Forum: Fluency support
Topic: Fluency's adoption rate
Poster: Samuel Murray
Post title: On using mailing lists to guage usage
[quote]Dominique Pivard wrote:
Yes, forums and mailing lists are a good way to tell how many or few people are using a given CAT tool. [/quote]
My experience is that some tools experience a period during which there is a lot of growth on the mailing list and a lot of traffic as well. This comes partly due to new users gaining a certain level of expertise and then aggressively taking care of questions that they think they can answer. But after a while, a tool's mailing list may stagnate even though the tool hasn't.
Take the Wordfast mailing lists, for example. The current traffic on the WFC and WFP lists combined seem like a fraction of what it was when WFC version 4 and 5 were the rage. The Trados mailing lists are similarly quiet.
Don't forget also that it really matters what type of user a tool has, when it comes to judging the tool by its mailing list membership and/or traffic. Some tools attract more inventive, power users than others.
[quote]Nearly all CAT tools have their dedicated mailing list and/or ProZ forum... [/quote]
Truth.
[quote]..., and widely used tools just have more active lists and/or forums, [/quote]
Assumption.
[quote](I simply won't buy the argument that a tool could be so good no one would ever have problems with it...[/quote]
Sockpuppet.
[quote], or that a company's tech support is so good no one would ever bother to ask their peers for help).[/quote]
No, I think it depends on the support stream that is most effectively organised and/or promoted by the company. Tools with a higher degree of corporate backing will need to resort less to freebie mailing lists and fellow-users to provide support.
Topic: Fluency's adoption rate
Poster: Samuel Murray
Post title: On using mailing lists to guage usage
[quote]Dominique Pivard wrote:
Yes, forums and mailing lists are a good way to tell how many or few people are using a given CAT tool. [/quote]
My experience is that some tools experience a period during which there is a lot of growth on the mailing list and a lot of traffic as well. This comes partly due to new users gaining a certain level of expertise and then aggressively taking care of questions that they think they can answer. But after a while, a tool's mailing list may stagnate even though the tool hasn't.
Take the Wordfast mailing lists, for example. The current traffic on the WFC and WFP lists combined seem like a fraction of what it was when WFC version 4 and 5 were the rage. The Trados mailing lists are similarly quiet.
Don't forget also that it really matters what type of user a tool has, when it comes to judging the tool by its mailing list membership and/or traffic. Some tools attract more inventive, power users than others.
[quote]Nearly all CAT tools have their dedicated mailing list and/or ProZ forum... [/quote]
Truth.
[quote]..., and widely used tools just have more active lists and/or forums, [/quote]
Assumption.
[quote](I simply won't buy the argument that a tool could be so good no one would ever have problems with it...[/quote]
Sockpuppet.
[quote], or that a company's tech support is so good no one would ever bother to ask their peers for help).[/quote]
No, I think it depends on the support stream that is most effectively organised and/or promoted by the company. Tools with a higher degree of corporate backing will need to resort less to freebie mailing lists and fellow-users to provide support.