As a corollary my big peeve is when someone discontinues a stack, that they remove all of the tutorial info about it. I have made āaspirationalā purchases of stacks that I hoped to use in the future - they still work well but but it would be great to have access to all of the support /sales info that was available when I purchased it. If itās no longer for sale, thatās fine - but the support / info page can have a popup saying that the stack is āretiredā and is no longer being sold or supported. Click through and agree to get access to the demos / tutorial, etc. This has been a huge issue with @Doobox and the other day I went to look up info for StageDive @Jannis because I thought I may have a situation where I could finally use it and I donāt see it anywhere on the site :(
In general, itās implied that that if something is retired that it may not work well in our ever-changing environment, but it may work well enough for our needs. This has given me pause when I buy stacks. Some devs are great about this - 1LD has kept all of his tutorials up. Stacks4Stacks is great at this as well.
There may be a great reason as to why this is done, but I canāt seem to figure it out.
If people are going to sell things without support, just let them know before hand so one can decide if they want to take that chance. Thatās what Weavium should do.
Iām always available to help with any questions on retired / discontinued stacks, as long as they still function, for a reasonable period of time after they were discontinued, like a few years.
Iāv never made anything that really requires any extensive documentation. My mantra is if it needs extensive documentation, Iāv probably designed it badly.
Hey, just ask, it was always there. I never got an email from you if I remember correctly.
Hi Gary -
Your mantra assumes I know what Iām doing :) I think that sometimes someone could be so good at something that they tend to forget what itās like when they were new at it - especially if theyāve been doing it a while. Iāve been teaching artists and designers for thirty years, so Iāve been saying the same things, over and over. I have to remember a lot of it is stuff that theyāre hearing for the first time they need to work with it, process it etc.
I think in this case, Iām the student and youāre the teacher :)
As for being available, thatās great (I will say that hasnāt always panned out with you in my case) but why bug you if I could just see it again / read about it? Id rather leave you alone so you (and all the devs) can make more cool stuff.
Just did a count of all the Doobox stacks I have - 90 :) Take away the stacks you currently offer, it would still amount to harrassment. If youāre able to get the old stuff up with a disclaimer that they arenāt for sale or supported, that would be great.
Hi Jannis -
Thank for the prompt reply. I went to your site https://instacks.com to double check and didnāt see anything.
I checked the blog as well. While the link you sent above does work, I canāt navigate to it from the main page.
You never got an email from me because I never sent one. Sometimes I may not even have a specific question yet -it would be nice to see it agin in action and read the directions - I think in most cases, Iād be able to avoid the email. Thatās good for both of us - I donāt have to wait for a response and you donāt have to write one :)
I realize things shouldnāt be sold forever - itās up to the dev to make that decision, for whatever reason. It would be nice to have access to the directions though!
BTW, the link you sent (support.instacks.com) I donāt see it anywhere on your main site. Did I miss it? If not, how was I supposed to know it exists? :)
90! you must have been with me from the start. Thank you for your support.
Also, there is a little known feature of Stacks, that can often lead to help in cases like this.
I often leave the demo pages in place permanently, so you can right click on any stack icon in your stacks library, and in the context menu that appears select āshow infoā, which in the case of Dobox, takes you to the demo page.
I am regularly cleaning up my product portfolio and remove items, which arenāt bought by customers any more. IMHO it doesnāt make sense to have a large set of products, where only a part drives the whole revenue.
Sure, the link to the support document should be added to the overall navigation, Iāll add that.
I love 1LD stacks. I think Iāve bought all of them and work great! Support is not good, Thatās a reality. But he managed to have a great QandA pages with tutorials.
I acknowledge that your brief responses may come across as impolite at times, but I am grateful for the effort you put in to assist me, even if it is only for a moment. Thank you for your continued help. Love your stacks and apps, I will always going to be buying your stacks! super well done and beautiful.
Hello
That is strange that you have that experience with 1LD. I have only experienced very excellent support from him. As has others that have expressed similar experiences to mine in this formum.
Best Regards
Kent
I agree with Kent, 1LD offers superb support.
@Jannis is it possible to still see the StageDive demo and/or have access to the project file?
Thanks.
Yes, Iād love the project file. That would be great.
Perhaps I am experiencing a streak of unfortunate events. Whenever I reach out for assistance, either through email or his website, I do not receive a satisfactory response. It seems that he is uninterested in engaging with requests that require detailed explanations. To illustrate, I purchased a theme/project named Alex Solus and requested help as I was struggling to comprehend its usage. However, I have yet to receive a response from him, even after my latest email where I asked if I could send him my project for further clarification.
Send to you via pm.