🚀 go-pugleaf

Here's an Adobe problem with a Microsoft solution (?!?!)

I tried posting to Adobe's PageMaker (for Mac) user-to-user forum on the Web
last night. Even though I've visited the user-to-user forums in the past, I
found that I had to re-register yet again, after having to do that before.
But that's OK. I did it. I posted my question.

Later that evening, I tried getting into the GoLive user-to-user forum.
Adobe's web-site bounced me back to their user-to-user forums' log-in
window. I put in the appropriate information and logged in. I got another
log-in window. And another. I tried the PageMaker forum, and got the same
run-around. I went back today and got the same thing. I can't even
re-register to enter the forums.

Adobe publicly offers these user-to-user forums as a free service to
customers via the web. You can't really complain about something when it's
free, except when something is offered to you and then it isn't available. I
talked to Adobe over the phone, got passed around, and discovered that these
people don't know anything about these services on the web. They have to dig
into their online documentation to find a directive in place that they are
to report problems with there forums to their manager.

I suggested to Adobe personnel that they follow the Microsoft Public News
Server model of free-forum-support: in Outlook Express, Microsoft's freeware
news and e-mail client, an icon is offered in the Folders pane of the main
window for each news server which the end-user accesses through their local
Internet Service Provider. In addition, Microsoft offers an icon for direct
access to its Public News Server. MS's PNS offers at least one newsgroup for
each product it sells. I occasionally post to
microsoft.public.word.macword98 and other MS products' newsgroups when I
wish, without the need to go through some log-in rigmarole which may or may
not work.

I don't really see where the identity-and-password setup Adobe uses is
really necessary to conduct technical discussions anyway. If Adobe wants to
control content in these forums, maybe they should just manage moderated
newsgroups through their own public news server. What's wrong with something
like adobe.public.golive.mac , or just adobe.public.moderated.golive , or
something like that? Couldn't Adobe work out a deal with Microsoft to offer
a downloadable plugin that would make an Adobe PNS icon available in the
Folders pane of OE?

Just my $.02.