Is the future of Dolphin headed in the right direction??

Is the future of Dolphin headed in the right direction?

That is a question that I have had to ask myself as of late when it has come to the recent release of Dolphin 7 beta 1 being dubbed as the feature final version to say that any additions will be made available via third party means. For the uninitiated user who is just now installing Dolphin for the first time, the existing features in D7 (as I will call it from this point on) will be more than sufficient. However, for those that have been using Dolphin 6.x for some time or even older versions, it is a bit more incomplete feature wise.

BILLING AND PAYMENT PLUGINS:

Sure, you can have your users pay via PayPal from this point on with D7, but did you know that PayPal also requires that you have your web site approved if you are using it for dating purposes? (see https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/use/index_frame for more info), While this may not be an issue since you are running your site as a clan site or other non-dating uses I for one am not. So, I will be forced to do one of the following:

Submit my already established dating site to PayPal for scrutiny and approval which should not be an issue, but what about those who are wanting to set up a more adult oriented site, PayPal would probably refuse it.

Go out to Expertzzz.com or any other plugin site and now purchase a CCBILL, Authorize.Net, 2Checkout.com, etc plugin just to restore the already included functionality within version 6.x and the like.

While the above option may be small change for most people out there and admittedly it was before I lost my job due to downsizing and the economy. It isn’t for me now, and I would imagine for most others as well, it isn’t. Let’s take into consideration for a minute that while we have to buy the plugin, we also have to pay for advertising and other items. Combine this with an already low cash-funding source coming in; it creates a harder issue.

I have only been able to obtain CCBILL access due to not being able to front the costs of merchant account sign ups (bad credit). Since D7 is apparently not going to support it, I can presume that it will no longer be default in the installation. I am fully aware of other options out there for dating software alternatives especially in the free arena where I once was using but moved due to Dolphin’s apparent CCBILL support. I had run a specific site for dating and needed the CCBILL support and found that Dolphin’s was apparently a lot better. I was very wrong, yet I continued to use it and have not had any luck with it. A special thank you does however go out to IgorL in attempting to fix it. While it worked well on his end, it hasn’t worked at all on my end. I know that there are other plugins that I can buy but see the paragraphs above.

UPGRADEABILITY FROM 6.x to D7:

If you take the time to search the forums, you will see that there are quite a few calls for help and clarification yet none have officially been answered by the Boonex team. Sure, I know they are working heavily and heartily on the D7 platform and structure, however none has really take the time to answer if it is going to be possible. After I examined the database structure some, it became apparent to me that D7 is a total rewrite of the database, and to simply upgrade the old to the new would require some coding and patience to convert from one format to another. Would it be hard to at least acknowledge the questions? After all, we are customers as well as users. The customer’s voice carries a long way. Just look at what happened to Circuit City in the U.S. They let customer service go, realized it to late, and sadly they are no longer around.

I am not saying that Boonex is going in the direction of Circuit City by any means, but I will say that I made several calls from Oregon USA to Australia using my home phone during regular business hours for Australia (between 7am to 5pm Australia Time), to the number listed on the bottom of the web site, and there was absolutely NO ANSWER on the phone. I didn’t mind too much though as I was only paying 2.4cents a minute thanks to having a VoIP line at the time. The reason I called was to sort out my CCBILL issue once and for all.

THERE IS NO ACTIVE SUPPORT SYSTEM:

In reference to the above, there was quite some time spent in trying to get a response from Boonex regarding the programming of the CCBILL module, the only option I had was to email (went unanswered), Phone in (went unanswered), post it in the forums (took forever to be looked at), or send a direct message to them via Twitter. None of this was effective.

I have worked in several e-commerce based companies and know that response time is essential to addressing issues from customers. If not addressed as expected, the customer moves on. There is competition out there for every single E-Commerce venture. From Copy Cats to innovative companies (as I believe Boonex wants to be), it can be brutal out there. If I was a project manager for one of these companies and in a sense I am because I have a couple of sites that I own using Dolphin, I would be giving a maximum of 72 hours and move on to another supplier. I feel that us as users are not being given the appropriate help when required in a timely manner.

There was a time that I would have whole-heartedly given an endorsement for Boonex to anyone who asked. I am not so sure of that anymore.

THE FORUM COMMUNITY IS HELPFUL BUT THEN AGAIN…

One cannot go into the forums and post a help request that is reasonable without being ignored most of the time. I challenge anyone of you reading this to seek out and find unanswered posts where the only one posting is the original poster. Maybe nobody knows the answer and can’t help, but why can’t Boonex appoint at least 1 person to read those posts and address them. I am not talking about some customer service person per se, but an actual Dolphin staff member/coder to address the issue. Sure it can be tedious but at least it is addressed.

While there is an excellent community of coders and people willing to help with the issues with Dolphin, it is disheartening to ask for help and only see the users giving vague answers or maybe full answers without the staff taking the time to address them as well.

OPEN SOURCED:

It is at this time that I have lost members due to issues and errors with my Dolphin 6.1.6 site as well as random bugs. I of course know that the source is now 100% open and we are free to modify, change and improve as we see fit, however as I told a member of Boonex recently; I can read and edit code, but can’t syntax to save my life! I am willing to bet that good portions of users are not developers. For those that have the ability to do this, so be it, why not help us syntax-challenged users?

IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, SHUT UP AND GO AWAY:

Believe me, I have thought about it, and incidently, I was actually placing a dating site up online in a market that needs one and toyed with the idea of using another popular free dating script. I instead stuck to Dolphin hoping that these things can be worked out. At the moment, I have a post out there waiting for an answer to a seemingly easy question, but has not even been addressed. Bumping it has not yielded good results.

Sure, I can move away to the other scripts and probably be very satisfied, but I do keep my loyalty where my money has been spent. I have an annual license that is established for the new site that I bought back in March of this year before the whole pricing fiasco happened. And of course, I have the lifetime license that I am keeping and even donated some very very limited cash to help Boonex out in exchange. I will not be letting go of those as I still believe there is hope out there for Boonex’s Dolphin script.

A MESSAGE TO THE BOONEX TEAM:

I simply want you to take the time to consider what is happening in the community of users through the forums. If you are not allowed to, ask your superior to grant you the time if you are so governed. It will be eye opening and enlightening.

I implore you to at least answer some of the questions regarding the upgrade from 6 to 7 and address the pressing issues rather than letting us speculate about what is going on. Silence may be golden, but we do like to hear from you folks now and then.  :)