>Has anyone actually complained about the content of the chatter section (or does anyone want to). Or was this just a unilateral decision on Michel's part ?
I will address the issue by summarizing pretty much everything by stating this message is for everyone. This message is it and we do not expect to elaborate more on that as many things in regards to items related are for internal purposes only, which is kind of normal when you run a business and/or administer a product.
Complaints over the Chatter forum have been going on for years. As a matter of fact, all issues, practically, originated from that forum. Terms & Condifions enforcement has been related, over times, in regards to how specific users behaved on that forum.
The Chatter forum, despite all that, had a good run for certain times. When it was requested, we did not have any issue for that. But, this was within a different time. Over years, the respect towards one another in that particular forum has changed, so has been the case across the entire Internet. It is very difficult to pinpoint exactly the trigger on a progressive change over the last few years in regards to how it has been used, maybe it is just how users perceive the usage of social network sites. It would be unfair to think this would only apply to a certain range of sites. Twitter has been facing some of that on its own as well. Al also mentioned it in a message recently. And, this is not something new. We have seen that across pretty much all sites offering some kind of interactions between users. The toleration of such behaviors by many users was up to site owners, at their own discretion, to decide how much money and effort they wanted and could put into those issues.
As known by everyone around here, the Chatter forum was non-technical. For as long as it remained within a usage known as fellowship, a friendly association and collaboration between users, it went ok. Sure, there are and might always be some isolated issues on various sites. But, there is a limit to everything. And, as far as this site, it was reached. The nuisance this was causing to our administration and support, as well as to others users on this site, was no longer acceptable.
In the past few months, it wasn't a fact that we did not apply some of the rules. As many of you may have known, the product was acquired by DMIB a while ago. When you move assets from one company to another, during such transaction, with the inclusion of changing ISP, and everything you could imagine, such as the restructuring the administration, support, training, management and ongoing evolution, just to name a few, takes a lot of time. Now that we were more towards our objectives, we were in a better position to react to those issues. Believe me, we have something much better to do than that.
It wouldn't be a surprise for everyone to realize the Chatter forum was not designed to fit in the business model. But, that doesn't mean we wouldn't have been able to find something for it in the future. It has been supported over years as an add-on to the product itself. But, this is only as good as the good usage users do with it. If you do not use your vehicle properly, something will eventually happen. If you have something not aimed directly as fitting into the business model in place, AND, at the same time, causes considerable amount of money lost, then, many would agree to say this isn't that good anymore.
The translation of that defines itself by being costly, time and resource consuming.
The pollution the Chatter forum has suffered from in the last two months, the throlling, the flooding as well as related inappropriate attitude demonstrated by a few users, is something we would have preferred not to have to deal with. But, as this is a corporate entity, we have to take actions. Those issues, when they present themselves, force us to allocate resources, practically at full time, for certain days, to do major analysis on what is going on exactly, as well as other factors such as to know why suddenly we have users acting in certain ways.
A sad reality in all this is in regards to the indirect consequences due to the matter. Collateral damages is one of them. You can't move forward if you don't leave something behind. See Newton's 3rd Law. Dmitry, for example, made some usage of the Chatter forum, on occasional basis, to improve his foreign French language. As he mentioned, he lost that flexibility. I have to say, we would have to look more into it in order to see where some of that could fit.
As far as the point some mentioned in regards to the fact users have the ability to filter messages, categories, forums, as well blocking users, isn't really into the equation. When a user creates an account into a Web site, he is not really into blocking other users as well as knowing what he has to filter. This cannot be up front. So, when those issues arrive, users are, ALSO, reacting. So, they see what tools are available to make their environment more, peaceful, in this case. But, that is already too late. The negative perception this is giving them is not good. It also translates by lost of users, content, and eventually some dollars. Sure, there are ways to help in that direction by pre-filtering such a Chatter forum at the account creation level. But, we cannot filter everything and cannot know in advance when and where a user would decide to strike.
As far as assumptions by some users on the state of the product, yes, the product is still supported, and, despite the fact our team did some awesome work in 2016, the best is yet to come. Assumptions made by users at various items in regards to the product, are, well, I'm sorry to say, just assumptions. The only think official is what we release, such as the recent announcement before Christmas. This is what users should rely on. We understand, however, the influence some users might have on others. This is not something new in regards to where the digital age has put us over the last two decades. Humans have this very nature in themselves. What we can do, however, is to encourage users, who have some concerns, to simply contact us by email and we will be happy to answer them.
We hope this answers your request as well as the other ones from other persons.
