In light of recent events, I just wanted to take the time to say that the forums here at ProgressTalk.com will always be free and open to anyone that wants to register for an account, and participate in reading and posting on the various discussions that we have here. I strongly believe in having free resources available to assist Progress developers with problems and issues that they may face.
I just wanted to comment on the recent developments at the Progress Email Group (PEG), and their decision to close off the community to only paid members. Any of you that subscribe to PEG received this email late last week:
Now at this point it appears to just be another way to get more people to pay for memberships, as they actually aren't unsubscribing non-members (or at least haven't up to this point, as their membership numbers haven't gone down, as seen from here: http://www.peg.com/sub_dist.html )
However, they are blocking any new subscribers from joining, as subscribe requests are being ignored and replaced by this email responder:
I think that this is a greedy move on their part in order to attempt to force more people to buy membership from them. I completely understand that running an Internet community costs money, as I have first hand experience with ProgressTalk.com. However, here subscriptions are completely optional (and always will be), and there are a few tangible benefits that I give to subscribers just as a way to say thank you. I also offset costs with advertising.
In closing, I would hope that any PEG subscribers that might not want to be forced into paying for "membership" can find ProgressTalk.com and feel comfortable and free to participate here!
I just wanted to comment on the recent developments at the Progress Email Group (PEG), and their decision to close off the community to only paid members. Any of you that subscribe to PEG received this email late last week:
At this time, all non-public PEG forums are closed to non-members.
We are in the process of actively unsubscribing non-members.
You can save us a great deal of time by unsubscribing yourself.
Of course, you may still become a member if you wish, but this is merely the same opportunity available for the past decade.
http://www.peg.com/jointoday.html <<== Real live working link.
--
Greg Higgins
PEG Manager
Now at this point it appears to just be another way to get more people to pay for memberships, as they actually aren't unsubscribing non-members (or at least haven't up to this point, as their membership numbers haven't gone down, as seen from here: http://www.peg.com/sub_dist.html )
However, they are blocking any new subscribers from joining, as subscribe requests are being ignored and replaced by this email responder:
Thank you for your interest in PEG; your subscription request has been deferred. Your e-mail address was not recognized as coming from a PEG Member; at this time, all non-public PEG forums are closed to non-members. Thus you need to become an individual member, or your employer needs to become a PEG corporate member, or I need to get an updated membership list.
http://www.peg.com/jointoday.html
PEG is the town square for the Progress community, we support over 4500 users everyday, and we believe we have proven our worth to companies large and small many times over the past 15 years.
We're currently seeking to improve our mentoring and training capabilities and enhance the lines of communications between developers through online conferences, panels and webinars.
Of course, all of this takes money and time. Our goal for the next year, in particular, and over coming years as necessary, is to
put forth the finest collaboration suite available for the exclusive use of our members.
We'd like to extend to Your Company <YOUR Company>this opportunity to become a PEG corporate member. As a corporate member all the Your Company <YOUR Company>IT staff would be able to participate in the PEG community without the need for individual memberships. As you may know, PEG is a user supported community; corporate memberships are new this year, it's something we haven't offered in the past.
Over the coming months we hope to be releasing software which allows corporate members to control PEG usage by their employees; for example, restricting subscriptions to forums deemed appropriate among various other capabilities.
If Your Company <YOUR Company>elect not to become a PEG Corporate Member, then you must become a PEG Individual member to participate in non-public PEG forums.
We look forward to you joining the PEG community.
--
Greg Higgins
PEG Manager
I think that this is a greedy move on their part in order to attempt to force more people to buy membership from them. I completely understand that running an Internet community costs money, as I have first hand experience with ProgressTalk.com. However, here subscriptions are completely optional (and always will be), and there are a few tangible benefits that I give to subscribers just as a way to say thank you. I also offset costs with advertising.
In closing, I would hope that any PEG subscribers that might not want to be forced into paying for "membership" can find ProgressTalk.com and feel comfortable and free to participate here!