DonationCoder.com Forum
Main Area and Open Discussion => General Software Discussion => Topic started by: rjbull on February 11, 2010, 08:52 AM
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I recently started using a registered copy of PhraseExpress Pro (http://www.phraseexpress.com/). I knew it was capable of being portable, which could be useful to me, but it didn't seem to work like Intellicomplete or Comfort Keys do, at the word level. That is you can define your own words and short forms, but it doesn't seem to have a ready-made dictionary built in. So I put a message in their forum:
Please excuse my ignorance, new user query... I'm already using my own multi-word phrases plus some words I've defined. But to make PhraseExpress behave like Intellicomplete/Comfort Keyboard etc. which come pre-loaded to give you pop-up lists of words at the cursor, do I need to import a dictionary into PhraseExpress, or something like that?
I'd have thought that was pretty innocent. After all, we've all looked at other softwares, and nothing is developed in complete isolation. I got an e-mail from Bartels Media of which the operative part reads:
Thank you for taking the time to write us about PhraseExpress.
Please note that the PhraseExpress forum is not about other programs.
For a start, we recommend to study http://manual.phraseexpress.com first to
learn more about how to use PhraseExpress.
How tetchy can you get? PhraseExpress seems a good product, but they want us to believe and act as if nothing else exists? Don't they have any confidence their product is good enough to beat the opposition? You can't even mention any other program as an example, to explain what you mean? When I entered my post, their forum changed "Intellicomplete" to "another software!" They since deleted the post.
I've read Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four), and I used to work for a big company with a Stalinist culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalinism), so I've had my fill of paranoid megalomania. I deleted my registration key and uninstalled PhraseExpress. So, until the Instant Text (http://www.textware.com/index.htm) people come up with a version that runs on Vista with UAC = yoU Aren't Computing On, I suppose I'll have to use AutoHotkey (http://www.autohotkey.com/), just like everybody else. I'd still be interested in alternative portable apps, though.
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Wow, what morons - amazing that there's still people acting that way in this day and age. Definitely bad enough that I wouldn't want to be a customer of those :)
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I had exactly the same experience. When I mentioned in my forum post the TapTap utility, because I suspected it of interfering with PhraseExpress, the sentence was immediately deleted and I received a ubiquitous reply that they cannot help me if I am using "third party programs". This attitude surely repelled many customers.
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I suppose I'll have to use AutoHotkey (http://www.autohotkey.com/), just like everybody else.
-rjbull
You realize that AutoHotkey stole all their ideas from PhraseExpress, don't you?
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I've had something similar happen, when I got some false reports about me using the free version for professional work, which I posted about. The post was deleted within minutes and I got an e-mail about the issue. To their defense, though, they did fix my issue promptly.
It's too bad they behave like this, because it really is an extraordinary product! I'm sure AHK can do pretty much the same, but I'd rather keep the advantages of the PhraseExpress dialogs and features :-\
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Very poor. I don't like it when people are so paranoid/are such poor sports.
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I wrote them off a bit ago when they were on DC. The tete a tete with DirectAccess was more than enough to put me off their product. :down:
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You realize that AutoHotkey stole all their ideas from PhraseExpress, don't you?
-mwb1100
erm, is that ironic? I thought AHK was developed from AutoIt, and imagine both pre-date PhraseExpress. Besides, before any of those, there were various programs that did much the same even in DOS.
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I wrote them off a bit ago when they were on DC. The tete a tete with DirectAccess was more than enough to put me off their product. :down:
-wraith808
Yes, I saw bits of that, I just didn't expect it would ever happen to me. Shame, because the product is good. Not as good as Instant Text, but that's $189.
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You realize that AutoHotkey stole all their ideas from PhraseExpress, don't you?
-mwb1100
erm, is that ironic? I thought AHK was developed from AutoIt, and imagine both pre-date PhraseExpress. Besides, before any of those, there were various programs that did much the same even in DOS.
-rjbull
I think mwb1100 was being ironic?
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erm, is that ironic?
