13-Aquamarine

Question

The Mail Exploder is at risk, Speak up NOW!

Forum|Forum|11 years ago
June 17, 2014
119 replies
33717 views

The shocking news from day one of PTC Live is that PTC want's to "absorb" the mail exploder into their on-line communities forum.http://communities.ptc.com you'll see the announcement of this at the top of the page.

I went up to Ron and Dan durning the break and said what are you doing to my mail exploder. The answer was there was pressure to only have one source of communication instead of some stuff on the forum and some via the mail exploder. They are having discussions next week on how to transfer the data from ptcuser to the ptc site.

I asked if I was still going to get emails and the answer was no.

I'm sorry but this is killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

Make no mistake, if you don't raise your voice on this issue the mail exploder will disappear.

Dave Haigh

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P

ptc-1932745

1-Visitor

I say we open a forum at reddit... /r/creo

Christopher F. Gosnell

FPD Company
124 Hidden Valley Road
McMurray, PA 15317

A

Anonymous

If PTC wants to reduce redundancy, then why not shut down PTC community?
It is my impression far more people use the PTC/User exploder.

And I concur with others that the ability of the exploder to to send emails immediately is extremenly beneficial.

Gerry Champoux
Williams International
Walled Lake, MI

In Reply to

S

STEVEG

21-Topaz I

I agree with leaving well enough alone. I posted a comment to the announcement and think this is a bad idea by PTC. I think the more posts about it in the actual announcement would help. And the person that "Liked" the announcement was probably a PTC employee.

D

dgschaefer

21-Topaz II

I wouldn't call this news shocking at all.

* PTC forms their own forum years ago
* PTC takes over the conference a few years ago
* PTC has greater involvement in PTC User, eventually taking control
* PTC User has invested nearly nothing into the exploder for close to a decade.

The handwriting was on the wall and me and others voiced concerns here about the rise of the PTC Community and the future of PTC User [1]. We were told not to worry. In fact, here's the full quote from Mark Hodges at PTC in that thread from March of last year:

Doug,

I wanted to confirm that PTC has no intention or strategy in place to take community discussions away from PTC/User. PTC and the PTC/USER Board of directors regularly discuss this topic at our executive reviews and have agreed that it is important to retain both communities and encourage our customer base to utilize them based on individual preference, type of issue, service available etc. We do not see any conflict in actively encouraging both communities for the future.

Regards Mark

Mark Hodges
Chief Customer Officer

I took him at his word, but frankly was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I guess it has.

Neither the PTC User portal nor PTC's Community is a very user friendly experience.

The PTC User Exploder has long worked well as an email list, but newer users that manage to find it try to use it as a forum (which it technically is) and it doesn't work well that way. A side issue with making a forum work via email is that the actual web forum is a mess. Replies tagged to the wrong message, lots of extraneous text, etc.

The PTC Community site doesn't suffer from those ills, but it's messy and confusing, the spell checker is pathetic and manually activated and is more passive than the Exploder. One can subscribe to get new topics and replies via email, but one cannot reply or post without going to the forum. The user experience there, ironically, mimics the user experience with Proe & Creo over the years - frustrating, inconsistent and difficult. (Also ironically, Solid Works uses the same forum software & layout.)

I find that, though there are experts in both communities, the quality of information and knowledge is better here.

Combining the communities, from a shared knowledge perspective, should be a good thing. It's just a matter of who we'll lose along the way. MCADCentral went through a much needed reboot recently and has never really returned to what it was.

Losing the independence and user first focus that PTC User once had is definitely a blow to the community.

[1] -

D

DonSenchuk

12-Amethyst

Aside from making sure our opinion is heard here, everyone be sure to write to your Enterprice Account Manager (or whatever their titles are today) and tell them your opinion.

J

JoseResendis

6-Contributor

Fact #1. PTC support costs a boat load of money.
Fact #2. The last 6 times I have called the PTC Support desk, I have had
either no resolution upon first contact or partial resolution after 24
hours.
Fact #3. I do not use PTC support because its ineffective.

Its simple logistics, I can make one call to PTC and hope for one person
to answer and/or leave a message
OR,
send one email and reach dozens of people who are very willing and capable
to assist me.
.
Make no mistake about the reason PTC wants this. It has nothing to do to
improve user support.

Best Regards,

Jose M. Resendis
Mechanical & Optical Engineering Center (MOEC)
Raytheon - Space & Airborne Systems (SAS)

"Great execution requires discipline"

10-Marble

1-Visitor

Another voice

Mail Exploder Works, I vote to keep

I belong to several Forums and some have email, but only when someone responds to your post will you get an email.

On forums you spend way too much time hunting around for topics, replies etc.. and frankly it’s a mess.

The Exploder is quick and easy and very resourceful.

My email is setup to filter by rules, certain discussions about configs, drawings, windchill etc..

Going to a forum will be most aggravating and non-productive.

PTC/User is like a family, so PTC don’t break up our family!

Long Live PTC/User

JScott

Jeff Lippeth ▪ Mold Design Engineer

NyproMold, Inc.

▪ P 847.855.2226

T

tcooper

1-Visitor

Knew the day I was asked to review the Planet PTC Forum that this day would come. I too hit up Mark Hodges and Ron Watson to see why PTC was taking over PTC/USER (Pro/USER) real estate. Was told it's a partnership, each doing their part for the users, but would be separate. Ah, yes remember the conferences of old where the PTC/USER Board of Directors would personally introduce every user presentation being given at the conference. Reviewing and approving the PTC/USER budget (well not so much maybe). Voting on enhancements on a scantron ballot. That was connection between PTC/USER and its members. PTC/USER has been nothing but a figurehead, lost vendor booth, at PTC's conference for more than a few years now, I sincerely doubt they will even be at PTC's conference next year.

Tim P. Cooper
Lead Designer
GE Oil & Gas
North American ATO

T +1 281 878 6168
M +1 281 796 9038
F +1 281 715 4116
-<">mailto:->
www.ge.com

P

ptc-10292

1-Visitor

Just another vote to keep the exploder. This way we get answers and can
answer questions parallel to our jobs. Email is running the whole time,
forums almost not.

Uwe Driehaus

Dipl. - Ing. Uwe Driehaus

Weststr. 27

87561 Oberstdorf

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