Dana, I have a question for you. How long have you been a the swamp? Just curious, The reason I am asking, is it seems like there are alot of questions on C3D. And Alot of problems that people faced. Any ideas on some of the problems with what we post in here?
Do you think that Autodesk Employees or developers read what we post? Or do they just see the Bulk, or the same problem and attack that problem. I understand if its something specific, and hard, they can get to it when the get to it. This version or the next lol.
I depend heavily on my feedreader, and the swamp doesn't come through the way I'd like to read it in RSS, so I don't follow much unless there is a thread of interest. There are several people that I work with on a daily basis, both at Autodesk and otherwise, who do read the swamp and usually ping me when there is something that might be good reading. So yes, sometimes the chatter here does get picked up by people who might be able to get the issues in front of the right people. But not tons of them.
I would say though that IF people in QA, or development are going to read postings and customer information, they tend to read in the mainstream adesk discussion groups. They don't tend to monitor the swamp or AUGI just because there is more traffic on the main DG and it is indexed by google. It is also easier to follow threads from the web or OE or thunderbird type readers.
They also tend to be more responsive to the users on those groups because it is easy to begin to form a baseline understanding of their exposure to Civil 3D. After a few posts on the DG, it is easy to figure out who is a new user who is there for learning the product and gaining support, as well as who is an experienced user who is pushing the software into new territory. When one of the latter posts an issue, if the appropriate dev/qa person happens to catch it, there is often an exchange of data and a solution posted, or at least acknowledgement of the problem.
Just like all humans, some of the team is more accessible and more willing to help than others. Participating in the discussion groups is not part of their official job, and mostly they are in there on their own time. Should it be part of their job? No doubt. But right now it isn't.
The Wishes DG on both AUGI and the 'desk DG are truly monitored by the keeper of the wishlist. Respectful and constructive wishes that also provide some "meat" about why (such as a DOT spec for stormwater design, or similar) are of especially high interest.
