MoogSpace: rather boring ?

sir_dss · Post by **sir_dss** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:59 pm

Now hang on...

Can we still "Ask Amos" in a email for tech support? Or only on Moogspace?

magnet · Post by **magnet** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:13 pm

Gotta Love a good open discussion! Like anything new, there are growing pains, and i hadn't really expected MS to be all chock-full of great stuff right off the bat. But I do think I need to toss in my hat.
Firstly, i own a Voyager, and a Little Phatty.
I bought the extended warrentee for my Voyager, as i just felt like buying "insurance".
I realise how complicated these beasts are, and can understand Moog wanting to do the service on units in OR out of Warentee. But ANY possibility of handling problems or questions before a unit must be returned should be top priority. It is a win-win situation for us if we can do a software upgrade to get our instruments back up and running. When i got my Litle Phatty, I had a hopeless mess with the software. I posted at Squarewave, Phatsound, and in the forum.
*Love*
I got such a tremendous and absoluely pure amount of help, and new version of the software appeared soonthereafter, and nothing had to get sent in. Nobody talked 'down' to me, and everyone involved just doubled my Loyalty, and sense of community. You are all people i would welcome as friends.
That said, ANY definitive Resource will take time ($$$ too) to set up. I think that a forum can answer many situations, but there does need to be a place for files, downloads, and an occasional article. I agree that it should be free, as it is EXCELLENT advertising. But i don't expect it overnight.
And off topic, I sure do hope that Moog will put some effort into a long-view on service. What will happen after a warentee is out, and should those technically inclined folks who want to do Moog service, be allowed or schooled to do so ? I certainly think there is room for at least a few service centers for instruments all over the globe. The less distance I would have to ship my gear, the happier I would be.

Thanks Bob, and thanks for listening , all of you.

cheveux.boucles · Post by **cheveux.boucles** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:22 pm

I agree, everyone likes having a wonderful instrument, but having a small, personal company seals the deal for me.

toryjames · Post by **toryjames** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:45 pm

I have never had better customer service than with Moog. Never was it stated that Moog customers would be kept out of such service without a MoogSpace account. The fee is pretty nominal and prevents those who would otherwise set up a free account to fill the space with self-promotional spam from doing so. I have adready made use of the discount, which more than surpassed the $12 fee. Think about how off topic this place might get if accounts were free. It's a user community, $12/year is not much at all, it probably just ensures those of us who are on here are serious about it. A free service would get messy pretty quick.

sergiovalente9 · Post by **sergiovalente9** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:25 am

I didn´t thinked about spam. But is true... I think that toryjames is right.

latigid on · Post by **latigid on** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:24 am

There are several members here which have hundreds of posts. Surely some of them, if asked, would act as moderators and delete spam/inappropriate content on MoogSpace.

Sweep · Post by **Sweep** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:36 am

I offered to do that months ago when the spam started to get annoying. I was ignored. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

sergiovalente9 · Post by **sergiovalente9** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:43 pm

Moogspace seems to be a only a little "alive" and very slowly in his grow/development. If Moog can´t afford more personnel to do it fast, a good option will be that decides to ask for help to the members. I think that experience user will be very happy to help Moog in this process.

eric coleridge · Post by **eric coleridge** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:04 pm

toryjames wrote:Never was it stated that Moog customers would be kept out of such service without a MoogSpace account. .

No, but I'm not aware of an on-line Moog product answer service apart from Moog Space.

toryjames wrote: The fee is pretty nominal and prevents those who would otherwise set up a free account to fill the space with self-promotional spam from doing so. I have adready made use of the discount, which more than surpassed the $12 fee. Think about how off topic this place might get if accounts were free. It's a user community, $12/year is not much at all, it probably just ensures those of us who are on here are serious about it. A free service would get messy pretty quick.

It's true, the fee is pretty nominal-- which just seems like more of a reason, to me, for them to eliminate it.

I don't agree that concerns about spam are a significant problem that couldn't be solved otherwise.

"This place"(the forum) is free, and I haven't noticed much of any kind of spam traffic here. So, I'm not sure why it would be more of a problem on the Moog Space.

Its not like this MS problem bothers me that much. It's just something to talk about-- and it seems like a seriously wasted resource because of the way it's currently configured. I think it should change.

Code: Select all

DeFrag · Post by **DeFrag** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:39 pm

eric coleridge wrote:It's true, the fee is pretty nominal-- which just seems like more of a reason, to me, for them to eliminate it.

Exactly.

Amos · Post by **Amos** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 7:01 pm

eric coleridge wrote:...I'm not aware of an on-line Moog product answer service apart from Moog Space.

Hi Eric! You can always reach me at techsupport(at)moogmusic.com.

eric coleridge wrote: "This place"(the forum) is free, and I haven't noticed much of any kind of spam traffic here. So, I'm not sure why it would be more of a problem on the Moog Space.

you should have seen it before Jared started manually approving new forum registrations and deleting all of the christina aguilera porno-spam. Yuk!

eric coleridge wrote:Its not like this MS problem bothers me that much. It's just something to talk about-- and it seems like a seriously wasted resource because of the way it's currently configured. I think it should change.

