What’s wrong with this forum software and look? Your dot.com bubble remark is vague and not very pragmatic.
It’s one of the most powerful I’ve seen (ability to parse in code, do attchments, format, etc.).
It’s got the fastest and most advanced search features I’ve seen yet.
It’s got a great thread tracking system.
It’s got a good Private Message system.
It’s well organized and easy to see and use.
The color and font scheme is well researched and easy on the eyes.
It’s logically laid out in multiple languages according to international standards, and easy to use.
To me it looks like a system put together by engineers and academics…as in people that must look at and use software all day. This is a good thing. Too much of the ‘modern’ software has been designed by marketing folks instead of tool users and psychologists.
Windows 95 was pretty darn good…as it was based on user studies, and built by people who actually had to work with the stuff at least 8 hours a day.
I’ve seen some of the so called ‘modern’ forums and they are simply lacking. Some are so weak that it’s as if they want to discourage or stifle hosting and moderating a user community. They no longer look at user experience and an online community as a ‘strategic asset’. Consequently, it’s true that you’ll find fewer ‘condescending posts’ in some of them, because people simply aren’t using the ‘new and improved forums’ as much since they suck so bad. Instead people opt for third party forums elsewhere.
Here’s an example of ‘progress’ for you.
“Old and outdated MakeMusic Forum” http://forums.makemusic.com/viewforum.php?f=6
“New and Improved MakeMusic Forum” https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/200575788-Garritan-General-Discussion?sort_by=recent_activity
Notice how the ‘new and improved’ one doesn’t even have a decent search engine. It’s ONLY advantage to ‘users’ it that it might look and work a little better if one is trying to ‘post’ with a smartphone, but as an information composer and database, it is ‘regressive’.
Many of our most loved software is ‘regressing’ as well. Companies are stripping out ‘good documentation policies’ and legacy support (not good if you’re running an operation that’s been around for decades and must ‘integrate’ the old with the new), and ‘pushed’ forcing ‘app store’ approaches where THE USER has less and less control. Case in point, I now need dozens of silly add-ons to get any of the leading browsers to come even close to what the old Opera Presto engine could do 15 years ago.
As for condescending posts, I’ve been on this forum for quite some time. I sometimes see what you’re talking about in short sporadic episodes, but I don’t think it’s the case for the majority of posts. If you want to cherry pick and display the examples of bad ones, we could also make long lists of excellent ones (but some of us have other important things to do)!
As for hardware/driver issues. Such threads usually do not start out as condescending. It just ramps up when people try to offer personal experiences and the OP refuses to even listen. It’s a frustrating thing indeed.
People ask for screen shots…they don’t happen…OP just complains more.
Give step by step instructions on how to run diagnostics, and ask for the logs. They don’t happen…just more complaining.
People offer step by step procedures to trouble shoot system components. Again…often ignored by OP, while they keep saying things like, “My ‘other daw’ doesn’t do this!”.
Again, it’s sporadic, and people most inclined to attempt to offer help on a particular topic have already been through the ‘frustration’ process. Most are pretty easy going until the point their ‘help’ is outright ‘attacked’ by an oversensitive OP in full out frustration and denial mode with an issue.
Open ended questions can lead to very open ended responses. Skip the stuff that doesn’t help, and just ask more questions. For the most part, OP is responsible for managing the tone of his own thread.