-rjbull
Just a little joke - Bartels seems to have a habit of jumping into any thread here that's discussing PhraseExress and competing software and making pointed accusations of improper theft of ideas and/or marketing materials by the competition.
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Their forum replies are pretty much always like that. Then again there is one person staffing the forum, I think, and there are a lot of questions that are clearly from not RTFM. However this reply is used way too often and IS very off-putting.
Regarding the Bartels Media "attack posts" back when Direct Access first announced their product here at DC, the same was done to the developer of Breevy text expander when he posted in the "Deals..." forum to announce his product's availability on Bits last month. Same BS that was smeared all over the Direct Access developer.
I will say that the Breevy developer reacted much smarter to the attacks and slurs than the DA guy did. BTW, I'm now using Breevy. :P
Thanks!
Jim
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Well, the BartelsMedia guy was eventually banned from DC, wasn't he? It really takes a lot before a non-spammer gets the boot, and I think that says something about whether you'd want to use their software or not...
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Well, the BartelsMedia guy was eventually banned from DC, wasn't he? It really takes a lot before a non-spammer gets the boot, and I think that says something about whether you'd want to use their software or not...
-f0dder
Really? I didn't know that. Good move if true.
Thanks!
Jim
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Well, the BartelsMedia guy was eventually banned from DC, wasn't he? It really takes a lot before a non-spammer gets the boot, and I think that says something about whether you'd want to use their software or not...
-f0dder
Really? I didn't know that. Good move if true.
-J-Mac
I might be wrong, the BartelsMedia user profile (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=144052) doesn't mention anything about a ban. I might have misunderstood something one of the moderators said on irc... if so, I apologize :)
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Bartals was banned by me for hijacking various threads and accusing other coders/members of stealing various things in every thread that mentioned a competing product. The way I look at it, DC is not the forum to vent at every single developer you can and then attack people for saying they use a competing product.
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wait what? im not sure i agree with that ban..
in fact i really feel strongly that banning should be a drastic last resort that should only be used in the most extreme cases and for spammers.
let's talk about this offline.
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furthermore, i hate to disagree with other mods, but i think it's simply unfair to have a post complaining about someone or their company, and then have them banned so they can't reply. that's just not right imho. a person should be allowed to defend themselves.
i'm not saying that bartels hasn't really rubbed people the wrong way with many posts, but there has to be a better way to handle this.
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i think it's simply unfair to have a post complaining about someone or their company, and then have them banned so they can't reply.is.
-mouser
As I recall it, Bartels mounted a sustained attack in an aggressive tone. I also seem to remember they themselves said they would no longer post here.
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I'm now using Breevy.
-J-Mac
For which I too have a license ;) It isn't portable, though, and portability would be a big plus for me at the moment. That's why the next one I intend to look at is Typing Assistant (http://www.sumitsoft.com/).
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I don't want to re-litigate this and dredge up lots of arguments, etc., but for the record, Bartels has posted some pretty damn clear evidence that other companies are in some cases actually stealing byte-for-byte files that he has written for his program and using it in their programs which are based on his work.
Again, i really don't want to get into a debate about the wisdom of trying to have these arguments on our forum, but i think some sympathy is due for someone who may (rightly in some cases) feel like other companies are stealing his work and then posting here about their products.
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Sympathy and understanding for a user is one thing. Allowing them to attack and insult our users is another. If the crowds would like, I can restore the last two posts that were removed prior to my banning Bartels in which a couple of our users were directly attacked and I can link to others where several more were attacked.
DC is a site about learning about software. Who's to say that some of the other programs advertised here are not blatant forgeries of other works? I understand the frustration of having this happen but taking over every thread where one of these products is mentioned is a bit absurd and attacking our users who might prefer the other versions is even worse.
It seemed that users were being diverted away from the topics every time that Bartels would post in said threads. This is a detractor not only to the quality of responses we would normally expect at DC, but it removes from possible discussions which could be had because most of the replies from BM were those of retaliation and attack. I simply do not agree with that.
