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[gpvillamil]

Here's a suggestion - the current MC forums act as a bug repository, support center, how-to and community center. Everything is all mixed up. It can't be productive for the developers, and is very off-putting for potential customers.

Why not implement a proper bug tracker, like Mantis (http://www.mantisbt.org/)? This way, you could track bugs and their resolution in a way that was visible to users, and leave the forums primarily for other kinds of interaction. Also, you'd be able to filter out issues with MC10 (production) from issues with MC11 (beta) and treat them accordingly.

I'm suggesting this because recently I was with a friend, building some smartlists, and decided to search the forums for some tips. Of course, what comes up is a litany of bug reports. Very scary first impression for someone thinking of buying the program.

Since this forum is the main (only?) venue for customer support, please think of treating it that way!

At some point in the future, you might want to consider a case-tracking system for customer issues, this would let you identify recurring patterns and hence change the documentation and/or the program. But in the short term, a bug tracker would be a real win. And it would save the developers a lot of time.

[Matt]

Interact isn't perfect, but we're pretty happy with it.

We get lots of exposure to bug tracking systems in our other lives.  They aren't as glamorous or efficient as you might think.

[JimH]

We're familiar with Mantis and other systems, but prefer Interact.  Sorry if it doesn't work for you.

[hit_ny]

i thought about this and realised that whatever bug reporting system is in place, bugs will get fixed at the rate that JRiver chooses/is able  to fix them.

It might be easier for us to find the bug in the tracking system, but then we all want our bugs fixed yesterday It seems to us that they might be overlooking what we ask them, only answer i can come up with is to constantly post bugs in the build threads till they are fixed. Yeah its a pain to have to do this but copy+paste does the trick.

[gpvillamil]

The main point is that you are using Interact as both a customer support forum, and a bug tracking system. You currently have a stable product, MC10, and a product in development, MC11. Customers who are looking for help in USING MC10 are exposed to the entire list of bugs & issues in MC11.

THIS IS SCARING OFF NEW CUSTOMERS. I WANT YOU TO HAVE NEW CUSTOMERS. REALLY, I DO.

At the very least, consider opening a forum for MC11 bug tracking, separate from a forum for "how do I do X" questions. The MC11 bug forum could be labelled something like "sausages being made, not for the squeamish". I cannot see any downside whatsoever to doing this.

[modelmaker]

From a marketing POV I totally agree with gpvillamil.
 
It's confusing enuff for noobs when they're looking for support and they have to go to this forum. When I first got MJ/MC I was also new to computers as many people are and I had never been on any chat/forum site - I didn't even know how use it. And then I saw all the bug threads (v9 at the time), if I hadn't already made my purchase, I wouldn't have been back.

It makes logical sense to separate the released versions from the beta. You (JRiver) may like it the way it is, but when it comes to customer service, it really isn't about what you like, it's all about helping the customer.

[Deivit]

Take a look at this other recent thread, and specially at Jim's post. We probably can take that as the "official unofficial" JRiver position on this issue.

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=26308.msg182446#msg182446