[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

[andyp1]

Tim,
Thanks for the explanation as to why the board is so much quitter than it use to be. I was wondering about this myself.
I have a new date for my membership to the board, but I have been with Hal since 2008.
There was a lot more activity back then, I understand what you are saying about the clientele that Hal is getting now.
Thanks for the explanation.


Andy

[TimShriver]

Hi Andy,

We are actually working on putting in place a policy that would reward both long time Message Board (MB) users and relatively new MB users that are actively posting at some level each year something related to home automation and in accordance with the message board rules. So we have come up with two possible ways to qualify for discounts on software updates or software upgrades.

Here are a couple of scenarios. If a MB user over the prior year posted at least 24 times, has been a registered HAL customer for 2 years and has at least 100 posts, they would be eligible for 10% discount. Another way to achieve that same 10% discount would simply require having posted 48 times in the prior year.

To achieve higher discounts another scenario would be a MB user who over the prior year posted at least 24 times, has been a registered HAL customer for 5 years and has at least 200 posts, they would be eligible for 20% discount. Another way to achieve that same 20% discount would simply require having posted 96 times in the prior year with no tie to how long they have been a HAL customer.

The longer the activity or the more frequent the post, the larger the discount they would recognize. This policy is timely as we are about to cross into the next year! We hope this encourages board activity that is both constructive and helpful to the HAL MB community and rewards both long time customers and active users/members.

Please let me know you thoughts before the end of the year!

Best Regards,

Tim

[dtomcat]

Tim,
Sounds nice.... My only criticism would be, that it may promote people posting non sense just to meet quotas. Will there be something in place to counter this? More moderators? There has seem to be a lack in moderator presence as well lately

Other than that... Sounds like a good plan to bring life back into the forum

-Rob

[Tyler]

Hi dtomcat a.k.a Rob,

I along other HAL staff will work to insure that posts are in accordance with the message board rules.
http://www.automatedliving.com/forum....php?p=2#post2

If messages are being posted that are obviously being done in an effort to increase a post count, those posts will be excluded from any tally towards qualifying for discounts.

This program doesn't mean the message board will be flowing with activity. It just means HAL is trying to incentivize and reward active members.

Sincerely,

Tyler
HAL Technical Support

[TimShriver]

In addition to what Tyler mentioned, I would like to also find out if there are advanced MB users that would like to have moderator permissions. If so, please Private Message me.

Thank you,

Tim