Do You Feel Like We Are Being Ignored? =/ [Archive]

THr3eS01di3Rs

02-11-2009, 03:28 AM

Im just wondering if anyone else is feeling as ingnored as I am...the GMs never post anymore. I havnt seen the CSRs post in a long time and as I understand they were hired so they could make sure that there was someone watching the forums.

There are tons of threads on serious bug, problems, ideas. All of them not being addressed. I know that I speak for everyone when I think we would all like it if a GM just popped in and said "thank you for your feed back we are currently working on this issue". That hasnt been said in a long time. The feed back thread is completely devoide of any OS staff also. I wonder when the last time a GM besides former GM Dakkon has even looked at the class balence thread in feed back...

I wonder if we are all wasting our time giving our ideas,debating, sharing, and everything else on this forum.

spookyiness

02-11-2009, 03:47 AM

i see gms & csrs respond to things all the time, and even say they are addressing problems and bugs before they actually get addressed.

you are probably just thinking, or noticing, that people make 30 threads a day for 1 problem, and only one of those threads gets an 'official' comment. Of course they have better things to do than copy/paste the same poo to everyone.

i'm not saying everything gets a response, or that all the bugs appear to be addressed, but to say that there is none is very wrong. All the major bugs and problems i've noticed over the last few months have all been commented on in one way or another, whereas, the 95% of threads that are just repeats of previous problems that have already been covered, do not get a response, and rightly so.

grummin

02-11-2009, 04:10 AM

I know that I speak for everyone

Bit full of yourself? I know that either A, you're wrong or B, you're basically declaring that I'm noone- because you in fact don't speak for me. I can speak for myself just fine, thank you very much.

No, I don't feel ignored because an OutSpark employee isn't using paid time to respond to every thread about something somebody doesn't like. If you do, that's your prerogative- but leave me out of your assumptions, please.

DF001

02-11-2009, 04:38 AM

Lol, I have never seen a post from OS on the feedback section, and there are bugs that are here ever since JUNE and they weren't fixed yet.

Asheer

02-11-2009, 04:39 AM

Are some people really so afraid of staff that they never admit that this community is already nothing more as "necessary evil" for Outspark?
But i wont waste my breath in attempt to post obvious fact witch will be ignored anyway.
Go ahead, live in your world where all is perfect but every dreams usually comes to end and wake up from them can be sometimes really painfull...

goldhawk2

02-11-2009, 05:07 AM

Chaola

02-11-2009, 05:25 AM

I had just posted something about it in the Feedback forums...

Now, thinking about it... I don't see what the support forums are for...

In troubleshooting, it's only players replying...
In Bug reporting, same...
In Know Issues... Well, last post date is November -.-
In Feedback... I never saw in staff members answering our feedback, be it positive or negative...

In the general discussion, you get an answer when you either insult or flame OS...

I don't wait for the staff to answer to ALL threads made... But when you have multiple ones popping out about the mages stones capacity, or the problem of BK's weapon's aim... It would be nice to know that we are read and that our feedback is actually taken in account...

Sking said a few weeks ago that OS was changing... Still no change for me...

Miazma

02-11-2009, 05:57 AM

To the OP before you get upset at the negative nancies comments look at their join dates. That is always a good indication of why their responses are negative. They dont know what the game used to be like.

All the OLD GM's are leaving including Snake who is leaving at the end of this month. 3 new GM's have just been introduced, however they are spread across all servers.

The truth is Fiesta really dont care that the game has issues, they have us all hooked and as long as we keep pouring our money into the cash shop they have no reason to fix things.

People keep saying we should sympathise with them because of their workload. mmmmhh well we may play a virtual game but they are employed in the real world. Obviously unlike in the real world the customer is not the most important asset the business has.

YoshimaruOrona

02-11-2009, 07:19 AM

Even this issue has been repeated already.

U.S. economy blows and OutSpark is lacking in staff numbers. Silky said it himself recently in another thread, that they're currently in the hiring process.

