MATROX CLOSES USER FORUM??????

andybris · Post by **andybris** » 25 Dec 2006, 04:40

Just tried to log in to Matrox forum Xmas afternoon...

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/support/forums.php

and got this message "The user forum is no longer available."

The Matrox Graphics Technical Support team is available to offer quick and accurate support when required. We have decided to close the user forums to allow us to offer personalized, professional support.

Should you require Technical assistance, please contact us via the following forum.
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/contact/home.php?section=register

To contact Technical Support via telephone; please visit the following page:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/support/contact.php

We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Matrox Graphics Technical Support

It was a great resource for anyone with TH2G, now we have to email them induvidually? What a bunch of knuckleheads!

Come on RichieG give us our forum back.

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 25 Dec 2006, 10:16

It was a great resource for anyone with TH2G, now we have to email them induvidually?

Yeah it was great ! and this is bad news indeed !

Come on RichieG give us our forum back.

I somehow don't think it was Richie's fault ... he is a moderator not the boss.

I don't know what else to say but ... yeah ! ... we would like it back ! ... :shock:

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 25 Dec 2006, 11:33

This is bad news and good news at the same time. It's always bad news if a forum closes down but at the same time we here at the WSGF could take over a part of the role that the Matrox forums had. It should give a little boost to the surround section here on the WSGF. :D :wink:

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 25 Dec 2006, 11:37

Yeah ... I hear what you are saying ... still it's a shame they have closed.

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 25 Dec 2006, 11:39

Yeah, absolutelly. I never been there but from what I heared it was a pretty nice forum aswell. :(

Have they considered pointing the userbase over there to these boards?

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 25 Dec 2006, 11:57

Have they considered pointing the userbase over there to these boards?

... at the moment they are just pointing to emails but I 'll mention your excellent idea to them ... 8) :D

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 25 Dec 2006, 12:08

awesome. :D

khula · Post by **khula** » 25 Dec 2006, 12:57

Poor show by Matrox... I hope this forum takes off even more now. We need a place to check out all the latest game fixes/tweaks. How we supposed to know if a new SGU is available? Check the Matrox site every day? Don't think so.....

MatroxRulez · Post by **MatroxRulez** » 25 Dec 2006, 19:31

This is really weird decision. It seems so sudden, unexpected and maybe even unplanned. Actually, they even had a note in the Technical Support forums, that the forums will be closed (locked) on certain days due to christmas and holiday season. There wasn't any indication of closing the forums completely at any time!

I have always loved Matrox because of their high-quality technical support and especially the forums. Now I almost feel like I hate them because of this decision. I hope I feel better in couple of days. :cry:

ruirod · Post by **ruirod** » 25 Dec 2006, 20:58

I was a Matrox forum member for several years and I found there some interesting information about performance and troubleshooting.

I understand why Matrox has closed the forums. It was costing them too much to have a bunch of people complaining about the mediocrity of their products.

Also, since Matrox doesn't produce graphics cards with enough performance for gaming, the forum users were talking more about nVidia and ATI then Matrox lately.

It all comes down to cutting down the costs which don't bring any benefit.

khula · Post by **khula** » 26 Dec 2006, 02:50

That last post is a joke right?

Please? I mean is it cheaper to run a forum if its full of glowing praise?

Er, of course graphics cards are discussed as even Matrox recommended Nvidia cards!!

Constructive criticism and feedback coupled with lively debate and issues never hurt anyone. At least people were registering to air their views.

Nonsense post if I may say so....

Matrox could at least give a proper reason as to why they shut up shop. A forum is a perfect place to see what your customers feel, good or bad. They have seriously dropped the ball here..

andybris · Post by **andybris** » 26 Dec 2006, 03:32

I was very shocked to discover that they had closed the forum and Paddy I don't blame RichieG I was just having a go at him as I know he comes to WSGF.

Matrox users have for years stuck with them as video cards went better and better to have "surround gaming" some of us even stuck with Parhelia after DX8 just to keep on using triple mode. Letting newer games and video cards pass them by.

Then at huge amounts of money up-grading to new LCD monitors and TH2G to stick with surround gaming, while all the time only having one point of call to scan through all the fix's, patches and users info to sort out what was going on with this "non-mainstream" piece of kit.

Then on Christmas day of all days when I had a glitch I jumped on to the manufactures site where I have been registered with them from day dot of getting my first Matrox card and there is a piss poor message saying we have closed send us an email....

They missed out "send us an email and wait for weeks coz now everyone has to send an email and is getting crap service".

As for hosting a help thread on Matrox TH2G on WSGF why? they pull support for their loyal supporters and ditch us to fend for ourself and WSGF takes over customer service for them, they will be laughing all the way to the bank.

It seems that Matrox have set them self a low standard and have just failed to maintain it.

Anyways thats my 10 bobs worth , geeze am I mad.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 26 Dec 2006, 21:09

It might just be down for something like maintenance? I've been a member of several forums where they don't give helpful messages when it goes down for [insert-reason-here]. Normally it's just "this forum is not available" or something along those lines.

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 26 Dec 2006, 21:43

According to their message it's definitely not maintenance:
"The user forum is no longer available.

The Matrox Graphics Technical Support team is available to offer quick and accurate support when required. We have decided to close the user forums..."

A poor decision by Matrox. Forums aren't just for technical support, they are for product discussion. Oh well, at least we can continue the product discussion here (i.e. posting solutions and comparison screenshots).

MatroxRulez · Post by **MatroxRulez** » 26 Dec 2006, 22:09

WSGF is a very good place for the TripleHead2Go and Surround Gaming discussions, but I'm quite worried about everything else.

People have had a chance to use their forums to find help to hardware installation, driver problems/bugs, identifying older graphics cards, setting up TV-output, Linux support (by http://www.tuxx-home.at) etc.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 26 Dec 2006, 22:21

Ah, OK. I just read the thread posts - I didn't visit the Matrox site. ;)

As for them closing the forum, maybe some of the Matrox community will make their way here?

Post by **BHawthorne** » 27 Dec 2006, 01:58

I really think they should keep it open. Messageboards are a great resource for help and troubleshooting that just can't be fully covered by FAQs or manuals.

escrotumus · Post by **escrotumus** » 28 Dec 2006, 04:49

Yeah it really is a shame. Another example of a company just trying to shed costs at the expense of the customer....Grrrr

RUS007 · Post by **RUS007** » 02 Jan 2007, 22:14

ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s really too bad but IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve seen it coming. In the last year there are more and more complain letters then anything else. Plus since the TH2G IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve seen more and more problems Richie was helping with that werenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t even Matrox related. I hope to see Richie here to gives an inside but knowing Matrox usual secrecy he is probably forbidden to do it.

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 02 Jan 2007, 22:25

Hey RUS007 ... how's it going ?
It has been a while ... what you been up to ?

Richie does come here to post solutions etc ... lets hope he keeps coming !

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