care of interiorcad's NC-Export): when you tell "quite a few options out there to convert e.g. STEP files into generic CNC files", are you taking about wood CNC machines or metal/plastic ones?

 

Metal ones in my case.

[Nicolas Goutte]

3 hours ago, Art V said:

Metal ones in my case.

 

OK, thanks, that is what I thought. Because on the wooden side, from what I see, the world is not that simple.

[Wesley Burrows]

On 7/10/2019 at 10:13 AM, Kevin McAllister said:

The forums certainly do feel different, though I know there are lots of VW employees around all the time and I really appreciate when they interact. I've also found I've been less active in the forums (I've only made a few posts in the past 😁). If I had to try and define why I think it might be this - Jim personally took a lot of ownership in building this community and many of us decided to invest in Jim and his passion for Vectorworks. His commitment was probably beyond what was required by the job, the difference being investing in the community personally vs monitoring the community professionally. Jim definitely did both.

 

The forums have always had ebbs and flows, so how it feels now may also be attributed to that. The calm before the storm as it were, since things tend to get busier here in anticipation of a new release. From my own perspective I tend to be around more when I'm actively drawing in Vectorworks every day, which isn't the case at the moment.

 

There are a LOT of amazing people here who are still very active and sometimes it takes the right question to get them to chime in and problem solve.

 

Fingers crossed that the forums will find their groove again. They have been and are very important to me personally.   

 

Kevin

 

 

 

This 100%.   I couldn't quite put into words what I was feeling since his departure,  but this is exactly how I feel about it.  For me the seemingly apparent lack of a "man-on-the-inside" feeling around here has made it far less compelling to visit as frequently.  And I know that there are many staffers that make appearances on here.  and help out.  But we all know Jim was a fixture you could almost guarantee a response from,  and it was rarely riddled with company speak.   In many ways, to us, he was the end-user advocate that made people felt heard and could run things up the appropriate channels.   The voice/human touch of a large company.    I think we all miss it.    I also have no idea who I'm gonna drink/BS with at Design Summit 2020 now.  🙂

Edited September 5, 2019 by Wesley Burrows

[Marissa Farrell]

39 minutes ago, Wesley Burrows said:

I also have no idea who I'm gonna drink/BS with at Design Summit 2020 now.

🙄 alright then! 😁

[Wesley Burrows]

4 minutes ago, Marissa Farrell said:

🙄 alright then! 😁

 

Haha!   Phew!  One less thing to worry about then!  

[line-weight]

Well, it looks to me like the answer to this wishlist item is that there is an outright refusal to acknowledge the value of a dedicated forum moderator, and we're not going to get one. A very short-sighted decision in my opinion.