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I will say that the Breevy developer reacted much smarter to the attacks and slurs than the DA guy did. BTW, I'm now using Breevy. :P
-J-Mac
Do you know if there are any advantages of Breezy over DA? I was using DA, then switched to MacroExpress Pro, but it's a bit too heavy for launching applications (though good for a lot of other things), so I've been looking at the newest version of DA... how does Breezy compare?
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Bartals was banned by me for hijacking various threads and accusing other coders/members of stealing various things in every thread that mentioned a competing product. The way I look at it, DC is not the forum to vent at every single developer you can and then attack people for saying they use a competing product.
-Josh
I'm pretty sure I remember that Bartels left of his own accord. He was addressed in several threads about his tendency to hijack them, but then at one point (I remember because I was in the conversation) he said that he was done with the boards. It was pretty annoying that he'd hijack *any* thread about a competing product.
Sorry... removed offending part of post.
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Arguing about the validity of his claims is exactly what is going to open up all this stuff again.. how can we expect someone to not reply to a thread claiming he has no proof people are stealing his work? sigh.. this has really become counter-productive.
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I will say that the Breevy developer reacted much smarter to the attacks and slurs than the DA guy did. BTW, I'm now using Breevy. :P
-J-Mac
Do you know if there are any advantages of Breezy over DA? I was using DA, then switched to MacroExpress Pro, but it's a bit too heavy for launching applications (though good for a lot of other things), so I've been looking at the newest version of DA... how does Breezy compare?
-wraith808
I had DA 1 and I have a license for DA2 or 2.5, but the developer changed his product to a subscription-based program. I didn't renew my "subscription".
I had a lot of problems using DA. For one thing, it could not handle abbreviations well, often deleting the word and replacing it with the first letter doubled and sometimes tripled. Also in some programs DA did not register line feeds/breaks, thus rendering a name and address field all on one line without spaces. Things like that. Further, it choked on Vista for about the first six months, not opening or opening and immediately closing. Some things he fixed; others he seemed to ignore. Check my posts at their forum for a recap.
Breevy is very similar but I haven't had the same kinds of difficulties with it so far.
Jim
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Arguing about the validity of his claims is exactly what is going to open up all this stuff again.. how can we expect someone to not reply to a thread claiming he has no proof people are stealing his work? sigh.. this has really become counter-productive.
-mouser
Jess, I can understand the above, but in most cases I couldn't see the exactness of the "copied" stuff that were often linked. Other than the programs have the same basic purpose of course.
Jim
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One last comment: Personally I don’t care much either way, banned or not. I just said "Good..." meaning that it would have been nice for a change to read through a thread about a new text expander - any new text expander - and not have to see it turn into a stink bomb war!
Thank you.
Jim
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That is all I asked him to do in the private messages sent and public posting I did asking him to stop. I understand that he is upset and rightfully so if he is in fact being copied, but DC is not the place or forum to hijack every thread about a text expander. I welcome him back with open arms if he will stop doing this but if not I say we leave the ban in place or remove future violating posts.
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I had DA 1 and I have a license for DA2 or 2.5, but the developer changed his product to a subscription-based program. I didn't renew my "subscription".
-J-Mac
That was actually sort of a 'lost in the translation' moment. What the new license is in essence is a purchase with a 1 year upgrade protection policy, i.e. if you buy, then you get all version (major and minor) released during the year for free, instead of the former lifetime upgrade policy. You can keep using your version for as long as you like (which is substantially different from an 'subscription' policy where you can't use the software after your subscription runs out a la Auction Sentry Deluxe).
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I was using DA, then switched to MacroExpress Pro, but it's a bit too heavy for launching applications (though good for a lot of other things)
-wraith808
You might like to know that Insight Software, makers of Macro Express, also offer ShortKeys (http://www.shortkeys.com/), which seems to be specifically an expander, and presumably a subset of Macro Express itself.
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I was using DA, then switched to MacroExpress Pro, but it's a bit too heavy for launching applications (though good for a lot of other things)
-wraith808
You might like to know that Insight Software, makers of Macro Express, also offer ShortKeys (http://www.shortkeys.com/), which seems to be specifically an expander, and presumably a subset of Macro Express itself.