CSR's are busy with the 102384029420 tickets being submitted to them every day about this, that, and the other, which is why it takes 5-6 days to get a response when you complain about your sparkcash transaction gone wrong or whatever. So who's left to post/read about every single complaint thread posted by the hundreds of forum-goers?

Silky.
SnakeEyes.

Who else is left?

Btw, please remember that Fiesta isn't the only game that OutSpark publishes. There's also Secret of the Solstice, Bread n Butter, Project Powder, along with Blackshot (being prepared for open beta) and Wind Slayer (currently in CBT).

Anybody wondering why SKiNG doesn't post here as much? That's because he's busy with the other games too. If you don't believe me, go look through Blackshot's forums. And who knows, maybe he's on the forums for the other games too...

pabloking

02-11-2009, 07:27 AM

Btw, please remember that Fiesta isn't the only game that OutSpark publishes. There's also Secret of the Solstice, Bread n Butter, Project Powder, along with Blackshot (being prepared for open beta) and Wind Slayer (currently in CBT).

"Jack of all trades, master of none"

If they dont have enough employees for all their games, then why are they releasing more and more games? ~.~ They keep releasing more games and cash shop items instead of improving the gameplay of the games they already have.

YoshimaruOrona

02-11-2009, 07:41 AM

"Jack of all trades, master of none"

If they dont have enough employees for all their games, then why are they releasing more and more games? ~.~ They keep releasing more games and cash shop items instead of improving the gameplay of the games they already have.

OnsOnSoft covers Fiesta's gameplay issues and concerns, not OutSpark.

DNC covers Secret of the Solstice's gameplay issues and concerns, not OutSpark.

Studio BLUECAT covers Project Powder's gameplay issues and concerns, not OutSpark.

OutSpark has a contract with all of these companies to be able to publish, and continue publishing these addicting games that we all enjoy. Releasing new cash shop items is the only way for them to gain income, pay the creators of the game, and successfully maintain their contracts. Otherwise, OnsOn (for example) could take Fiesta away from us if they wanted to. And nobody wants to see that happen.

Why do they keep releasing new games with their limited staff, I'm not sure, but the fact that a game that they published has bugs/issues isn't entirely OutSpark's fault. Part of it goes to the developers who send over the broken patches and such. All OutSpark can do is test patches and hope that they won't cause Fiesta (or any other game, for that matter) to completely crash after applying them.

DF001

02-11-2009, 08:05 AM

Bit full of yourself? I know that either A, you're wrong or B, you're basically declaring that I'm noone- because you in fact don't speak for me. I can speak for myself just fine, thank you very much.

No, I don't feel ignored because an OutSpark employee isn't using paid time to respond to every thread about something somebody doesn't like. If you do, that's your prerogative- but leave me out of your assumptions, please.

Uhm, excuse me, but look at him, he is here for a long time, don't you think that maybe he had problems before with OS ignoring him?

milky_chan

02-11-2009, 08:55 AM

"Jack of all trades, master of none"

If they dont have enough employees for all their games, then why are they releasing more and more games? ~.~ They keep releasing more games and cash shop items instead of improving the gameplay of the games they already have.

You right about this. I've been thinking about this over and over again. Kinda mad and a lot of my friend left this Fiesta coz of OS who did something out of their control. Improve your FIRST AND OLDEST game that u hosted, before taking other game! Or else, just simply quit hosting Fiesta and give to other company that may got better things to change in game n not only the cash shop. And the Event also...(dunno how to say this) rarely see interesting event like before. When GM Dakkon and other old GM's still around, the game getting fun and enjoyable with some interesting event. Not like now. The ToS kinda strict dont u think.First time I saw a game company that make a ToS like this. And you making change by not letting cash shop items to be sell in game while u still getting the money no matter what.

Celtic_Princess

02-11-2009, 09:11 AM

What they're doing is called Product Development. Its the idea of introducing new products (i.e. new games) into the same markets in order to attract more business.

