FTA Forum Changes

[Blindowl1234]

I give up. No longer easy to find the info I need on the receiver I own, rather than wade thru info and posts on several other receivers I don't own I can't understand this. I always found Sat Guys the best place to easily find info quickly in the past. If all the fta receivers are lumped in one category then Scott why not lump the two small dish sections together. Let's not make it easy to find support for anything we own. Yes I'm upset and not wanting to be nasty but this whole thread is bizarre. This certainly doesn't promote the fta hobby, or encourage others to try the fta hobby when it's harder to find the info. If this is the way Sat Guys is going to help it's members and it's vendors I can't financially support it down the road. I started with a 30" dish and was totally confused four years ago. Lot's of folks helped me sort it all out and the info I needed was easy to find. It should be that way in the future in my opinion. That's my 2 cents worth.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Well, I certainly love the change and I know several former Satellite Guys who will be coming back due to the changes and who will possibly become pub members.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

You guys love to bitch and moan, but I told you I had a solution and needed some help with it... yet no one wanted to help so I guess it stays this way.

Also let me make it clear that a Pub Membership is to remove the ads for your account, we are not profiting off Pub Memberships.

Now with that said I do have a solution but need help putting together a list of current FTA Equipment brands. Who want's to HELP? (I will be away until Monday so please forgive me if you don't hear back from me.)

Thanks guys!

 

[northgeorgia]

I could try to help, but I'm a bit of a newbie. Could the compilation somehow be done in a wiki format -- or if not, perhaps as a new thread (it'd take some time to sort out the duplicate posts, but could be a start). The school teacher in me in coming out (brainstorming is how we start a big writing assignment).

 

[rv1pop]

You guys love to bitch and moan, but I told you I had a solution and needed some help with it... yet no one wanted to help so I guess it stays this way.

Also let me make it clear that a Pub Membership is to remove the ads for your account, we are not profiting off Pub Memberships.

Now with that said I do have a solution but need help putting together a list of current FTA Equipment brands. Who want's to HELP? (I will be away until Monday so please forgive me if you don't hear back from me.)

Thanks guys!

Current Brands? GeoSatPro and AZ box have been listed. Then there are the others - one you asked for reviews of - and got a FEW comments. I am taking a little more of my time because I do not want to be a part of the problem - but I do not know how to be a part of the solution.
I will be doing a little research on SDRs. (I have seen the box!) That is not a brand, but a hobbiest / computer controlled unit - no longer just a turner on a card, but a total receiver in the computer. It seems to me there was a forum on that part of the hobby, I did not understand it, but I did try to read it on occasion. I do not see it now.

My address is not public on the forum, but I got a letter - to RV1POP from a Dish seller. I called them and asked how they knew who / where I was. What a bunch of doubletalk that provided. I told them I was off grid and did not have AC power or a land line.They insisted they would provide me with a system for $19.99 a month for 2 years, including my locals. When they came out to install - no AC power. My 12 VDC TV and my microHD showing TV and the installer insisted I had power - after all the lines ran right in front of my property - those were OPEN PAIR STEEL phone lines. And the LOCALS? Stations from Spokane... Or possibly from Seattle. But not Yakima or The Dalles -- or even Portland.

SO: we have a supporting sponsor in Dish sales... Big forum, last time I looked. We have a double sponsor in free to Air - one forum now relegated to cable and other offerings and his second outlet now lumped into ALL MIXED BREEDS. OK, Scott, I can not help with a listing of the variety of receivers, because there seems to be a grand total of ===== 2. (Three if you consider OpenBox S9 and S10. And the other 31 Flavors.)
If open box was really open source as was first suggested it could have been a useful box - but it is not talked about in the unix / Linux community at all.

Again, I see 3 or 4 sub-forums for help. Brian, who is right here daily giving help, pwr surge (if I have that name wrong, I apologize in advance), the 4DTV group - pay as you go C-band (which probably does belong under C-band until Google decides what to do with their Motorola Patents - at least) and open box / clones.

