a year ago, every forum i am a member of had a half a dozen eD related questions active at all times, tons of hype about the products, leading to members and lurkers buying. now i rarely see the name mentioned.
from what i have seen, ben has moved away into his own little eD forum that he created, but by directing people there, he has shot himself in the foot IMO. in essence, i would much rather have no private support forum for one simple reason: spreading the name of the company. if all your users go to your forum to ask questions, you just lost out on having your name mentioned other places where there will always be lurkers and newbies that know nothing of your company or your checkered past.
this forum has 16,000 members. SIN has about 7000 members. CAF has 30,000 members. ECA has about 55,000 members. ICIX has less than 800 members. i don't understand why anyone would make a move as dumb as pulling a majority of their publicity from established forums with those numbers, and redirecting it to a forum that is basically made up of existing customers. it seems like an internet company would want to encourge the spreading of its name online, as opposed to containing it in a hidden forum that has few members.
