Why does this forum appear to be barely active

[bawldiggle]

When choosing any software I check out the forum, specifically thread dates and how long before a post is answered, if at all.
I have just spent about 2 hours looking around this forum, and notice a lot of stickies dated 10+ years ago !
Links in some stickies do go-to very recent information, eg, Database Updates ... https://www.superantispyware.com/rss/definitions.xml
- but most are ancient, 2008, 2006 etc
 
Is this because paying customers get priority service ?  Understandable to look after commercial customers.
-  one person "GuiltySpark" (a volunteer) appears to be doing all the legwork on this forum
 
Anybody with a few decades of IT under their belt know of "forums" that have their problems of ignored paying customers
-  the top 2 AVs on AV-Comparitives have their own deep seated problems ...
B:.  new threads are ignored and emails can take 4+ weeks to get a response ... (personal experience)
K: threads and posts are sanitized to eliminate any "bad light" of the AV product  ... personal experience
-   because I notice on this forum, any searches for K*** or B*** or "antivirus" all come up empty results
 
I am reluctant to spend money on a neglected customer base
 
Granted the world is full of freebie hunters with their wallets/cards held tight to their chests (or buried under a metre of concrete)

[GuiltySpark]

Hi bawldiggle

 

In terms of 'an empty forum activity', it has been this way for some time. I actually spoke to Michael of SASCS sometime back to try to find out why but he didn't have the answer.

 

The forum does need a major facelift but any attempt I've made to get members involved in various threads seems to go by the wayside (maybe they just don't like me) lol.

 

I try to keep any and all comments made on the forum. The only time(s) I've removed any negativity is due to a bot post / trolling (the one hit wonders) purely because they are not wanting answers more a case of backlink spamming.

 

In terms of the searches for various comments it really depends on what Labels have been used when creating a thread I'm sure there are threads where the bad language exists, or the negative comments but as stated before they are usually one hit wonders and get lost in the other posts by various members and staff.

 

Other than that I can't really answer your questions as I'm not privy to that info.

[bawldiggle]

Thank you "GuiltySparK" for an honest answer

 

It is a shame that the SAS developer(s) appear to have dropped the ball ... I was referred to SAS several years ago from sevenforums.com ... an excellent find back then. Times are changing ... AVs make all sorts of wild claims about how thorough they are and yet last week SAS found 2 spies and 4 other (non cookie) threats on my research laptop, (the sacrificial lamb).

 

Running live SAS PRO with AVs is very contentious.

In March 2015 I could not get K**'s "banking" feature to work, K** online tech, (claimed SAS and M**bytes were the problem) without any warning removed SAS and M**bytes from my laptop ... as as a result both email and browsers were dead. I managed to resurrect the browser, but email was very dead. ... after 6 weeks Mr.K*** posted in the same thread that there was a bug in their "banking" tool.

... and interestingly Mr.K**s post was not sanitized ... 

 

I am now losing faith in AVs, it appears updates are just more bell$ and whi$tle$ ... and backing up settings (whitelists etc) is not possible

 

Another concern I have is that 'antimalware" (IMHO) is a generic term used to include everything and anything...viruses, spyware, PUPs. and bad breah

 

SAS' focus on spyware , makes a lot of sense to me, and it works well ... but if this forum is being neglected, is it indicative of SAS future. ?  I know you don't have a crystal ball.

 

Thank you once again for your response and reading my concerns for a safer web environment.

[GuiltySpark]

I'll try to answer as best I can.

 

 

It is a shame that the SAS developer(s) appear to have dropped the ball ... I was referred to SAS several years ago from sevenforums.com ... an excellent find back then. Times are changing ... AVs make all sorts of wild claims about how thorough they are and yet last week SAS found 2 spies and 4 other (non cookie) threats on my research laptop, (the sacrificial lamb).

 

Running live SAS PRO with AVs is very contentious.

 

In March 2015 I could not get K**'s "banking" feature to work, K** online tech, (claimed SAS and M**bytes were the problem) without any warning removed SAS and M**bytes from my laptop ... as as a result both email and browsers were dead. I managed to resurrect the browser, but email was very dead. ... after 6 weeks Mr.K*** posted in the same thread that there was a bug in their "banking" tool. 

... and interestingly Mr.K**s post was not sanitized ...  

 

AV vendors always, always insist upon running just their product I had the same thing with BitDefender free the server sync failed and after sending a report to BD they stated I should remove SAS and SpywareBlaster, now how that causes an issue with the BD server I could never fathom so I ignored them and went with Avira instead.

 

I am now losing faith in AVs, it appears updates are just more bell$ and whi$tle$ ... and backing up settings (whitelists etc) is not possible 

 

No idea about that so couldn't comment.

 

Another concern I have is that 'antimalware" (IMHO) is a generic term used to include everything and anything...viruses, spyware, PUPs. and bad breah

 

Malware has always been a generic term so it stands to reason that antimalware would be too, I always find it strange that AVs will call themselves AntiVirus but have a antimalware process and / or engine Defender /MSE is a prime example.

 

SAS' focus on spyware , makes a lot of sense to me, and it works well ... but if this forum is being neglected, is it indicative of SAS future. ?  I know you don't have a crystal ball.

 

The problem with forums are they will only be as good as (this is my take on it) 

1. The content that's delivered.

2. The members that use and create content consistently (not so much the one hit wonders and spambots).

3. A permanent and creative view / design structure which is easy to use, easy on the eye (I'd prefer a darker theme for my poor eyes) and has plenty of information about upcoming projects / site changes / downtime etc.

 

As for the future of SAS you're right I have no crystal ball but, what is interesting among all AntiMalware vendors is what will happen after 2026. This is when MS have said Win10 will end (they may change their mind) but if it does happen and MS have openly stated Win10 will be their last OS, what happens to all AntiMalware vendors???

 

Thank you once again for your response and reading my concerns for a safer web environment. 

 

No worries mate. I can but try

 

[geoff]

FYI, I am relatively certain that we're getting an upgrade to the forum software in the near future. Stay tuned!

[SUPERsupport]

Hey hey -

I would like to also throw in most customers, even free users, usually open a support ticket (www.superantispyware.com/support) rather then make a forum post. These tickets go straight to use and are answered by us.