It seems that ATV Connection has allowed their forums to go down for over 24 hours. I've noticed the forum traffic has gone done considerably since then (and the traffic was already down since the "upgrade" was performed the week prior).

Should I even bring up the duplicate post syndrome? My guess is that it's not really the users' fault, since it's so widespread. More likely, people are getting way too many time-out errors, assume their message wasn't posted, then post it again (and again, and again, etc.). I don't know about anyone else, but those duplicate posts are really starting to annoy me.

I would like to say to ATV Connection that they really should take into consideration the loss of "good will" that occurs after these kinds of problems happen. It is my opinion, when the forum was down, that leaving a generic "unavailable" message as the only explanation--for as long as they did--was irresponsible; to us and their advertisers.

It is the forums that keep me coming here. If the forums are down, I'm history, and won't ever see the "regular" content (which, I'm sure, won't make the advertisers too happy).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that by not explaining your actions you (ATV Connection) have unwittingly declared us forum users as insignificant (I'm speaking about the second outage, not the first). If I'm right, then you're treading on a slippery slope; as it is very easy for apathy to set in, and for folks to simply not care whether they visit ATV Connection, or not.

Sorry for the rant, it is just that I was happy to find ATV Connection--and its forums--and was a little disappointed over the latest sequence of events.

BTW: I manage a nationwide group of networks, and applications. Personally, I would never allow a critical application upgrade to occur during daytime hours. Also, I always have a set time that the upgrade MUST be completed by. If it's not done by that time, the system is restored to its original state, until the problematic issue(s) can be resolved. If a system engineer allowed a critical app to be down for over 24 hrs, they would have some serious explaining to do, in order to avoid termination.


Just my two cents...
-Mike

 

I hope they are working on the bugs. Not only are we double posting. We are double topicing to. I dont know about other people, I assume we are all having the same troubles. Every time I post, I have to wait about 5 minutes, it seems like then It times out with one kind of error or other. Plus, the forum has really been much slower then before. I cannot believe its because of the web pirates we had. I thought they had that all cleaned up. There must be some more bugs on this still and I hope they are still working on it. They will probably have this shut off again when they find and are ready to fix whats wrong.

 

Mike, as it is your profession to deal with the kinds of issues that Dave and the ATV Connection are currently struggling with, you enjoy an insider’s perspective. You make a good point, I might feel similarly if I were in your shoes. And you’re right that if problems persist subscribers will be lost. But as a less tech oriented user/contributor/enjoyer of this forum I’m more likely to apply less scrutiny and put up with the annoying “quirks” we’re all experiencing right now, and hope the downtime produces improvements.

In the almost three years I’ve participated in this forum I’ve developed the impression (right or wrong) that the staff of ATV Connection is made up of a very few individuals dedicated to the sport of ATVing. If all they cared about was making money with a website they likely be pushing porno instead of putting up with us.

Yes the current problems are a pain, but I think they’re doing the best they can with the resources they have to work with. Don’t give up on ‘em just yet.

 

I don't understand how people can complain about something that is free for everyone to enjoy. If you don't like it that's understandable, but what gives you the right to complain about it? If you had to pay a monthly fee to get into these forums then you should complain, but untill then......

 

Hey FloodRunner,,,Dont give Beckstrom any ideas until he gets this fixed. It never occured to me that Dave owed anyone an explination. In the three plus years ive been here their have been ups and downs and they have all ways been concured by Dave, Bob and the other guy's. They just sunk a big chunk of change into this software for our bennefit not theirs. Be patient, If the forum is down then go ride or something. Putting more pressure on Dave wont help at this point. As I watch the forum...When he fixes one problem it breakes two others and he's getting un-educated advice from the tech support guy from the company he purchased this software from. (How close was that Dave)???

 

I am a systems analyst and I feel for the guys running this web site. Though I'm confused as to why they changed the site, did they need to upgrade the hardware also? What was so wrong with the old site? The way this site now acts smacks of an Unix to NT switch....
PLEASE TELL ME YOU GUYS AREN'T USING ACCESS! So many of my customers have done the Unix to MS Access switch with dire results.
Anyway, good luck guys! I really appreciate the site as do many others.

 

Benelli... Your right, I myself am guilty, I was trying to post a few nights ago, got delayed, ended up sending multiple posts, and as a result got really pissed off and sent Dave an Email. Subsequently, the next day I wrote back and apologized.
I guess its like anything, a person becomes accustomed to a certain standard of operation, and as a result, if that standard is deminished, all hell breaks loose.
I'm sure that he is doing his best to remedy the problem, and you can bet that it will be taken care of as soon as possible.
Now, I will try to submit this only once...

 

F.Y.I. - Its working better today. I posted twice and it came back like its suposed to. Cool! Still a little slower then the old forum. Good enough, so maybe we will stop double posting and topicing!
I think the sponsors are paying for this forum, right? They get there adds in, we own and ride and buy atv stuff. Seems fair to me! Any way, looks like the web masters are getting the kinks out. I see to, that there are more members then ever before. Still allot of atv owners missing though. I have been told, in my state alone, (minnesota), there are 110,000 registered atv owners. Add the other states, boy these, companys must be making bo-ko bucks selling atv's and all those expensive parts. If you bought your atv part by part and put
it together yourself. What would your atv cost. My
gestimate is 30,000 dollars!?!

rangerchet, polaris expedition 425 cc 5 speed.

 

benelli,

I believe your view is a bit simplistic. First, this forum is not really "free." Its content comes from the investment in "time" that its contributors offer. I don't know about you, but my time is not worthless. If the forum, due to whatever problems it might be experiencing, takes more time to use, its value is reduced.

Also, make no mistake, this forum brings users, or "hits" to atvconnection.com. In case you didn't know, those hits can be turned into advertising dollars. Do you think atvconnection.com would rather us take all of our ATV discussions somewhere else? Didn't think so. If everyone did move to--Delphi for example--do you think atvconnection.com would take the position that, since it was a free forum, they're better off without us? Again, didn't think so.

By your logic, nobody should have a right to complain about network TV, radio, baseball, or nearly every web site in existence, since they're "free." (Or are they?)

The fact is that I was hoping to help us _and_ atvconnection.com by, hopefully, letting them know that these problems are annoying.



-Mike

 

Stop crying you babies.. you dont have your toys for few days be , be ,be, big deal, get life .