Why are they making new games when they still have old ones to fix?

Because, by sticking to one game and one genre only they are missing out on other potential markets in which they can make a profit. Profit means more room for employees, more employees means that they can improve the games that they do have. Most gaming sites offer more than two games...why should Outspark, a fairly new company game wise, do otherwise? They wouldn't be able to be competitive with other gaming sites that do offer a wider variety of games.

Are we being ignored?

No, we are not. Like others have pointed out this is a licensed game. I agree that it would be great to hear that they're working on bugs but this last maintenance alone should tell you that they aren't ignoring you. OS users have made a lot of threads on the 'target out of casting range' bug. What was on the agenda for last nights patch? To fix the 'target out of casting range bug'. While it would be nice to see a post stating that they are working on it...its not necessary.

Over the past few months, they have been drastically understaffed. In all honesty, I would rather see that they are fixing bugs through reading the patch notes than see someone (who, due to shortage of staff, should have more pressing issues to deal with) taking time out of their work day to search the thousands of threads we have here and respond to each with a similar answer. If you search the names of the CSRs, the GMs and the CMs you'll see that they do actually spend some time responding to players. Particularly those who are having trouble accessing, downloading, or playing the game.

Serric

02-11-2009, 09:17 AM

These are all valid concerns. I wanted to make that clear before I moved on…

OS staff do, in fact, respond. Granted, they are not on the forums as much as they used to be, this is true. But they have the new ‘contact a CSR’ function to hopefully still allow players to voice their concerns.

I’ll admit, I wish there was more feedback on the feedback thread. However, their staff is, sadly, limited. So why do they come out hosting new games with limited staff? Because it generates revenue, and revenue generates profits. A larger profit margin means they can afford to hire more personnel which, in turn, relates directly to all of us. That’s just my take on the issue and I am sure that isn’t 100% of what’s going on.

As a community you have the right and the power to request more presence from OP, even if it is a singular point of contact. I know they want ore communication between the users and the offices, hence the new assistance gateway and the CL program.

Here is what I would suggest… collect a single spreadsheet of all current issues. Send that info to me via PM or, of the file is too large, request my email and send it to me that way. I will compile the data and present it to the CSRs and request an official status on each issue. I will then post that info in the feedback section (if they don’t do it themselves)

Please note that the information will be limited. They can say they are looking into an issue but they can give no eta’s on when that issue will be resolved. To put it bluntly, if you’re looking for specifics, I can tell you that data is not available.

I hope this helps. I’ll be checking in on this thread from time to time and will be happy to answer any questions I can. Please keep in mind that CLs have no authority on in-game or account issues.

Thanks! :)

EDIT: Celtic beat me to it! lol

Celtic_Princess

02-11-2009, 09:27 AM

Haha, my business and marketing classes are paying off. Anyways, I have the day off...and I'm essentially finished with my school work...so I'd be happy to see if I could put together a database of errors for you. It may take some time though.

Miazma

02-11-2009, 09:30 AM

Somehow everytime I see a post from Serric things seem to return to normal for me. I am not big on giving accolades but this guy has to be one of the best forum moderators I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Roseanna

02-11-2009, 09:36 AM

All the OLD GM's are leaving including Snake who is leaving at the end of this month.
What?! NO!! Not him too. :(

Here is what I would suggest… collect a single spreadsheet of all current issues. Send that info to me via PM or, of the file is too large, request my email and send it to me that way. I will compile the data and present it to the CSRs and request an official status on each issue. I will then post that info in the feedback section (if they don’t do it themselves)
Maybe someone should open up a post and make a list... what one person might forget, another person will remember. Then one person make that spreadsheet and send it to you? Just a suggestion. :)

Somehow everytime I see a post from Serric things seem to return to normal for me. I am not big on giving accolades but this guy has to be one of the best forum moderators I have had the pleasure of meeting.
Same. :)

Asheer

02-11-2009, 09:45 AM

OnsOnSoft covers Fiesta's gameplay issues and concerns, not OutSpark.

