Boonex, Stop with the Market Changes, Let's talk

Andrew, please stop with the market changes.  We, the Boonex Dolphin community, would like to talk about the market.  AlexT said you were just trying to implement some of the things that have been discussed.  However, it really doesn't look that way.  Take the trusted vendors thing.  What we requested there was that the trusted vendors list was outdated and WE wanted to redo the list of trusted vendors, we the customers of the Market, not Boonex's staff.  Please sit down with us and let us, the customers and vendors, talk about how we feel the Market can be improved.  Please?  We can all meet in the new IRC channel that was created for Dolphin; pick a time and date for the meeting and lets have a real-time discussion.  Please?

I was hoping others would be interested in a real-time chat with Boonex about the Market changes.

BTW: the Latest module section is pulling out old modules, it must be looking at the update date instead of the original date.

Not sure where you are getting that from. If you are referring to the 'Make any template responsive' module, then you should know that the listing is a new listing. I have already contacted the vendor about this.

As far as having a 'real-time' chat with BoonEx.... good luck as I don't ever see that happening.

 I am always open to discussions but don't really see how you want to do this. 100 people in an IRC channel calling each other names is not going to improve anything. If the community wants to be a serious discussion partner it should unite and have representatives to negociate important matters on their behalf.

 This is true. It would be a mess. Somebody will talk about design, others will talk about functionality, thirds will talk about usability and stuff. I believe it would be good idea to split these things to different groups of people who knows their part the best. But again, real time chatting with Boonex doesn't look realistic idea. When I'm chatting with Andrew on skype, it's a few words conversation about something very important and that's it. These days he is offline.

I know that size of the group makes it harder but really, do you think there would be 100 people in the channel?  If so, where are they on the forums?

If we can not sit down and have a business conference type discussion, then we should just forget it, let Boonex destroy the Market and we all go our merry ways.  Of course there would need to be a moderator.  I have been in a lot of meetings over the years and I don't recall us sitting around calling each other names; of course that was face to face; I do know that people think sitting in front of a computer discussing things makes them a bit more immune.

There would also need to be an agenda drawn up, with an allotted time devoted to each section; such as page layout.  Maybe I was assuming too much, maybe I was assuming we were all adults here and could actually conduct a real business meeting.  It is in our best interest as well as Andrew Boon's best interest, unless everyone thinks that Andrew thinks that Boonex can survive without the free support we offer here in the forums and the support we offer by expanding Dolphin with modules in the Market.  If that is true, if that is the way Andrew's thinks, then we may all as well go our merry ways and the cobwebs can gather here.

Andrew does NOT listen to our input.  He has NOT been listening for a few years.  Had he been doing so, the forums here would be a much nicer & vibrant place.  Old habits die hard...he will NOT start listening now.  This is the way he want things, and this is the way that they shall go, highway to hell.

1. Members are all over the world. To setup a 'meeting time' that suited everyone would be impossible.I do agree that you would not see 100 of them though.

2. I can see a business meeting with clients regarding investments, potential partnerships, and even share holders but to see a business setting up a meeting with all of their 'customers' (that's us)... not so much. It would be like Walmart setting up a meeting with all their customers.

3. I do agree that we should be able to voice our opinions and/or provide feedback when it comes to certain things. Although our feedback may or may not be considered, the final decision comes from BoonEx regardless of what we may say.

4. Any member that has then mentality of 'Hey Andrew, do this my way or I'm outta here' should reconsider where they stand. Just like in the real world, everyone is replaceable. Many have left, some have returned, some have not and BoonEx is still here.

I know #3 and #4 are pretty harsh but that's the way it is in my opinion. As GG stated, we volunteer to provide support here in the forums. Just like Moderators, we are also volunteers. Are we required to do any of this??? Absolutely not. Would going 'on-strike' do any good? Probably not. Would it be wise if BoonEx considers the feedback from members on site/market changes, pricing, etc.??? Definitely should. Now a suggestion would be for BoonEx to create a forum topic or 'note' where members can express their opinions and/or recommend changes before setting the changes in stone. This should be initiated by BOONEX and NOT a community member.

Changes are made based on business needs (and opinion) and cannot always be based solely upon customer feedback. It's like the old saying 'Sometimes you have to piss a few people off to please yourself'.. which goes hand-in-hand with 'You can't please everyone'. I honestly do not think Andrew ignores our comments/feedback/rants. But if Andrew wants to make changes that drives everyone away from BoonEx/Dolphin without taking the member's feedback (not just 1 or 2) into consideration, then let him do it. He would have no one to blame but himself however, I do not think Andrew is that type of businessman.

I will have to agree on something regarding 'changes' to BoonEx. Every since the new pricing structure the 'new' members/customers are not here, forum activity is down, development is at a snail's pace, people losing interest.. just to name a few.. Want to improve this? If nothing else, put your Standard License back to $99. That alone would drive your new sales up, not to mention, maybe additional sales for existing members. Might get a few fired up. Dolphin has great potential and is a great product so now all you have to do is make it affordable again :)

There's a rant for ya.. have fun reading that one!

 
I agree with that one 1000%. (if there is such a thing)

Back then, things seemed better. Forums were active, people were using the market, ect. With the price as high as it is, most people can't afford it, and those that do save to get it will expect a LOT more support for that kind of money.

So yea. I agree. I think the biggest problem is there.

 1000% agreed. Sometimes people are asking me to provide a discount on my module that cost $35 or $50. I don't assume they can buy Dolphin license for $400. They are making sites for school or friends. What else can we talk about... 

We do listen, we read most of threads and messages in forum and blog comments and discuss some of interesting and constructive critics.

As the result most of the recent changes are based on users' input.

However some suggestion are too radical and we need some solution to save current system and find some solution which will fit existing structure, so sometimes result maybe different.

Also we try to remember previous plans and feedback and try to address some of known previous problems as well.

It would be great to not judge too early and make constructive suggestion after we announce all changes in blog post, not too many changes are left before announcing...

Thank you.

AlexT, thank you for input.

But don't you guys have offline draft version to make these changes in order to transfer them to the live site after they are ready? Imagine Apple or M$ online store non-usable for even one day because they are making changes live. What loss they will have?

gg how many products do you have listed in the market?

LOL @ REAL TIME CHAT WITH BOONEX HAHAHHAHAAA

 dont forget her hounding andrew about how much money Dolphin makes and what they yearly revenue is HAHAHAAA

 Well, let's respect each other please no matter what they say.

DONT FORGET... if you did have a group chat you would have things like this

The meeting might go like this.

Usually we perform bulk update of all changes with an announcing, but this time is different because there are very minor changes, or changes which work with existing data and we need real site for it - test site don't have complete up to date copy of everything. But we test each stage on test site before uploading it to live site anyway.