Decline in subscribers

Contribution/readership in the forums do not equally translate to interest or disinterest in Garmin Connect. There is far more information available related to GPS hardware and various software components, especially prior to and after new releases.

Not sure what point you're trying to make here.

cont.

My point was basically after a week of Garmin Connect and the forums "going live" it was exciting to see this new web site and roll with a few of the intial problems; everyone was "Interested" . However, with the lack of answers\features and other issues: upload multisport - and then discovering were it is, usernames, combining names - Which no one answered, UI Update - which is about the only place where I find at least 3 moderators and a TEAM GC answer any questions, user activites link in Metric (which again no one answered), and upload issues.... that once people started reading and saw no replies or getting few answers when certain features (time table) are going to be available that people got fed up and left. You had 65,000 views to connect issues, then once it was discovered how bad everything is the people gave up! highest point in this week is 680... doesn't that say something????

Not really. The forum is new. People searching for "Garmin" on any search engine will be given multiple choices. The Forum is one of those choices. It could be that since the forum is new it got a lot of hits those first days. People opened the link, saw a site/page they didn't want, left to find what they were looking for at another Garmin link. We currently have 1500+ members. While the MB forums boasted 20000+ members, most of them were not active (never posted) and had not visited after their fist visit. Also, this is a new forum and not built out over years as was the MotionBased forum. It is in the growth stage and will have more information as people continue to use it.

As for people "leaving"/user ship going down because they are not getting answers, keep in mind that this forum is just like most forums out there - it is a user based forum. Our users do most of the contributing. Employees respond as necessary; we do not have unlimited time throughout the day to post to the forum, as we have other duties to which we need to attend. There are a few folks who can post on time lines and releases; we've given you all of the information we have at this time.

If users have a specific question and it has not been answered on the forum, I have instructed folks on the best path to take in this Announcement. Perhaps they are following that path.

kk

Maybe it says most people are too busy using their units and enjoying the sun and returning their kids to school to read every message that's posted on these forums. Me, on the other hand, I apparently have nothing better to do. :cool:

April

I'd guess too that a large number of viewers now understand that the best place to complain/report problems is to Garmin Support directly.

This.

Reporting problems to GC forum moderators is like talking with Baghdad Bob. "Yes, yes...Garmin Connect is very awesome and superior in every way to MotionBased, yes. Evil MotionBased will kill all your cattle, while Garmin Connect will leave pots of gold on your doorstep."

I think this is an unfair statement. There are some features that existed in MotionBased that do not quite exist yet in Garmin Connect. I think that has been freely admitted. Maybe not on every single thread where there are complaints. There are some better things about Garmin Connect and I hope that GC will eventually surpass MotionBased.

Another thing to remember about the forums is while Garmin employees do read and respond to some threads, most of the vocal moderators (including myself) are volunteers and not Garmin employees.

For unit issues and some Garmin Connect issues, the best way to get technical support is still to contact support, but often the user base at the forums can help troubleshoot issues and help determine when all other options have been exhausted.

The reason for contacting Garmin directly is really quite simple. It's hard to read every single message on the forums. That's why there are multiple moderators in the first place. And second, when you send a message via the proper channels, the message gets filed and tracked, where it's easy to lose track of issues on a forum. There is much better tracking software for bug and issue tracking than a forum and using the Garmin support channels (email and phone), you get your issue into that tracking mechanism.

I wish I had pots of gold....:D

April

What is the point of contacting Garmin Support when your emails simply go unanswered? This has happened to me on 3 out of 4 occasions for Australian Garmin support.

What is the point of contacting Garmin Support when your emails simply go unanswered? This has happened to me on 3 out of 4 occasions for Australian Garmin support.

Not my experience. I've had good response from Garmin support. Apart from not understanding/realising/knowing that Australia and New Zealand are (fortunately :D)) separate countries.

What is the point of contacting Garmin Support when your emails simply go unanswered? This has happened to me on 3 out of 4 occasions for Australian Garmin support.

I agree with this statement it has taken me several emails to get my login name changed.

Often, when there has been a reply, it has been obvious that my original email has not been read completely.

PS On changing my login, I got locked out of myarmin and these forums for a couple of days.
I had to email to point out that my new login on the forums was asking to be re-registered, but then would not let me because a user already had my email address!

Steve