Lost faith in the PS community

[motion2082]

I just wanted to say that I have lost faith in the Prestashop community.

It seems like you can never find any help on the forums when you need it.

I only have one client using Prestashop, all my other clients are using OpenCart which has a much better community. Not only that but modules are not overpriced. 

I'm really quite sick of never being able to find solutions to Prestashop issues....the sooner I can move away from Prestashop the better

I apologise for the rant but I just don't feel this community is like being locked in a room by yourself

Edited January 23, 2018 by motion2082 (see edit history)

[jetx]

Well it's true there is currently almost zero community here. But the issues are not so much the users but the way the forums have been created and moderated. All these languages for a start. It should focus on one only, whether it be English or French and not bother with more than one. The forum topics have always been quite hopeless and not really frequented any longer by people willing to help. Me included, I visit every so often. Whereas when I was using zencart I'd go to the forums almost every day. The main difference there is that zencart is basically strictly moderated by less than 3 people (or was).

However, all that aside, Presta is still the better shop in my opinion. But finding fixes can be extremely frustrating, you need to visit github, and read through posts in French, etc.

Personally I dislike most of the other carts (open, zen, etc) as being too basic or clunky. Sticking with Presta and starting on 1.7x (seems not too bad). Wish there was a better means to upgrade.

[endriu107]

Users many  times posts their topics in wrong forum section, for example if you need help with creating module you supposed to post in PrestaShop Developers subforum not in General. Also you supposed to provide all information like version PrestaShop. In some cases is better add code from specific function or part of code you have problem, adding zip with module require more time to help. We need to download zip, find code you have problem with etc.

Forum is creating by users, if you need help start helping other users, then other users will be have more time to help you.

[Rizzzle]

The forums have been dying for some time.

Then there’s the god awful UX of this website. It’s terrible.

Why are they not able to create a decent, mobile responsive forum. It’s 2018 FFS.

[nadie]

Hi,

The subject of languages is not an excuse for users to ask questions correctly and to help each other.

Not everything is reduced to the English or French Community, for example the Spanish Community has also been important.

Everyone asks for help, but when the solution is obtained, 90% of those users do not help in other solutions.  If you want help, help other people. It is the karma of life.

A few years ago the help was impressive, but the same users can not always be helping (they are not slaves of the forum), other users must help.

Sorry for my English

Edited January 25, 2018 by nadie (see edit history)

[jetx]

Honestly "Superstar" and "Legend" (Karma of life? gimme a break)? The website forum is the worst of any of the major players. Absolutely dismal.

 Other cart site forums have sub categories such as Shipping, Payment, Security, Installing Linux, Windows, Upgrading from versions, Templates, Page Layout, Setting up (products, cats, taxes, currencies, specials), Admin.

Then they go even further with Add-ons with sub categories including shipping, payment, SEO, templates. What does Prestashop do? It throws it all into one single category. Almost impossible to find modules relating to only shipping without going through 38 pages. 

Users don't reply because of the way this forum is designed, it's a joke!!! And currently full of spam. 

Anyway, in my opinion this crappy forum is the sole reason there is zero community.

 

 

[motion2082]

5 hours ago, nadie said:

A few years ago the help was impressive, but the same users can not always be helping (they are not slaves of the forum), other users must help.

 

I have to agree here, seems like there is only 1 or 2 developers that can help. It would be great if there were more knowledge/tutorials out there to encourage more people to learn the platform.

[motion2082]

6 hours ago, Rizzzle said:

The forums have been dying for some time.

Then there’s the god awful UX of this website. It’s terrible.

Why are they not able to create a decent, mobile responsive forum. It’s 2018 FFS.

 

Absolutely, it's not very clear as to where we should be posting questions and queries.

[nadie]

hace 2 horas, motion2082 dijo:

 

Absolutely, it's not very clear as to where we should be posting questions and queries.

 

hace 5 horas, jetx dijo:

Honestly "Superstar" and "Legend" (Karma of life? gimme a break)? The website forum is the worst of any of the major players. Absolutely dismal.

 

Anyway, in my opinion this crappy forum is the sole reason there is zero community.

 

 

In my opinion the sections are clear, another thing is that users do not stop to see the subforum and see where and how to ask.
Using the forum does not require a master's degree or a PhD.

If you have new ideas to improve the forum, gather several stakeholders and propose changes. It is not about destroying what already exists, nor about sending everything to the wastebasket.

User of the Prestashop forum since 2010

How should I feel after giving part of my time in the past to the Spanish Community? I commit suicide?

Sorry for my English

Edited January 25, 2018 by nadie (see edit history)

[musicmaster]

The problem of the Prestashop forum is that the Prestashop staff is invisible. They would be the natural core.