I agree, there is some real room for improvement. More content, more stuff to look at and listen to and do... Frankly if mySpace charged money for membership they'd *never* have attracted the squillions of users they have now. But... mySpace is funded by heavy, heavy advertising.
Would you guys be willing to have banners or google-style ads on MoogSpace? It's cost us thousands of bucks to set up what we have now, and I'd love to just give it away as a gift to our user community ('cos y'all rock) - but it's hard to justify when we're such a small company, running on a tight budget as we are. If MoogSpace is going to become something really cool and a good community, it needs:

-to attract a "critical mass" of users so that it's fun for all of us to hang out there

-signs of life from us at Moog, like new interviews every so often, more "Ask Amos" questions answered... just some obvious changes to let you know we're keeping it active. I admit I've been slacking on the "Ask Amos" section... I could have another couple posts up there, but it takes time to write well, and I'm trying to hold down the service department and beta-test the new Little Phatty OS at the same time. Not trying to complain, just explain why I haven't written more lately. I still answer a ton of personal questions via email every day (see the top of this post).

Also moogSpace needs not to be too much of a drain on our budget. It doesn't have to be some kind of big moneymaker, that was never the intent... but it does need some kind of help. To have the interviews, even the one with me - The writer had to call me up and talk for an hour or so, record and transcribe our conversation to text, and edit it into a good format. That's several hours of work by a professional for each interview. It would be great to have a new one every month, but that starts to look like a lot of work for someone to have to do... any volunteers?

I hope my perspective is helpful. I want this to succeed, and be something good for all of us. It's going to take some work and some creative thinking to make it happen. Let's figure it out, and make it right.

Kind regards to all,

Amos

thewaag · Post by **thewaag** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:33 pm

I think that Amos is on to something here.

I used to hang out on a guitar forum (Brand F) that eventually started taking ads to offset the cost. The forum was approved by Brand F as being the "official site", but it was not sponsored by Brand F, so the moderator was spending a fair amount of his own money.

The moderator put banner ads at the heading of the web site. These were easy to get used to and were fairly unobtrusive. Because of the banner ads, the site is still there today, and going on as strong as ever. The site still offered financial "memberships" to those who could afford it and wanted to contribute.

I would love to see the Moog Music Forum and Moog Space joined together so that everyone could enjoy the attributes of both forums for free.

sergiovalente9 · Post by **sergiovalente9** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:53 pm

Amos wrote:any volunteers?

I want to help. What can I do?

DeFrag · Post by **DeFrag** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:13 pm

Our participation here & MS quantitatively defines further value to the entire Moog experience which in my book is worth something. I can appreciate the fact that Moog posted a couple grand to build this community.. but its almost self sustaining save for a few blog-type updates now & then from the keepers that be.

Personally, I hate ads, popups, & the like. BUT, GOOGLE ads seem to be the least intrusive although I'm not sure you can filter out your competition! heh I'd hate to lose my trial-membership before you guys release that Moog Modeler for what seems like a stagnant presence. Tell ya what, make the MS a freebie & I'll speak for the rest of us user-bees.. we'll help make it as useful, fun, practical, & FRESH as our lil' community here on the forum!

Anyway, thanks for the post Amos. As busy as we all know you (guys) are trying to keep us satiated with OS updates, new products, & services, I'm sure WE ALL APPRECIATE your time when you take a second to fill us in... or to pop into a thread & answer or clarify some question. Keep up the great work, & thanks more than I can convey. Moog on.

DeFrag · Post by **DeFrag** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:23 pm

Amos wrote:any volunteers?

I can offer my services in many different ways. I will copyedit anything from technical docs to impromptu interviews; I can create, manage, & maintain web content like nobody's business; or I can even try to collect demographic data through different means to identify community consensus as to what new products & feature-sets people would like to see next. Hell, I'll stuff envelopes with Moog stickers!

If your current business model & public liason standards allow to bring volunteers into the fold in order to further produce buzz, value, or increase efficient services to your users, by all means.. have a couple honest pow-wows with your staff & consider taking advantage of the free workforce you have available before you. Most people here would more than likely jump at the chance to help within the fold.

I would like to be the one to officially offer my services unto Moog to satisfy your requirements, deadlines, expansion, & interests. Take it offline if you wish. I might at first recommend you consider a volunteer "lead" that helps formulate, direct, & delegate tasks as Moog deems fit to pursue. After that, I suspect you may wish to poll the users as to their SKA's (skills, knowledge, & abilities) so that you may incorporate their commitment to providing a standard, reliable, yet secure input to Moog. Don't forget non-disclosure agreements!

What I don't know, I'll learn. Help us help you.