Jim Dettman
jimdettman at verizon.net
Mon Mar 30 11:48:53 CDT 2009
All, Since this is OT, rather then clog up the list with a bunch of replies, I thought I'd just send a single reply and address some of the points you raised. I think if you'd gave the site a try for a while you perceptions might change, especially depending on what point it was that you tried the site, as it has changed considerably over the years. In fact it underwent a major change in management back in 2001 and there is now a dedicated group of people trying to improve it with a major focus on customer service. That's why the articles and a bunch of other stuff is coming. Since then, they've been working building the site by refining the question/answer format to make it easier, and making fundamental improvements in things such as the search engine, site stability, etc. Now they are ready to start moving forward in some new directions. Anyway, here's some comments on your replies: 1. Cost - Yes it is $12.95 a month, however I would kick in that since being on the site since 1999, I haven't paid a dime and for the past 3 or 4 years, I haven't been working all that hard at answering questions. It is ridiculously easy to earn 3000 points a month and qualify for free membership. As to why they charge, well you don't run a site that size for nothing. Bandwidth, servers, staff, etc all cost. The model that was used in the past of plastering ads all over just doesn't work. That's why in 2001 EE nearly went bankrupt. It will be interesting to see what happens with other sites such as Utter Access and how long they will be around or if they will change their business model. Even Face Book is considering a subscription service at this point. 2. Ads - While there are still ads, they are no longer the driving revenue like they were in the early days. You can switch to the "Expert Skin", which is a cleaner interface and is ad free. 3. "Experts" - Yes, the level of experts varies greatly and you may find certain areas having nothing but Google Monkeys. There are (and always have been) various efforts underway to minimize that, but this is something you'll find just about anywhere you go (I've found that the Access-D list is the exception rather then the rule). However as I said, many MVP's do call it home and you can find some really good people there. 4. Search engine - They know it sucked and have been making continual improvements to it for the past couple of years. In fact it's just about due for another adjustment. In the past two years there has been a big jump in performance to the point where it really is useable, but even so, right on the page, EE still gives you the choice of selecting Google for a search or the EE Search Engine to search EE. 5. The PAQ database (Previously Asked Question) - I'd be the first to admit that the quality of the PAQ database has gone down. The main reason for this is that a while back, premium members were given unlimited points for asking questions. Prior to that, you were limited in how many questions you could ask. As a result, you asked good questions and didn't give up on them. Experts worked at providing good answers because there were fewer questions to answer. Now, people just ask as many questions as they want. Many times they just accept an answer in order to move on even though it may not be the right one or complete. So the focus on the site has started shifting from searching for answers to simply asking and getting a response. In fact there is now a "related question" feature so you can link back to an earlier question and maintain a thread of questions on a given topic. As for my involvement EE I joined it after leaving CompuServe, where I answered questions in the Access forum for 8 years. At that point, Microsoft had moved its product support off CompuServe and WUGNET had taken over the Access forum. Things really went down hill after that, so I started looking for something like CompuServe. At the time, there wasn't much out there. I tried the Microsoft newsgroups for a while, but they were un-moderated at the time and just not fun to be around. I also tried Woody's Access Lounge and it just didn't seem like the right fit. EE at that time was pretty unique in what it did, so I joined. I've been with them ever since. In closing, let me just say that this will be the last post on this. As I said, I didn't want to take anything away from Access-D, but did want to make everyone aware of an opportunity. Jim.