-rjbull
Thanks, but that doesn't launch apps, which is really what I use DA for.
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I had DA 1 and I have a license for DA2 or 2.5, but the developer changed his product to a subscription-based program. I didn't renew my "subscription".
-J-Mac
That was actually sort of a 'lost in the translation' moment. What the new license is in essence is a purchase with a 1 year upgrade protection policy, i.e. if you buy, then you get all version (major and minor) released during the year for free, instead of the former lifetime upgrade policy. You can keep using your version for as long as you like (which is substantially different from an 'subscription' policy where you can't use the software after your subscription runs out a la Auction Sentry Deluxe).
-wraith808
I'm using Nagarsoft's wording. Their email to me:
Dear James,
Thank you for your purchase of:
(1) - Direct Access Upgrade Subscription
Licensing information will be sent to you in few hours.
Please check your spam filters so that you will receive e-mails from nagarsoft.com.
Thank you.
Jim
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I was using DA, then switched to MacroExpress Pro, but it's a bit too heavy for launching applications (though good for a lot of other things)
-wraith808
ShortKeys-rjbull
Thanks, but that doesn't launch apps, which is really what I use DA for.
-wraith808
Two suggestions: if you want a text expander that launches, try Typing Assistant (http://www.sumitsoft.com/), which does. It's payware. If you just want a launcher that works from shorthand/keywords, have you written off SlickRun (http://www.bayden.com/), freeware?
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@All: Sorry to stir up this miserable can of worms :( I was pretty incensed at the time.
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@rjbull: We invest several thousand Euros every month to drive traffic to our website. I kindly ask for your understanding that we do not want to give competitors free exposure/advertising. If you want to discuss other products, you are welcome and free to do it everywhere else (e.g. here) but please do not do it in our support forum that is solely dedicated for technical issues with PhraseExpress as explained in our forum disclaimer (http://www.phraseexpress.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=5523) (which ironically have inspired DirectAccess quite a bit for "his" forum disclaimer (http://www.nagarsoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=314). This guy is just plain incredible. *duckandcover* :-)).
Your actual support request was quite general in nature and it would require a 30 minute training to configure PhraseExpress for your specific task if we would have to start from "zero". That is why we recommended you to start with the manual that explains the general concept with many step-by-step video tutorials.
This would give you an overview about the PhraseExpress concept and would make it much easier for us and for you to go into details afterwards. We are there to help but it makes it easier if you made some first steps with PhraseExpress first before engaging with advanced configuration. I am sorry that I have not made this clear in my first reply to you.
> "It was basically about features being integrated rather than a byte-for-byte copy that I remember."
Just one example and evidence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmjlizhD814).
@J-Mac: Unfortunately, my Breevy related postings have been censored/deleted here and I have been banned from this forum (so much about “1984”). That said, I find it important to mention that I never said that Breevy stole from us. I rather mentioned that the Breevy maker seem to have been very attracted by the DirectAccess user interface. My posting had nothing to do with PhraseExpress. I actually was advocate for DirectAccess in that particular matter.
> how can we expect someone to not reply to a thread claiming he has no proof people are stealing his work?
This is a very good point. A few users here are twisting my words as they like and expect from me not to set it straight.
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> Two suggestions: if you want a text expander that launches,
> try Typing Assistant, which does.
As you recommend Typing Assistant, have you actually personally tried it for a few days?
Has it never bothered you that it collects any misspelling you ever entered on your keyboard and repeat to offer it over and over again? Unfortunately, TypingAssistant forgot to add some sort of "garbage collection" and quickly spill over with unwanted junk you accidentally entered.
As you apparently do not like PhraseExpress (that also does single-word autocompletion, but including garbage collection (http://manual.phraseexpress.com#expire)) then I would recommend the free LetMeType (Opensource).
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Regarding program launching. I never got the idea of a launcher program. Why not simply hit the WIN-key and start typing the first letters of a program name. A sophisticated "program launcher" is already built into Windows. While PhraseExpress also has a program launching feature (http://manual.phraseexpress.com#run) I personally do not need it and wonder about the hype about program launchers. Do I miss anything?