DNC covers Secret of the Solstice's gameplay issues and concerns, not OutSpark.

Studio BLUECAT covers Project Powder's gameplay issues and concerns, not OutSpark.

OutSpark has a contract with all of these companies to be able to publish, and continue publishing these addicting games that we all enjoy. Releasing new cash shop items is the only way for them to gain income, pay the creators of the game, and successfully maintain their contracts. Otherwise, OnsOn (for example) could take Fiesta away from us if they wanted to. And nobody wants to see that happen.

Why do they keep releasing new games with their limited staff, I'm not sure, but the fact that a game that they published has bugs/issues isn't entirely OutSpark's fault. Part of it goes to the developers who send over the broken patches and such. All OutSpark can do is test patches and hope that they won't cause Fiesta (or any other game, for that matter) to completely crash after applying them.

Problem is that Outspark DONT TEST patches content, if they will do even simple one hour test they will see all bugs and glitches.
Its well known that Outspark have "Dump and run from blast AoE damages" tactic when its comes to patches.
Let me give you a small example.
There was a feedback thread about 10/28 patch and he was active about three moths (untill end of December).
Over 100 pages WITHOUT single "No Comment" from staff despite all attempts to get staff attention for such thread.
*Sigh...* Everybody who defend Outspark post that they have right now staff shortage BUT DID ANYBODY OF YOU ASK WHY such situation occured?
More and more staff members disappear from employ list under rather mysterious circumstances and i start to assumed that there is more behind curtain as many of us can even presumed...
I live at this world long in off to witness how even once great people (and friends) become corrupted by "sound of money" and turned in to completely strangers, so i am rather not surprised that Outspark staff fallen in to similar trap.
Fiesta fallen in really dark time period and so far i dont see any spark of hope that something will change and if comes for me... my trust reserve when comes to Outspark staff is 0.
And that is something what i never expect to happend :(

pabloking

02-11-2009, 09:45 AM

DF001

02-11-2009, 09:54 AM

Maybe someone should open up a post and make a list... what one person might forget, another person will remember. Then one person make that spreadsheet and send it to you? Just a suggestion. :)

I did it <3

Roseanna

02-11-2009, 10:00 AM

Thanks! <3 I'll work on filling in the blanks that people don't report when I get home tonight or tomorrow.

Celtic_Princess

02-11-2009, 10:02 AM

I'm sorry but I am not satisfied with the answer to my question. You said that by releasing new games Outspark make more profits. It seems to me that Outspark prefer to get small profits from every game to have a big profit in the end. Several things have discouraged the players from buying more cash shop stuff (unresolved bugs, lag, no new server which could decrease the lag in the busiest time, old cash shop items brought back but with higher prices, the new 'permanent' movers which arent permanent at all, among others). If players saw the product is worth the money they are paying for items, they would keep buying and Outspark would get really good profits.

Very few players who said they are going to stop buying sc have actually stopped. There are players who have spent over $10,000 on sc by themselves. Between 3 games that currently have a CS (Fiesta, SoS, and BnB) Outspark makes a tidy profit...I highly doubt that with 3 million+ players they'd only have a small profit.

Old items are brought back with higher rates, yes, but they are packs now (they include outfit, accessories, and a mover). Its common practice in marketing to change one of the four P's (product, place, promotion, and price) depending on marketing research. However, newer items are released at lower prices...full outfits cost between 1.5-4k sc depending on how much it offers. The better the benifits, the higher the price.

Consumers often spend money on things that seem to have 'value' to them...that is, the benefits outweigh the cost. A number of players feel that outfits, shiny weps, and other perks increase their benefits (in this case entertainment value) and so a good number of players still buy SC. You can't move two steps in Elderine without crossing someone wearing some sort of SC item.