Yes my time costs me money - and I am such a keyboarder that this has taken a long time, but I had responded, and I have again. Any one agree - or disagree? Please we have enough Mud here at our place: Until the ground gets dry again ... so REASONS -- Why.

 

[Mr Tony]

Well I finally got to see this "change" and frankly I am saddened. I am saddened that 8+ years of helping to build up the free to air area to make it (at the time) the best place for info just got flushed down the toilet with one flush. Good god what did you do....hire Pete back as a mod?
I don't understand why we need to group everything together yet the phone area Scott you bend over backwards and kisses poke's ass so he can continue to spam the phone area by creating 12 forums one for each type of phone or provider. When we asked about it we got "oh traffic is up"...sure the spam went up because multiple posts in multiple areas. That ain't traffic going up

The free to air area has always been the area where change really doens't need to be made because I have used the theory "If it ain't broke don't f**k with it" (or something like that). Very rarely do we make changes and usually it is for the good. This one sucks rocks and I don't even have free to air anymore. Good lord if I did I'd be pissed. Its so confusing to read through the posts because you don't know what model receiver it is until you read through the actual post.
This aint like Dish or Directv where you have 5 maybe 6 receiver models out there right now so one area is fine. We have plenty of receivers out there. I'd really like to know who the "complainers" are in regards to having a separate azbox and a separate MicroHD forum if there are any other than the usual azbox or MicroHD bashers. The azbox forum was great because the azbox is a different animal. The MicroHD was nice because if there was an issue there would be one thread on that issue and it was easy to find. Now its just cluster.

You mentioned examples of new receivers? Why not use the example posted earlier of what Rick has. Those are the most common newer receivers or "families" out there. Why not have something like
AZBOX
MICROHD
PANSAT
AMIKO (OR ALIEN...dont knwo the actual name)
SSO (SOLOMEND SATHAWK OPENBOX)...since its the same family
COOLSAT (although stiull not made there are some of those around still)
MANHATTAN
OTHER (unless other folks come up with examples)
Even split out the DVB & DVB-S2 recievers as 2 separate forums.

But for the FTA folks lemme give you a little background on this. A couple weeks ago Scott sent a PM to a few of us about the changes. It was the 2 mods of the FTA area (wallyhts and Ke4est), myself (but I dont get why as I havent had FTA since November 29th when I got kicked out of my house so I havent stayed up to date on all the changes) and I guess dfergie (even though he does minimal here in the FTA area but he's apparently "scott's right hand man") and said he was going to change this and wanted our opinion. I just responded with "doesnt bother me any" (again I havent played with FTA in 6 months) but honestly I should have responded with "why ask? Its your site and you're gonna do it anyways" because that's usually what happens. Scott gets an idea but you "ask for input" knowing you're gonna do it anyways and then when people complain you say "sorry its staying"....why not ask the members here in the FTA area? Sure you can ask the mods but in the end its the members who are here more than the staff is. Unlike the other areas where folks just come and go the FTA area is kinda like "family". We oooh and aaah at the crazy things we come up with and get excited when someone saves a C-Band dish from the scrapyard. We help each other out a newbie getting a system up and running and congratulate him on finding the 1st signal. You aksed for input on if you wanted to bring back that hellhole known as the pit yet making a major change to the FTA area nobody really had a say......sad if you ask me

RIP the best FTA site out there because it listened to its members....I guess it doesn't anymore
2004-2013

 

[Jim S.]

I don't understand why we need to group everything together yet the phone area Scott you bend over backwards and kisses poke's ass so he can continue to spam the phone area by creating 12 forums one for each type of phone or provider. When we asked about it we got "oh traffic is up"...sure the spam went up because multiple posts in multiple areas. That ain't traffic going up

Great Zot, I just looked to see what you were talking about and boy, are you right! (I never looked at the phone area, not once, because I don't have a cell phone.) What the hell? I don't see any discussion, all I see is Poke (whoever he is) posting news articles!