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<snip>
I'm using Nagarsoft's wording.
</snip>
-J-Mac
Oh, I understand your reasoning, I just don't think that was the intent, as I clarified by asking Nagarsoft directly, hence the "lost in translation" reference.
> "It was basically about features being integrated rather than a byte-for-byte copy that I remember."
@wraith: You already impressed in earlier postings by never willing to recognize the actual information provided. Just one example and evidence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmjlizhD814) to help you regarding the byte-for-byte theft accusation.
-BartelsMedia
I'm not getting drawn into this, as I've already deleted the comment, but let's just say that I never rebutted any statements you made about that software (and indeed, never discussed it with you, as I don't know anything about it, nor have I ever used it). My statements were in direct response to the claims against DA, which I do use, so please don't twist what I said? And can we drop it since I removed the comment that you quoted before you quoted it, so you did this just as an irritant, which in the end is irritating mouser more than me.
Thank you for doing so.
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Two suggestions: if you want a text expander that launches, try Typing Assistant (http://www.sumitsoft.com/), which does. It's payware. If you just want a launcher that works from shorthand/keywords, have you written off SlickRun (http://www.bayden.com/), freeware?
-rjbull
I haven't tried either, but SlickRun requires you to bring up a window, and I use FARR in that regard, and don't really want to bring up a window to launch. Thanks for the suggestions, though!
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@rjbull: We invest several thousand Euros every month to drive traffic to our website. I kindly ask for your understanding that we have no interest to have third party products mentioned in our forums and give competitors free advertising. If you want to discuss other products, you are welcome and free to do it everywhere else (e.g. here) but please do not do it in our support forum that is solely dedicated for technical issues with PhraseExpress-BartelsMedia
When I made that post I genuinely believed that IntelliComplete had been withdrawn from sale, other than the Server edition which comes with some editors (in fact, now I check, it is back on FlashPeak's site). What I wanted to know was whether PhraseExpress worked, or could be made to work, the same way that IntelliComplete or Comfort Keys do. I don't think asking is unreasonable. It's a convenient way of describing what I mean. We've all looked at other products. Merely mentioning them is not to be automatically construed as advertising, even if I like them at some level. Pretending they do not exist is futile. If one is not allowed to make comparisons, it is hard to see how users can make suggestions for improvement.
Please read http://support.phraseexpress.com to learn more why we use a support forum rather than email based support.
We do not know everything - Enthusiastic users can step in and share their knowledge.
Your behaviour is hardly calculated to encourage "enthusiastic users."
Your actual support request was quite general in nature and it would require a 30 minute training to configure PhraseExpress for your specific task if we would have to start from "zero". That is why we recommended you to start with the manual that explains the general concept with many step-by-step video tutorials.
In an ideal world, everyone would read the manual. In practice, nobody does. Nobody has time. You answered my other query about sorting; if you didn't answer this one, my natural assumption was that PhraseExpress could not do as I wanted.
it makes it easier if you made some first steps with PhraseExpress first before engaging with advanced configuration. I am sorry that I have not made this clear in my first reply to you.
There are things I need it to do that may not be at what you consider beginner's level. I rarely have time to wade through exercises, and rarely do I need to. If I do, there's probably something wrong with the software.
my Breevy related postings have been censored/deleted here and I have been banned from this forum (so much about “1984”).
It was I that mentioned 1984, not J-Mac. Even in societies that approve of free speech, there are limits to what you can say, such as libel, or incitement to hatred. DC may be a discussion forum, but the moderators still have to keep the peace.
we have no financial benefit if you use PhraseExpress as it is free-of-charge (as in "we worked 8 man year for you and you can take advantage of this work without pulling your credit card") for personal use and we granted DonationCoders an exclusive 70% discount.
Which I took up. And upgraded to the more recent and more expensive Pro version, which didn't have a further DC discount. So it's not as if you hadn't received any monies from me.
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TypingAssistant forgot to add some sort of "garbage collection" and quickly spill over with unwanted junk you accidentally entered. -BartelsMedia
How would a phrase expander know what's junk and what isn't?