Also, creating a new server wouldn't necessarily fix lag. The server populations would essentially be the same on each server as they are now. The only way a new server would fix this was if they implemented a server merge. Allowing players to move their entire account to a different server.

However, as to your original question. They have the ability to release new CS items and new games while working on Fiesta. The GMs are different for each game, and each game has its own 'team'. Keep in mind though, that because this is a licensed game, and OS isn't the original creator, that bugs not only have to be reported and found, the coding has to be fixed (which sometimes means the involvement of the license owner) and then tested again and then implemented in a new patch. Its not easy, and its not instant.

DF001

02-11-2009, 10:09 AM

Thanks! <3 I'll work on filling in the blanks that people don't report when I get home tonight or tomorrow.

I'd appreciate it.

I wish I could get some screenshots to report some bugs..

edit: No luck. Moved on 5 minutes.

Miazma

02-11-2009, 10:10 AM

Also, creating a new server wouldn't necessarily fix lag. The server populations would essentially be the same on each server as they are now. The only way a new server would fix this was if they implemented a server merge. Allowing players to move their entire account to a different server.

Creating a new server wouldnt fix the lag but adding more channels to each server sure would. Each channel is a duplicate of the main server and this would then mean there wouldnt be the constant bickering over the lack of grinding areas.

Serric

02-11-2009, 10:11 AM

Had to move the list to an appropriate thread... feedback. Post the issues there and I'll see what I can do to promote it to the CSRs/ GMs.

Roseanna

02-11-2009, 10:14 AM

Creating a new server wouldnt fix the lag but adding more channels to each server sure would. Each channel is a duplicate of the main server and this would then mean there wouldnt be the constant bickering over the lack of grinding areas.
I loved this about one other MMO I played. Have to kill 10 mobs that have a long respawn time? Well channel hop, kill one on each channel, then wait for respawn and kill on 2 more channels. xD Want to grind and a spot's taken? Try another channel! Also on that game, all dungeons are instance. Grinding was so easy there.

Miazma

02-11-2009, 10:17 AM

Yeah I have to admit the last game I played, and still visit occassionally is where I stole the channel idea from. And yes it really made the game a whole lot more fun because there wasnt the constant hassle over trying to find mobs to complete quests etc. And OK I admit it, :D :D yeah I was a channel hopper too :D :D

sonicweilder

02-11-2009, 10:17 AM

Hm, only read your post and stuff, But Silky posts on some pointless threads,
and,
Dakkon/Snake were the only active GM's on apoline, I dont know about other servers, But I would see or hear Dakkon once a week, and I'd see events every week or two weeks, Now everything with GM's died away with Apoline,

aphexduo

02-11-2009, 10:30 AM

YoshimaruOrona

02-11-2009, 11:17 AM

Problem is that Outspark DONT TEST patches content, if they will do even simple one hour test they will see all bugs and glitches.
Its well known that Outspark have "Dump and run from blast AoE damages" tactic when its comes to patches.
Let me give you a small example.
There was a feedback thread about 10/28 patch and he was active about three moths (untill end of December).
Over 100 pages WITHOUT single "No Comment" from staff despite all attempts to get staff attention for such thread.
*Sigh...* Everybody who defend Outspark post that they have right now staff shortage BUT DID ANYBODY OF YOU ASK WHY such situation occured?
More and more staff members disappear from employ list under rather mysterious circumstances and i start to assumed that there is more behind curtain as many of us can even presumed...
I live at this world long in off to witness how even once great people (and friends) become corrupted by "sound of money" and turned in to completely strangers, so i am rather not surprised that Outspark staff fallen in to similar trap.
Fiesta fallen in really dark time period and so far i dont see any spark of hope that something will change and if comes for me... my trust reserve when comes to Outspark staff is 0.
And that is something what i never expect to happend :(

The October 28th thread was back then, I have nothing to defend OutSpark back at that time.