I'd really like to know who the "complainers" are in regards to having a separate azbox and a separate MicroHD forum if there are any other than the usual azbox or MicroHD bashers.

A lot of people were asking about that, and instead of answering, Scott said that he really wanted to have even more receiver areas, but somebody said that they didn't want anyone to think we were the official support site for their box.

Seeing as how there really aren't that many active box manufacturers anymore, particularly in the American market, I think the prime suspect would be the person who had a raging hate-on for Scott and this site because of some perception that he/we were responsible for attacking Rick's site. But I thought he had mellowed out, because Scott recently subscribed to his site when he bought one of his receivers, and nothing negative was said. So if it's not him, then I have NO idea who.

Now Scott says he has a plan for "fixing" it, but he needs help. Huh? The only thing that needs to be done to fix it is put it back the way it was!

Unlike some people, I'm not going to cancel my membership over this, but only because I really cannot stand ads. Sure, I could run an ad blocker, but the site would still be wasting its, mine, and everyone else's time and bandwidth by trying to serve the ads. So I'm registering my disgust by writing this.

 

[madmadworld]

this below would work
thank you

AZBOX
MICROHD
PANSAT
AMIKO (OR ALIEN...dont knwo the actual name)
SSO (SOLOMEND SATHAWK OPENBOX)...since its the same family
COOLSAT (although stiull not made there are some of those around still)
MANHATTAN
OTHER (unless other folks come up with examples)

 

[eurosport]

Well, I certainly love the change and I know several former Satellite Guys who will be coming back due to the changes and who will possibly become pub members.

You're the only one so far that I know of.... ...& several FORMER SatGuys are coming back? Because of THIS? C,mon now.......

 

[eurosport]

Great Zot, I just looked to see what you were talking about and boy, are you right! (I never looked at the phone area, not once, because I don't have a cell phone.) What the hell? I don't see any discussion, all I see is Poke (whoever he is) posting news articles!



A lot of people were asking about that, and instead of answering, Scott said that he really wanted to have even more receiver areas, but somebody said that they didn't want anyone to think we were the official support site for their box.

Official support? Well...

The phone area better be careful then, notice that Android, Blackberry, Apple Ios, Windows, At&t, Sprint, T-mobile AND Verizon are ALL in their own "name branded" sections!

But the FTA boxes can't be? C'mon now.... there's gotta be more to this. The whole thing makes absolutely no sense!

 

[madmadworld]

making the changes and allowing us the opportunity to talk freely about all the new FTA equipment out there that might or might not come from a gold sponsor.

there has always been talk here about all boxes. even the worthless ones.:rant:

what are you talking about ?

 

[Mr Tony]

You're the only one so far that I know of.... ...& several FORMER SatGuys are coming back? Because of THIS? C,mon now.......

betcha those names are in the same boat as the "complainers".......probably mythical

 

[Mr Tony]

there has always been talk here about all boxes. even the worthless ones.:rant:

what are you talking about ?

exactly. I havent seen one time where we say "nope you can't talk about ___________________ receiver"......unless it was involving stealing. We welcome all receiver models out there to talk about. No matter how crappy they are

 

[Tron]

...No matter how crappy they are

And there are plenty boxes that fit that description perfectly ...

 

[cyberham]

I like the changes and thus will soon be renewing my pub membership.

What is there to like with this idea? What has been gained by removing order and adding chaos?

I must be the minority here because I really dont care either way...

If you read these postings, then how could you not care? Do you have endless time and patience to spend filtering through postings about often rubbish receivers of zero interest to you?

You guys love to bitch and moan...yet no one wanted to help so I guess it stays this way...I do have a solution but need help putting together a list of current FTA Equipment brands...

