Announcement: New MIVA Community Tool on the Horizon

Greetings Community members,
 
Change.  Some like it, some hate it.  Some embrace it and
some run from
it.
 
The way in which we communicate with our community members,
and enable
them to communicate with each other is about to change
radically.  On
Wednesday 29th March, we are going to thank our List Server
for its
years of service and put it out to pasture.   We are going
to switch
from a list server environment to highly functional forums.
 
Some things are going to change, and some will stay the
same.
 
- MIVA support reps will man the forum providing free
support to all
users to supplement the valuable input of our developer and
designer
communities and our paid phone support model.
- Team MIVA members will contribute to forums that
complement their role
within the company.
- We've chosen a solution that as far as possible mirrors
the list
server features that we know many people enjoy.  You will be
able
subscribe to receive instant notification of all new threads
in any
forum.  While this doesn't mirror the "every
post" functionality of the
list server,  it does help keep you up to date,  with the
added bonus of
not having to wade through every posting on a subject for
which you have
no interest.
- An "Off Topic" area will create a place for
civilized chat that up
until now has not had an official home.
- The forum will serve as an efficient central repository
for
need-to-know information and announcements that we currently
don't
communicate effectively, such as upcoming events, releases
and issues.
 
I've been on and off the MIVA lists for 7 years and they
have served its
members well, but it is truly time for this group to enjoy a
richer
community experience.  One where the company has more
involvement and
one that offers a much better information repository that
helps new
product users get the answers they need quickly and
efficiently.
 
The migration from these lists will be as follows:
 
Monday, 27th March, we will post the forum URL and welcome
members to
create accounts.  Between Monday and Wednesday,  non-product
support
areas of the forum will be open and active allowing us all
to find our
feet.  On Wednesday,  the Product Support forums will become
active,
and postings to this list will be modified to include a
reminder of the
forums new role.  While existing threads should complete on
the list
servers, we request that new threads are created in the
appropriate
forum.
 
We are excited about this change.  There are many in San
Diego who look
forward to coming closer to the communities that we know are
an integral
part of our success.  
 
Not only is it a technology switch, but just as importantly
it marks a
change in support policy, and Team MIVA member visibility. 
We enter
into this new phase of our relationship with enthusiasm and
an open
mind.  We trust that those who choose to take the step of
joining us do
so with the same attitude.
 
Best regards
 
Keith Hunniford
 
Keith Hunniford| Director of Small Business Merchant
Communities | MIVA
Small Business | 

MIVA Means Business 
smallbusiness.miva.com | NASDAQ:MIVA 

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Will the thousands of postings from the old list be
incorporated into the
new forum?  

When I first started using the list, I would just go to the
website.  It was
really time consuming and the search tool didn't work very
well; I rarely
found what I was looking for.   Signing up to have
everything come to me as
an email made a huge difference, I feel totally connected
and have learned a
lot by quickly browsing each email in my inbox for the list.
 

If Miva moves all the old postings into the forum, and it
has a better
search tool, we may be able to find answers without
submitting a new thread
each time. 

Many software companies use forums as a repository of good
advice, if it's
well organized it would be really useful, and it would save
the developers
the trouble of answering the same questions over and over
again.  That said,
I think part of the reason the so many developers are
willing to participate
is two fold: They are supporting existing customers and
steering people to
their products.  An added benefit to developers and
customers is that ideas
are floated that are often acted upon by the developers.

Let's face it, Miva would be dead in the water if not for
the significant
support provided by the community of developers and
experienced store
owners.  I wish Miva would spend more time consulting with
the group before
they make decisions like this, but the ink is dry on this
deal, let's hope
the experiment works.

Tom Rogers
Tom Rogers Web Design
Webmaster for the National Empowerment Center
(www.power2u.org)



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