And as far as testing patches go, OutSpark has to test them before putting them on. If there was a bug that occurred that would disrupt gameplay viciously, maintenance was either extended or an emergency maintenance would be done to correct the issue immediately.

For example, there was a patch that made guild and academy chats completely un-usable. Less than 15 minutes after the servers went back up, OutSpark shut down the servers and fixed the issue. How could they have missed it? Possibly because the GMs are alone on each server, and don't need to use guild or academy chat when they very likely are sitting near one another in an office somewhere doing maintenance.

What about the bug where the girls had guy faces? I'm not sure if Silky was around at the time, but if not, most (if not all) of Fiesta's GMs were male, so they would've have been able to notice such a bug.

What about the imbalance issues within the classes? That's extremely complex, and could drastically change the entire game as we know it. I strongly doubt it's within OutSpark's ability to fix such a thing on their own.

If the concern is feedback, then again, its due to the staff shortage. We can try to ask why such a thing has happened, but quitting or being fired or whatever the reason is personal information and it would be highly unprofessional for anybody to tell us other than the former OutSpark employee him or herself.

Fiesta has seen better days, yes, but OutSpark is trying. I believe that. Most others don't, but none of us have any idea what's going on behind the scenes other than the employees themselves.

I personally prefer to give someone the benefit of the doubt (as long as it doesn't endanger my well-being).

kidwithcrayonz

02-11-2009, 12:11 PM

Problem is that Outspark DONT TEST patches content, if they will do even simple one hour test they will see all bugs and glitches.
Its well known that Outspark have "Dump and run from blast AoE damages" tactic when its comes to patches.
Let me give you a small example.
There was a feedback thread about 10/28 patch and he was active about three moths (untill end of December).
Over 100 pages WITHOUT single "No Comment" from staff despite all attempts to get staff attention for such thread.
*Sigh...* Everybody who defend Outspark post that they have right now staff shortage BUT DID ANYBODY OF YOU ASK WHY such situation occured?
More and more staff members disappear from employ list under rather mysterious circumstances and i start to assumed that there is more behind curtain as many of us can even presumed...
I live at this world long in off to witness how even once great people (and friends) become corrupted by "sound of money" and turned in to completely strangers, so i am rather not surprised that Outspark staff fallen in to similar trap.
Fiesta fallen in really dark time period and so far i dont see any spark of hope that something will change and if comes for me... my trust reserve when comes to Outspark staff is 0.
And that is something what i never expect to happend :(

Quality Assurance is a hit and miss business. Even mainstream developers miss bugs in their game, and they usually have separate teams of professional testers for each stage, level, etc.

This is the reason game companies perform public beta tests. It's brute force testing, get enough people playing and testing your game, eventually the bugs will be found.

I think the problem with the bug fixing and Outspark's lack of responding in the Reporting threads is:

*Bug are improperly reported
*Bugs may be glitches experienced by one person because of local circumstances
*This relates to the one above...the bugs are unable to be duplicated by the programming team and thus cannot be located in the code.
*As was said before, responding to each and every report thread is majorly time consuming. Yes, just a simple acknowledgment doesn't take that long, but compound the time it takes to do that with the volume of bug reports, help tickets, and other stuff they have to deal with everyday.
*The bug reported may not greatly impact gameplay.
*There are a lot of reports about the same bug, a cursory glance would make one think this game is made of bugs. In all honesty, it's playable, it's enjoyable...it works

grummin

02-11-2009, 01:06 PM

Uhm, excuse me, but look at him, he is here for a long time, don't you think that maybe he had problems before with OS ignoring him?

I saw his join date, and have no problem whatsoever with his view as derived from his perspective. His statement is built on his experiences, which is how it should be.

My only objection was to the "I know I speak for everyone" (emphasis mine) claim, and that was all I intended to address. He doesn't speak for me- this doesn't mean that over time I might not develop a similar view to the one he expressed, but I don't hold such a view at this time.