[jetx]

I wouldn't just delete this forum but send the whole hideous thing to archives (old forum) and start again. Create a new one (different software perhaps) with many specific categories and sub categories with wiki sections, tutorials, etc.

Of course this should be done (paid for) by the company and not volunteers. With several full time, paid, moderators. This is how Prestashop can succeed, otherwise I think it may fade.

 

 

 

[selectshop.at]

39 minutes ago, jetx said:

Of course this should be done (paid for) by the company and not volunteers. With several full time, paid, moderators. This is how Prestashop can succeed, otherwise I think it may fade.

Moderators in most cases (and this specially for open source software) are not employed and not paid members. Moderators only moderate. Their task is not to give help on Prestashop SOFTWARE issues. If they help, than this will follow on free basis.

Moderators don't have the rights to make changes on the page. This is the task of Administrator/Community Manger = Prestashop Team.

[musicmaster]

7 hours ago, jetx said:

I wouldn't just delete this forum but send the whole hideous thing to archives (old forum) and start again. Create a new one (different software perhaps) with many specific categories and sub categories with wiki sections, tutorials, etc.

Of course this should be done (paid for) by the company and not volunteers. With several full time, paid, moderators. This is how Prestashop can succeed, otherwise I think it may fade.

 

 

 

The forum is not as bad as you claim. If you are a bit smart you can solve most problems just by doing a text search in the forum. That works at least as good as categories as not all problems nicely fit in categories. And Prestashop has a manual.

The reason I would like to see someone from Prestashop around on the forum is that you need someone around who feels responsible and who can have things changed if there is a real need. The people who you see on the forum may have quite some knowledge of the software but they have no or almost no influence in Paris. Even if someone from the staff in Paris or Tunisia would spend 10 minutes a day on the forum it would make a big difference.

[selectshop.at]

50 minutes ago, musicmaster said:

 Even if someone from the staff in Paris or Tunisia would spend 10 minutes a day on the forum it would make a big difference.

 

Staff in Tunisia ? I don't know that Prestashop has a bureau or something else in Tunisia. Perhpaps you mean USA ? Headquarters are in Paris and Miami.

As written before: Responsible for the forum is Community Manger Antoine in Paris. He is employed and besides the Forum he has also other tasks within Prestashop Company.

[Dh42]

Did you not know that dev move to tunisia for like a year? 

[selectshop.at]

No, I didn't know that devs are now based in Tunisia, but this is really unimportant as they are not responsible for the forum and moreover they never or almost never have been present here. Forum is HQ task.

[Pierre_d]

On 26/01/2018 at 7:00 AM, jetx said:

I wouldn't just delete this forum but send the whole hideous thing to archives (old forum) and start again. Create a new one (different software perhaps) with many specific categories and sub categories with wiki sections, tutorials, etc.

Of course this should be done (paid for) by the company and not volunteers. With several full time, paid, moderators. This is how Prestashop can succeed, otherwise I think it may fade.

 

 

 

I agree with what is written above. This forum is overly complicated and finding answers difficult. The concept of "legend" and "superstars" just looks to me as a way to cultivate ego and does not create an open community of equals members (equals not to be taken as equal knowledge of PS).

I've started to work with Prestashop in June last year. I've received some help here, but very little finally. I developed my own modules, thus gaining some internal knowledge of PS. Therefore, when I read a question here for which I may help, I take some time to answer. My two cent contribution to the community. But after a few months here, it's hard for me to consider this forum as very helpful and very open and has come to the conclusion then searching Google when I have a question is much more efficient then searching this forum.

Finally, I disagree with the point that all members should contribute equally. Reality is, some people has used PS for long time and/or dig more deeply into it, building an expertise that not all members are supposed to have.

 

[nadie]

hace 41 minutos, Pierre_d dijo:

I agree with what is written above. This forum is overly complicated and finding answers difficult. The concept of "legend" and "superstars" just looks to me as a way to cultivate ego and does not create an open community of equals members (equals not to be taken as equal knowledge of PS).

I've started to work with Prestashop in June last year. I've received some help here, but very little finally. I developed my own modules, thus gaining some internal knowledge of PS. Therefore, when I read a question here for which I may help, I take some time to answer. My two cent contribution to the community. But after a few months here, it's hard for me to consider this forum as very helpful and very open and has come to the conclusion then searching Google when I have a question is much more efficient then searching this forum.

Finally, I disagree with the point that all members should contribute equally. Reality is, some people has used PS for long time and/or dig more deeply into it, building an expertise that not all members are supposed to have.

 

 

Each user should help in what they can.

But it is proven that the majority of users who receive help do not go back to the forum to help or be interested.

We are in a selfish world.

