A new Unity Pro or Paid forum needed?

If threads are going unanswered I don't see how having a private forum is going to help. Are pro users going to flock to a new forum and start answering all the questions?

I think the issue is that there isn't a reward for sharing valuable information.

 

I think that a pro forum would actually help on this matter because those kinds of thread would not get buried so fast under other, "standard" (rtfm, google, nun-unity related, ...) questions. Giving more exposure to questions specifically targeting pro-features (Nav-Meshes, Audio Filter,IK, ...) in a pro-forum would hold them longer in view and thus more time for Unity developers to see and answer them.

 

Good luck with manually sorting around 500 questions per day into " this question fits into a Pro Forum" and "this question doesn`t fit into a Pro forum". Nav Mesh is a "standard" RTFM / google question. Audio Filter is a standard RTFM / google question. IK is a standard RTFM / google Question. And non unity related, well, how would you sort such a thread here?

 

When I get bored I browse through the last 5-10 pages of new posts and check for posts that have 0 replies and see if I have any knowledge that may help. Maybe some more dev's could do the same.

 

Terrible and pretentious idea.

I mean, "...I am getting a bit fed up with the level of noise on this forum"?

Really? How does this "noise" affect your own experience? Or are you saying you just don't want to be any help to the community unless they are at your own level of experience?

I don't disagree on a paid forum, but this suggestion right here is not the reason it should be done based on.

 

As a new member of Unity this is what I have felt here.

1. If I post a question - I am happy if someone answers. Often the question just disappears out of nowhere.

2. This community has some lack of engagement and I am coming from Corona SDK and they have really made a success with their community. A lot of engaged people that answers almost every question, even the most stupid once. They have put up the forum so that there are several of individuals acting as "hosts" and those people are doing a great job over there. Helping out all types of developers no matter of knowledge.

3. I dont get a feeling over this community. It is either to big or something else thats missing.

My four cents

 

No, not really. There are quite a few helpful souls around. It`s just that the community is very big. And those helpful souls cannot be everywhere.

But that`s the same problem that would bother a paid forum too. Here even worse, because when you pay for something then you expect something.

 

Also to add:
https://store.unity3d.com/products/support

 

Lite version $500/month... minimum 3 months... so if you have 1-2 deep knowledge questions, you'll have to pay $1.500. Basically you'll have to pay a Unity pro license whenever you have a question that find's no answer through the community.

Even worse with "normal" support...

Seriously?

 

If you have 1-2 deep knowledge questions, you can just email UT.

 

I do this as well, although over the past year or so the volume questions about the exact same issue (complete lack of research) is very worrying. The issue isn't that we have newbies, it's that a forum falls apart when there's a certain volume of them using it as their personal tutor. Forums are great at carrying on-going conversations between large groups of people (within the same topic) but when used for general end-user support with more than a certain critical mass of users they just totally fall apart. A forum is just a linear list after all, and lists always become useless when they get too big.

I don't really see any good solution. Pro only forum would not help as there's just as many Pro users around who would in turn try to use that forum as their own personal tutor as well. In time it would be just as bad for both forums.

Maybe separate Scripting Help and Game Systems forums, or add some category tags to the scripting forum (physics, AI systems ect) so that those who want to get involved in more interesting discussions can filter out the fluff and more easily find what they're after?

Also, plenty of AAA devs are on the forums, they just generally don't advertise that fact. Sometimes it's easier to be just another random person than it is to be seen as "that guy form company xyz"..

 

"Seriously?" was the reaction I got from reading the OP here. Glad the comparison worked, somewhat.

 

Reminder : an official Suggestion Box was opened by Antenna Tree some pages ago ...

 

wrong link?

 

Nope ;-)
Antenna Tree asked for suggestions in this very thread we are in, but got lost in posts flow.
So this linked thread was started for people to have a clearer place to make suggestions.

 

Nop, If you care to search the forums you'll find lots of people (including myself) working for the community freely. I've started this thread (here) in which I ask people what shaders they want. I wrote them freely in my spare time and they are very happy. I'll never do that if the community becomes different (like those people willing to split the forums).

 

I think it's admirable that you do this for the community free of charge but why would having a second forum cause you to stop doing this? A bit of competition might get Unity to get it's act together here. Talking of shaders, it was my shader question I asked here and in Answers that went unanswered that caused my current frustration. I got an answer from someone in the end but it was more a work around than help in solving the problem in the first place. This is the crux of my complaint. You ask a question of a technical nature and there is a very good chance of getting either no answer or the community trying to help with good intentions but no actual fix.

 

Because those of us who are community minded enough to want to help others aren't interested in doing so for a bunch who remove themselves from the noise (and thus the core group of the community) rather than joining in. You're talking about doing something which is to the detriment of the overall community, and then asking why those working for its benefit wouldn't still be interested in bending over backwards to help you, when the reason they do so in the first place is out of a desire to contribute towards building a better community.

Also consider that, despite having plenty to add to the community, some of these people don't necessarily own a paid version of Unity and are thus explicitly excluded by your solution.

 

Acting that way won't solve the community problem you are having. If people start to freely help each others it will encourage others to do the same till everyone (or almost everybody) adopt this behavior. And nothing better than shape new comers behavior. If we left them alone they will rise as savage competitive developers. We don't want that right? Otherwise we end up like we are right now.
Why not just start making that wonderful community right now?
Btw, i can solve your shader problem, just ask in my shader thread (signature) and i will take care of it when i get some free time this week.

 

Because i personally rely at free help too when i give free help. It`s a take and give. That`s the idea behind a community. The strong helps the weaks until the weaks gets strong and can help the weaks then too.

When it`s a commercial forum, a forum where i would have to pay to join, why should i give free help there then? To support the ones who makes money with the forum? Nope. I have paid for the forum, means it`s a "want" only then.

Oh, wait, i`m a Unity free user. So i wouldn`t be allowed to join that forum anyways ...

 

So do you feel that by limiting the "noise" you would have gotten help for your problem?

Any way I cut it, I can only see selfishness in the whole thing. Sorry.

 

I guess top row and badges would get more attention in the thread you cited above.

Here it'll just get forgotten again.