As you apparently do not like PhraseExpress
Read my OP. Quoting myself: "PhraseExpress seems a good product." But you're getting me more and more annoyed, so however good it is, I'm not prepared to continue with it.
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My statements were in direct response to the claims against DA, which I do use, so please don't twist what I said?
No twist at all. I can also help you in this case (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t36Omxil0Dw) (Byte-wise stealing at 1:03).
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But you're getting me more and more annoyed, so however good it is, I'm not prepared to continue with it.
-rjbull
TypingAssistant forgot to add some sort of "garbage collection" and quickly spill over with unwanted junk you accidentally entered. -BartelsMedia
How would a phrase expander know what's junk and what isn't?
-rjbull
PhraseExpress only adds new words if they have been entered a configurable number of times and automatically removes junk (such as misspellings or words that are used only very rarely) after a customizable grace period.
Single-words auto-completions can also be configured to appear only if they fit to the foregoing context.
One example: If you type "The car is green" or "My car is fast", the word "car" would not show up in the beginning of a sentence (unless you entered it in the beginning) but only after "My" or "The" or any other word you have entered before car in any other sentence.
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I removed the comment that you quoted before you quoted it, so you did this just as an irritant
You made my day: You write junk. Then, you realize that it was junk and removed it. Now, you accuse me of "irritating" because I accidentally took your junk serious?!
Wow! This requires a very strong personality.
My statements were in direct response to the claims against DA, which I do use, so please don't twist what I said?
No twist at all. I can also help you in this case (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t36Omxil0Dw) (Byte-wise stealing at 1:03). But no need to reply on that one. I have provided it to you already and you ignored it at that time.
One thing is strange anyway - Is it that you have an "agenda" and set a Google Alert trigger on us just waiting to bash? I wonder because you show up e v e r y s i n g l e time whenever our name is mentioned. Why not just ignore, please? I asked you that before but you ignored that as well. Do so from now on, PLEASE!
-BartelsMedia
I'm on the boards regularly. It's you that does it. Look at my post count, and how many times I post in relation to you. And I removed the post in reference to mouser's request. And now I'm done. Thanks.
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BartelsMedia - Next time, edit your 1st post, rather than doubling up pointlessly please. k tnx
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ok guys and gals, let's wind down this thread.. if you feel absolutely compelled to say something that hasn't been said, and feel like you need to get in another punch before the teachers break up the fight, go for it, then let's lock this unfortunate thread and move on.
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Your behaviour is hardly calculated to encourage "enthusiastic users."
I am sorry that you felt the urge to be offensive but we entertain a comparatively vivid forum (http://www.phraseexpress.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=53). We love our users and love to exchange thoughts, carefully listen to user input and help where we can.
It's a convenient way of describing what I mean.
It assumes that we would be aware about any (discontinued) program but in your case, I already understood the issue based on your description.
Pretending they do not exist is futile.
Yes, you are right.
In an ideal world, everyone would read the manual. In practice, nobody does.
So, it does not hurt to remind to read the manual. Because it is a rich and valuable source of information created by those who developed the software and know all the tricks. In our case, we also added many instructional step-by-step videos.
Nobody has time.
Yes, indeed. That is why we offer personal trainings (http://www.phraseexpress.com/service.htm) for those who do not like reading manuals.
if you didn't answer this one, my natural assumption was that PhraseExpress could not do as I wanted.
I understand. The challenge is that PhraseExpress can be easy to use but also can get very complex as it can be configured in great detail to customize it for special uses. We find it very difficult to balance the level of description of details vs. simplicity. It is a constant evolution and we learn every day.
If I do, there's probably something wrong with the software.
Probably. It is very easy to say that. It is more difficult to make it better though. We try it every day.
So it's not as if you hadn't received any monies from me.
So, please do not feel addressed by my posting. By the way, it would help if you would have added your license key to your forum signature to identify yourself as a supporting customer. Of course, supporting users do get extended and preferred customer support.
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My apologies mouser. I should have take a bit away from the computer to cool off. I will bow out of this conversation (a bit late it seems). Again, apologies to mouser and the whole board.
