Questions About Some Changes

[Ice IT Support]

Hello,

I am back after about a year of not signing into the forums (I would still occasionally read it), and have noticed huge amounts of change in HelioHost that I wish to inquire about.

 

A few years ago before Twitter and Facebook rose to fame, if there was a problem an administrator would post a notice in the news. The administrators would collaborate to fix the issue, and the adventurous users paying attention to the forum would investigate to see if they could dig up any more useful information. Users would help other users way before an admin could respond, and the admins would point out useful bits of information. Despite there being thousands of users, HelioHost felt like a small village.

 

Here we are now, with Facebook and Twitter ruling the world. Every company, regardless of size feels it is a requirement to be on these social media sites. They have to have a "professional" look and feel to them and please everyone. Even HelioHost has gone this direction, solving more problems on Facebook and Twitter than you probably do in these forums. It's not professional, it's buttoned up.

 

What happened to the HelioHost that stood by the values of its administrators? What happened to the HelioHost where an actual person would post the news, not a bot-like mask account? I used to think HelioHost was like the farmer down the street. Now HelioHost has developed a corporate feel where the only reason someone will help you is to make themselves look good.

 

Where did all the adventuresome users go? What happened to those who didn't care if they were an admin or not? You don't have to be an administrator to share your knowledge! Sure, people's situations change and they have to move on, but someone else can take over. Now the only user I see helping is anush. Thanks to HelioHost's corporate feel, users don't feel they can trust other users to help. It has to come from an administrator. An administrator who already has hundreds of other things to take care of. Before posting this, I read that pentester has returned. Welcome back! I have also returned and will begin helping after I catch up on some reading.

 

In summary:

I would like to see HelioHost retain some of its old characteristics while it continues to grow. I would like to see the administrators return to a more personal service and not hid behind the mask of a bot account. I would like to see user assistance encouraged, accepted and provided. I understand not everyone has the knowledge or time, but for those of us who are willing to help I encourage you to step up! The best way for users to help is by answering questions on the forums. Of course that would be useless if the forums aren't designated as the main place for support and strongly promoted as such a place...

 

If someone has a different point of view on this situation, please share it. Perhaps I am entirely wrong and HelioHost hasn't changed at all. Any opinions are welcome, I want to know what others think.