[TimShriver]

Originally Posted by richland007

but what's mostly stopping me is the silence of this forum it is deafening at times...I used to look forward to checking it every other day for news and inspiration but there is nothing lately

What I suspect has happened in regard to forum activity is a couple of things. We have launched this new HAL website earlier this year with the addition of our Help Desk. Where once users used to post question on this site, they now create a help desk tickets... We handle on average 43 support calls a day, 81 Help Desk tickets and 37 support emails. I'm not sure if it is a trend or what, but we have seen an increase in direct support requests versus a community request via the forum.

I've also noticed a number of automation technology companies don't even have a forum. I'm sorry if the number of HAL users that want to actively participate on a community forum upsets you. I've also noticed a shift in the customer profile over the last two years. In the early days of HAL (late 80's and early 90's) I would describe most of our customers as not just DIYers, but users that were more like hobbyist and enthusiast. The majority of our customers today, use home automation but don't want to play with home automation... If that makes sense ~ They just want home automation without getting their hands dirty or having to tinker.

One last observation is that there are different types of forum members as well. Some that are regulars, some that pop on when they have an issue or question once in a blue moon and still others that start out as regulars but become silent once they have their system running the way they want and on auto-pilot. It's certainly different today than just a few years ago of the hobbyist/enthusiast and while they were the early adopters of home automation, there is definitely a new breed of customer today driving the industry.

Tim