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> "To their defense, though, they did fix my issue promptly. It's too bad they behave like this"
@Tuckndar: Why complain? Because we clean up our forum from questions that are already asked elsewhere (http://www.phraseexpress.com/freeware.htm) in order to keep the forum easy to browse for you? Is it more important for you to get quick help or is it more important for you that redundant postings populate our forum for the pure sake of archiving?
-BartelsMedia
I "complained" because I couldn't find an answer to my specific question, and found it odd that you removed my post. I would imagine it was a question that someone else might ask as well, which is a benefit with a forum support system vs purely e-mail support, there is a public search functiion. Your e-mail and support was top notch, however. Btw, the page you link to does not give an answer to the problem I had ;) I know that if I use it for commercial purposes I'd be cheating you, but I didn't and you acknowledged that, hence me saying your support was top notch when I explained my problem. ;)
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I think everyone owes Michael an apology- I think Michael does a great job!
He's PhraseExpress's loyal terrier; he's apparently intelligent- BUT also has blinders on to the world. His point of view is the ONLY one; there is no other manner of discussion...
But I guess I'd be omnipotent too, if I was the only one doing support, and all I had was my 'canned responses' to deal with all these 'people'.
God forbid if someone asks a question that's not in his 'response list'.
I found this thread by mistake; I was doing some general searches, thinking that I might find a different side of PhraseExpress support, but NO, here he is again... with his normal shtick. Showing the crowd how cute and lovable he can be... with all his little smile icons and curt comments, he must be a HOOT at parties. It's just so hard to show everyone humor via an email- how lovable he is...
It's so nice to see a person, in a support position, being so open-minded and understanding on so many levels to customers, AND potential customers.
I've to admit that, I'm NEW to this forum; but if I was just a John Doe off the street, and just reading this response from Michael, I’d think he was arrogant and attacking. There's a difference between defending your point and being attacking on topics. It seems like every inquiry or comment made about PhraseExpress is approached with this National Socialist/Conformist point of view. And that really doesn't work for a lot of people. What? You can't see how forum and forum are completely different words?
And when Michael says there's blind animosity, it's probably because those people [probably customers] asked a question [covered in the user manual], posted a remark [slightly off topic] and then was subsequent corrected with the gentleness of an atom bomb; AND somehow they were angered by this... Why would he want to waste his time on you, when the answer is in the manual? Everyone loves to hear READ THE 'FOCUSED' MANUAL!
Please forgive me; I'm not real good at 'satire'.
Have a nice day!
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i think this thread has convinced me that we really shouldn't have a dedicated Complaint Section on the forum.. it was a reasonable idea but it's just not appropriate here unless we want to get into these kinds of arguments regularly.
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Agreed, but in some circumstances people need to know about bad companies, but I guess if there is some serious problem, people could just throw it into the Living Room for general discussion. :up:
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Or just meet in #donationcoder where we can use all the fun NSFW language we want, as well >:D
edit: Just to clarify: not directed at anything or anyone in particular... just a tongue in cheek thing of course
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I am very sorry for all the rage. We just try to provide a useful software and never intended to upset anyone. This is a strange experience but I learned a lesson.
This includes that we will rethink our forum policy. We take your feedback serious. :Thmbsup:
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I am very sorry for all the rage. We just try to provide a useful software and never intended to upset anyone. This is a strange experience but I learned a lesson.
This includes that we will rethink our forum policy. We take your feedback serious. :Thmbsup:
-BartelsMedia
That was probably the best thing you could of said lol, great that you understand that some people are actually trying to help, but it can certainly get blown out of proportion (on both sides) and, to be honest, I think the best has come out of this in the end. :D
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i think this thread has convinced me that we really shouldn't have a dedicated Complaint Section on the forum.. it was a reasonable idea but it's just not appropriate here unless we want to get into these kinds of arguments regularly.
-mouser
Oddly enough, I have never seen such bickering in complaint or praise threads here involving any other company. But then again maybe I just missed them.
Thank you.
Jim
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I feel this forum serves its purpose and I feel that it should be allowed to remain.