If anything about my response looked like I was trying to denigrate the OP's opinion, I apologize- I had no such intention. My only goal was to clarify that I do not feel the same way, and don't much care for others expressing what's claimed (even if indirectly) to be "my" opinion without knowing for certain what my opinion actually is. He asked do you feel ignored, I answered. I didn't (intentionally, it's quite possible some interpreted my statements in a way I didn't intend) attack him or his opinion, merely stated my own in response to a query. I fully respect his (and everyone else's) views, and likewise his right to hold them- I just ask the same in return.

THr3eS01di3Rs

02-11-2009, 01:21 PM

I know that I speak for everyone when I think we would all like it if a GM just popped in and said "thank you for your feed back we are currently working on this issue".

So your saying that you wouldnt like it if they did that? Well Im sorry I thought that everyone would have liked it if a GM did that every once and a while. Thats why I thought it was safe to say that.

Sorry >.<

Celtic_Princess

02-11-2009, 01:27 PM

In an effort to put together the list that Serric mentioned earlier in this thread, I have created a website with the help of DF, that will attempt to keep a running list of the active bugs, website errors, and player concerns. Hope this helps somewhat...I've already notified Serric that its up...so he should be able to foward it on to CSRs

To check it out:
http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147145

grummin

02-11-2009, 01:49 PM

So your saying that you wouldnt like it if they did that? Well Im sorry I thought that everyone would have liked it if a GM did that every once and a while. Thats why I thought it was safe to say that.

No, not quite. I'll freely admit I'd love it if every single complaint got a response from a GM, of any sort- even if just a "saw your note, will look into it" reply. However, this desire and liking is tempered with what Celtic_Princess covered pretty well, in short the knowledge that the time spent making such responses would eat up a significant amount of time which could be better put to use on other activities aimed at maintaining or improving the various OutSpark games/in-game experiences.

What I'm getting at is this- sure I'd like to see piles of official responses, but I can understand why that goal is somewhat impractical and as such I (personally- I'll speak for me, you speak for you, all opinions are valid) don't feel in any way ignored or slighted by their lack.

It should be easy to see, also, that your view is built on a comparison of "how things were then" to "how things look now" while mine obviously is not- or at least that "then" to me was more like "now" to your perspective. The 10/28 patch has been mentioned- I joined around 11/10 last year, so if I do a similar then/now comparison, that comparison starts well after the "back then" that you remember and are comparing "now" to.

In no way do I disagree with the basic concept "more information from OS would be nice" point- but since the level of official response hasn't seen as drastic a change from November of last year to now, roughly 4 months later, I don't have the same "view of events over time" that you do looking at changes over the course of more than a year. Given this timeframe difference, from my perspective the "No, I personally don't feel ignored" opinion still holds.

That's not intended to dispute that you do perhaps feel ignored, nor to say that you shouldn't feel you are. It's just what I've said- my viewpoint of the situation, in response to the opening/main question of your original post: "do you feel ignored."

My only objection whatsoever was, as stated, to the "speak for everyone" claim. You don't speak for me, I won't attempt to speak for you, and onward we go. And it was more the "presented as fact" nature of the statement- "I think I speak for many here" would have given me no pause whatsoever, but the "I know" version basically left no room for the possiblity that anyone might not completely agree.

Sorry >.<

Thank you, but not necessary at all- if anything, I'm the one who should be sorry for not being clear enough to avoid this misunderstanding in the first place. But given my style, I'm routinely deciding whether to risk confusion with a fairly brief post or make myself quite clear- resulting in something so long many people won't even read it, which tends to defeat the purpose of saying it in the first place.

Relax- no autopsy, no foul. Sorry for the confusion. And as a final note- while I don't feel ignored, I'll add that I've been looking through a lot of old threads, trying to get a feel for "what has gone before" and I can clearly see how many who have been around a while, like yourself, would come to the "feeling ignored" point you're at. I just don't share the view myself, as explained above.