A few years ago the collaboration between users was much greater, but this can not depend on a limited number of users who are dedicated to help (each person has their life and responsibilities outside of a forum)

The help in the forums (whether from Prestashop or any topic) has always depended on the altruistic will of the users..

Each generation is different.

It is not the same now as it was a few years ago and it will not be the same in several years now.

The boom of the years 2010/2012 will never return to the forums just as Harrison Ford would not return to appear in a Star Wars movie because he died on behalf of his son.

If we compare the documentation that currently exists in the forums, on the internet, on YouTube compared to a few years ago it is impressive.

Can you imagine how to get a few years to make changes when we did not have a lot of documentation?

-----

A greeting from a user who can barely access the Spanish forum for years because i have other responsibilities more important

Sorry for my English (My english is very bad)

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by nadie (see edit history)

[Pierre_d]

Harrison Ford is dead and no one told me!
Or you meant Han Solo ?

+

Now, about Prestashop community... things are made worst with some people here believing their are entitled to receive free help for setting up a shop with which they plan to make money. See the pair of ducks ? (Only old programmers will understand this one!).

(it's Saturday, I'm in a joke mood).

Edited January 27, 2018 by Pierre_d (see edit history)

[selectshop.at]

Well at the end some users have understood how community works. Unfortunately most of them did not understand it. The quantity of users claiming CUSTOMIZED/PERSONAL AND FREE support is a high one and daily practice. As old contributor (since 2010) I'm with nadie. The flair of the old years were gone and this now since years. A forum is to get help for to help yourself, but not for to get FREE SUPPORT.

BTW "Legend or any other Title like that" says only that this user has xxx posts in the forum. The likes could be a reference of his work here. It is not a way for to cultivate ego, but a feature of forum software. I don't care about such "titles".

[Rhobur]

Most of the users getting help don't even bother to mark their post as SOLVED, which would be of great help to other users with the same issue.

PS is a free, open source solution, one cannot pretend always free support too.

Most of us, being older users here, spend our time and try to offer help as and when we can this being a pro bone thing.

We have to make a living for ourselves, can't spend all our time here providing free support, helping new users to make money, see the pun here?

We do what we can and if someone is not satisfied with that is of course free to move over to other open source solution providing free support for life.

Wait, does this even exists?

 

[jetx]

Well I should utilize the Quote function, but for speed I'll just: "PS is a free, open source solution, one cannot pretend always free support too.".  No, in the case of Prestashop you need to consider that it is in fact a large money making enterprise through its add-ons.

Free, open source software like Zen-cart (one of many) are exactly community based, free solutions. Zen-cart does not allow 3rd party modules to be sold and promoted within their forum. However, their forums are still excellent. 

"Moderators in most cases (and this specially for open source software) are not employed and not paid members". Again, as per above, Prestashop cannot market itself as free and expect the community to all pitch in offering free time and support when they're raking in millions. 

This is my point really. Prestashop should probably (in its own best interests) provide more than it does and a better forum at their own cost would be a start. 

[Mad Modeller]

I have come to this forum on only two occasions so far, and neither time have I got any help for the problems I'm having.

The front end looks good, 90% of it works out of the box, the problem is in my experience that the 10% that doesn't work, is some of the most important things. I can't import a CSV or xls product listing. I am also limited to 65 items in a combination, not very good when you have 140 different colour paints, surely I shouldn't have to list them all individually, especially as I have to do it all manually !

Edited February 2, 2018 by Mad Modeller
Typo's (see edit history)

[Rhobur]

On 1/29/2018 at 4:55 AM, jetx said:

is in fact a large money making enterprise through its add-ons.

 

It looks like you simply refuse yo see the obvious.

You get the Prestashop platform along with all the necessary modules to run a shop, completely free.

Of course they have to have something to make money and this is providing additional services and modules.

Or do you expect that the people creating this tool for you, to live on thin air?

So, you get a free tool which you are using to make money, but still complain that the people providing you with this doesn't have the time and the workforce to also stay at your disposal whenever you need!?

If the other platforms are doing this why are you not already using them, why torment yourself with Prestashop?

[jetx]

I think it is you who simply refuse to see the obvious. Prestashop make plenty of money, so they should invest in a decent forum. By doing so, more people will use the software rather than leaving in droves for other platforms. I'd be interested to know how that revenue is going, my guess is that it has severely declined and they may be almost broke, based purely on what I read plus the share volume of people dropping it for alternatives, the poor state of 1.7 (let's not go there), etc.

I'm using other platforms besides Prestashop including Magento. And Magento(2) with all it's own issues still has a far superior forum than this one. However as I've invested 10's of thousands of dollars in time and modules on various prestashop sites I do have a right to voice my opinion, whether you like or not.

At any rate Mr Ambassador freelancer, just go back to giving your free advice as you're a believer, a rare breed. Good for you.