An arrogant attitude when addressing those (not me!) who have spent hours and hours of their time and effort to make this forum what it is. Why do you ask for "help" when you could do this with 5 minutes of thought yourself considering your familiarity with FTA? That's called passive agressive personality. iceberg gave you a list yesterday, so now you may proceed with your revised idea.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Ice, I agree 100% with your in depth posting earlier you hit the nail on the head. Maybe this whole thread should be moved to the PIT..Scott I pay to be a pub member and I don't care whether it only removes a few ads or buys you a pizza. I'm a pub member because we know this is the best satellite forum out there. Knowledgeable people and easy to find info. That's why I've supported and used Sat Guys. You'll never make everyone happy but I certainly hope one or two people don't influence how Sat Guys is run or any part of it. This is a valuable resource for all and input from all should be considered.

 

[SatelliteAV]

I have been contacted by several members asking me to weigh in on this issue.

I respect that Scott is making an attempt to make this site more inclusive. The site had a perception problem in that it appeared to promote products rather than the hobby. Scott and I discussed the challenges in advance of the changes and I appreciate that he solicited my input.

The site dynamic changed when Satellite AV was the sole remaining FTA Gold Sponsor. This resulted in not being the best situation for our brand as many resellers started viewing our products as the SatelliteGuys brand. We have been repeatedly told that they love our quality products, but not comfortable selling GEOSATpro products be due to us being "the SatelliteGuys brand". Product spotlight turned out to not only be an issue for the SatelliteGuys website and non sponsor products, but also to the sponsors!

I believe the site could thrive following the Consumer Reports example of product neutrality and not soliciting advertising or sponsorship. The current state of the support forum is chaotic, but it could be fixed and result in an even better experience and increased participation.

I agree that with the exception of VC2 and Iceberg stepping forward with examples or a list, little was being done to help change the problems. Reminds me of a comment from my childhood, "When you're done complaining, the garden still needs weeding"!

The list is a good start! I would suggest adding the Traxis and Lexium/OmegaSat brands to the list and changing the microHD to GEOSATpro.

Anyone else have suggestion for the list? Lets work together make a positive change!

 

[stargaze]

Well, I certainly love the change and I know several former Satellite Guys who will be coming back due to the changes and who will possibly become pub members.

Is Glentech coming back?

Wow sounds like you had some serious issues with certain receivers!

Every forum has sections for different receivers, well all but this one now, so I seriously doubt lumping everything into one place would make it better.

Someone else posted about the different phone forums here are separated and then another about the different small dish forums are still separate here. Whats the difference between those and the receiver section? Just asking.....

You guys love to bitch and moan, but I told you I had a solution and needed some help with it... yet no one wanted to help so I guess it stays this way.

I am not seeing it as bitch and moan Scott, rather people were blindsided about the abrupt changes. To be honest, it is easier to have the different sub forums to find the questions one would have on a particular receiver rather than to lump everything together. If one or two did not like the fact of a gold sponsor member developing and supporting a receiver and many members here actually buying from them they could either develop their own receiver or if they have one they liked better start posting to see how much interest there is in it and if enough then it too could possibly have it's own sub forum.

But the statement that former members are coming back due to the taking away of the different receiver sub forums is plain ludicrous.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Guys I know changes are always hard but they needed to be done, and with my idea it is my hope that you will see that it was ultimately worth it.

Also I am sorry for being gruff last night, I was out in the 95 degree sun all day yesterday working on my front porch. I was tired, grumpy and swollen from a lot of bug bites. I was trying to get done as we need to bring my son to the YMCA Camp today for his open house. He is only 10 years old and looking forward to camp, while I am am nervous as he will be going away for two weeks and has never really been away from us before. Still got a lot to do outside before we go.

BTW I wish to thank Brain from SatelliteAV for posting his take on things as he posted a lot that I felt I could not post publicly. My goal here is to see all companies get a fair shake not only here but outside of SatelliteGuys as well.

Thanks guys! (Now back outside into the sun...)

 

[mr.crane]

Bring Pete Back!

I agree with Iceberg, Pete is one of the Most professional moderators, that we use to have!
Why make those changes when it was not necessary. If it is not Broken why try to fix it!