Lawrence Cole made his announcement a few days ago that he was stepping into Adrian Harris' shoes. And following on from his announcement, a thread was made for questions directed toward Lawrence. https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/389221-Questions-for-Lawrence It will be interesting to see how long he stays for!
That was the thread I referred to and was on page 15 of when we talked. For me, it seems like deja vu with the same set of questions being asked, promises and the impression customers suggestions will be listened to by the new face, promised those suggestions will be compiled and discussed internally. Personally, i think it's just some kind of halting tactic (again) to calm the concerned until a year 18 months from now we will see Lawrence depart and a new face will replace him saying the same thing. To be honest I really don't know why customers put themselves through this. There's 2 commercial solutions out there that are now very attractive that surpass (imo) vbulletin in every way from the product down to support, stability and a host of other things I haven't mentioned. AKA Groundhog day re-visited imo.
It definitely seems to be a rinse and repeat action - done with Ray and repeated with Adrian.. and now again with Lawrence.
You should read the whole thing; he is a marketer and has posted some choice quotes (like advising people to wait for vB5 if you're still on vB3 and are happy with it, apparently not knowing what a development roadmap is, trashing the alpha/beta testers before being corrected by other staff, etcetera). My personal favorite is this... Somehow, somewhere, I will work "You will continue to shadow box the holograms of {whatever}!" into a conversation. I will give myself bonus points if I am able to use it at work in the middle of a meeting and am able to keep a straight face while saying it. Yep. For the older crowd the acronym SSDD applies. For me at least I no longer care. I made my decision this summer to switch platforms and am now just waiting for everything to come together to finish that migration. In the meantime, the cost of an active vB license is well worth the entertainment value of reading the forums.
You have to admire a man who can force that into a sentence .... I'm joining you, Kev, I have to work that into a conversation too!
I got to page 15 (at that point I felt like I just visited the local morgue) and took a break from reading the Lies and Great PR being deployed that seems to be fooling some members (customers), though not all, they are wise and can see through the great PR being deployed there. Thank god I didn't. Some generous person you might know saved me the trouble after my curiosity got the better of me.
Just prior to Lawrence Cole joining I took a bit of a pounding over an issue I brought up over there. My concerns were genuine and actually resulted in a positive change. However the stick I received from a particular employee was the straw that finally broke the camel's back and I'm now working hard to move my few remaining vBulletin forums to another platform. I also vowed never to post there again. I have since read the entire thread. I'll give Lawrence his due, he's doing a damn fine job and some people seem to be falling for it all over again. The problem is it doesn't change the fact that the product remains unfinished and substandard after two years.
Oh............. no, there are no words to describe what I'm thinking after reading that.... I don't think he needs a shovel for that hole he's digging, he's doing absolutely fine without one
What is even more astounding is that after getting a few responses that his post was not really the best way to represent the company he went back and edited to dig even deeper.
Yes. I mean I can understand getting frustrated, that's human nature. But as the representative of a company - that alone should make him stop before posting like that. He might well be getting insulted by customers, he might well be getting irritated and frustrated by repetitive negativity aimed at him. But that's what you have to deal with when you work in the Customer Service side of a company and he should rise above it and act professionally at all times. Not go for the like-for-like response. Just because someone verbally attacks you does not mean you should return the favour. In fact, I would have far more respect for someone who rose above any insults and barbed comments and carried on doing whatever job they're supposed to be doing. That's just... well... wow *shakes head*
I wish I could read stuff on vbulletin.com, used to but that was around 2004 and I really never went there , I hung around .org, then a year later I didn't renew my leased license as I found the glory of IPB lol.
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/california-case-update.10037/page-142#post-282519 Some of the discussion is there.
Scary, isn't it. I really don't know why I go in there. The moment I step foot in that place I get angry and become mean. I have to at times come across as an evil vindictive foaming at the mouth monster. I am actually like to think I am a fairly nice person but when I go there I question who I really am.