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I often invest energy in trying to prove I'm right - the more so when I'm frustrated be cause no one can see MY "correct" point of view. BAD habit!
My partner sometimes points this out to me. Trying to prove I'm right comes at a cost of proving how I'm so wrong (albeit on another level, connected with humility and generosity of spirit maybe).
I like DC because I rarely see ego trump topic
I have had sympathy for both camps in this thread and am mighty pleased if ,truly, it becomes a learning experience for all of us (including me as observer, being reminded of my own faults)
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Mouser,
I think you should keep the forum. It serves as a great exercise.
[and I hate it when adults fight]
Have a nice day!
Later,
Larry
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It's not that i don't think it's useful for us to have threads where people can complain about products, companies, etc.
I'm just having second thoughts about the responsibility that comes along with having a section devoted to it - a feeling that it may seem to elevate the complaint to something more serious than one person's opinion..
Anyway, let's not discuss that here -- let's close this thread and discuss it in a separate thread.
I think everyone has had their say here, and all sides made their case. Time to move on.
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PhraseExpress only adds new words if they have been entered a configurable number of times and automatically removes junk (such as misspellings or words that are used only very rarely)
That's neat. I had a different problem, though: having to simultaneously use US and UK dictionaries, plus lots of industry-specific technical jargon in some files - but not in others. Making an expander adapt per file (i.e. matching a window) is probably too far out.
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I am sorry that you felt the urge to be offensive but we entertain a comparatively vivid forum (http://www.phraseexpress.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=53). We love our users and love to exchange thoughts, carefully listen to user input and help where we can.-BartelsMedia
If you are going to be sharp with users, expect criticism. If we don't criticise you, how are you going to improve? You should probably change the word "forum" because, as you have indicated, it isn't what we normally think of as a forum. One of the meanings of "forum" is "a meeting to discuss topics of mutual concern" (Chambers 20th Century Dictionary). It doesn't mean a church to receive the tablets from the mountain.
By the way, it would help if you would have added your license key to your forum signature to identify yourself as a supporting customer. Of course, supporting users do get extended and preferred customer support.
You ask for quite a lot of information:Please always include the following information:
* Your PhraseExpress installation's version number!
* Operating system (Windows XP, Vista, 7, 32 or 64-Bit, etc.)
* Which operating system language and keyboard layout language is configured?
* The target application where you try to paste into (Outlook 2003? Word 2007?)
* How you do paste a phrase (using a hotkey, autotext or the pop-up menu)?
* Would the problem also appear if you close all other programs and background tasks?
* Would the problem also happen if you try Notepad as the target application?
* We recommend to add your system information in your posting signature. Example: AMD 3GHZ, 4GB RAM, Win 7, 32-Bit
I see why you might need that, so may I suggest that you make PhraseExpress itself collect as much of that information as it can, so it can be pasted into a "forum" post with one click, rather than have users running about all over their computers trying to gather it together and probably relying on faulty memory instead?
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OK, maybe I am just slow this morning, but....
...if I put a license key in a forum sig, wouldn’t that let all who look take my key and, well, maybe do something they shouldn’t with it?
Thank you.
Jim
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OK, maybe I am just slow this morning, but....
...if I put a license key in a forum sig, wouldn’t that let all who look take my key and, well, maybe do something they shouldn’t with it?
Thank you.
Jim
-J-Mac
You are absolutely right. It should not be put into the signature. Please put it into the forum profile. The first 6 digits are fine.
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I see why you might need that, so may I suggest that you make PhraseExpress itself collect as much of that information as it can, so it can be pasted into a "forum" post with one click, rather than have users running about all over their computers trying to gather it together and probably relying on faulty memory instead?-rjbull
I fully agree with you and PhraseExpress collects some of the required information if you create a debug file.
The amount of the additionally required information varies depending on the actual nature of the issue.
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It's good to see that this thread is wrapping up on a more productive note..
I'm locking the thread now and suggest that anyone interested in support for Phrase Express raise their issues on the Phrase Express forum (http://www.phraseexpress.com).