Feb18Written by:Will
2/18/2009
Yesterday, I kinda vented about a press release that the DotNetNuke Corporation sent out. Today, we have a happy end to that...
I must admit that I was even more worried than I let on in my previous blog post. Those that follow me on twitter probably have a very good idea how worried I was. Sorry to all of my followers that may have gotten flooded with tweets today. Yes, I am talking to you too, @devfish. ;)
To summarize, the press release yesterday basically stated that the Community (free) Edition of DotNetNuke was only meant for non-production or testing sites, while the Professional (paid) Edition was meant for production websites. Just from that description, you may already notice the problem there. Anyhow, I am moving on.
That statement was bad enough. However, I immediately began openly asking questions in my normal avenues of Internet communication. Those avenues afford me the privelege of being able to occasionally have the ear of people like Joe Brinkman or Nik Kalyani. This time though, no one in the high of a leadership level at DNN Corp was responding. This really began to concern me. It is usually typical for one of them to chime in and say something to clarify any questions. Unfortunately, the stars were not aligned for this.
I realized today that I have become spoiled having that avenue of communication available to me. I will need to work on that moving forward.
Apparently, everyone of interest was enroute to the Seattle area for various reasons, the main being the MVP Summit.
Later in the day today, Joe Brinkman finally found a moment to come back to twitter. He immediately contacted me. I guess my intended level of control made a nuisance. Sorry Joe. I really am.
Joe informed me of a blog post made by the DotNetNuke CEO, Navin Nagiah. Needless to say, I rushed to read it. While I was disappointed that Navin didn't specifically address the content of the statement, he did an outstanding job of explaining away the press release comment as a mistake. Bravo!
So, at least for now, all of you in the DotNetNuke community have nothing to worry about. I say that with the fullest of confidence right now.
In Closing...
In closing, I would like to say something to anyone that may read this in the higher levels of leadership in the DNN Corporation. Please do not underestimate the fragile condition of the community right now. The forum thread levels may not show it, but at every user group meeting and code camp I go to, I am barraged with concerns about the future of the Community Edition of the project (emails, IMs, twitter, and so on). The community is genuinely uneasy, as they really have no information to go off of. They feel ignored. They feel abandoned. They feel unimportant.
You and I know this is not the case. But remember, "A person is smart. People are dumb, dangerous animals."
If I was not pouring my heart into the promotion and progression of the DNN community myself, I would not feel as strongly about this. But I am plugged into and devoting time, effort, emotion, resources, and so much more on a daily basis to the DNN movement. I believe in it so much, and I have my ear to the ground, hearing the whispers about all kinds of speculation. This speculation only exists because no one knows what is going on.
DotNetNuke Corporation, you MUST do a much better job of keeping the community in the loop. Lack of information only fuels suspicion, speculation, and imagination. Information provides knowledge, and fuels confidence, inspiration, motivation, and keeps the community feeling that warm fuzzy. ;)
Technorati Tags: DNN, DotNetNuke, DNN Blog, Community
Copyright ©2009 Will Strohl
8 comment(s) so far...
One thing I would remind people is that you need to keep in mind the communication channel used for a particular message. Who is that message from? If it is a tweet from me or a forum post I made, then I will certainly make corrections or updates to clarify my comments. However, formal company messages, like those in a press release will have a higher standard for how we respond to concerns or issues which might be raised.
Imagine if your boss at work made a statement to all of your customers. Would it be proper for you to go and contradict him/her in public? You probably would not think of doing so. A press release is a formal communication from the company and requires an official response if one is to be given - certainly not something to be tweeted about in an informal manner.
By Joe Brinkman on
2/19/2009 |
Very good point, Joe. It still would have been nice to at least hear something like, "Don't jump to any conclusions just yet. There may be a statement soon." That being said, I completely understand your position and reasoning. Thank you for stopping by and your understanding.
By Will on
2/19/2009 |
See - I told you it was just growing pains... :) I too am glad that they cleared this up.
By Lee Drake on
2/19/2009 |
Growing pains are indeed expected. That just seemed like it was too easy to prevent. Thanks for your comment.
By Will on
2/19/2009 |
The blog post is a good response. However, the response should be via the same avenue as the initial publication. i.e. a corrected Press release, to remove confusion between what is being said by the Corp. As Joe points out "formal company messages, like those in a press release will have a higher standard for how we respond to concerns or issues which might be raised"
Most people would place more emphasis on a Press Release than a Blog for an 'offcial company line' especially those that haven't been involved in the Community.
By Antony (WEBPC) on
2/19/2009 |
@WEBPC I agree with you 100%.
By Will on
2/19/2009 |
Thank you Will.
I think we all need to agree that DNN is evolving into a much different beast than the informal community we know. Saying that, I agree with you 1,000 percent that this could have been handled better by DNN from the very beginning. It's almost the line of "We were with you first and foremost, but now that money's involved, we're with the people who pay. We'll get back to you when we can...have a nice day." Not saying that's the reality, just the perception. I've talked to quite a few local government groups that I've turned onto DNN here in Virginia and they're already planning for something different for when they (perception again) believe DNN will abandon the Open Source community.
I dunno, that's just how I see it right now, and these little "ooopses, our bad" just don't give many people much confidence.
By Mark Gordon on
2/19/2009 |
Thanks for your comments, Mark. Your viewpoints and comments are echoed to me quite often. I am not sure that those who are on the Board of Directors realize how much.
By Will on
2/19/2009 |