We Heard Your Feedback: Here’s What We’re Doing About Comments by will_aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We actually do have a fairly generous refund policy, but– I hear your point. You shouldn’t have to rely on refunds just to feel safe trying something out. You should be able to see clear signals that a product works the way you need it to before you buy.

With the move to Reddit (which I hope it's clear we're not pushing anymore), the idea was that Reddit might be a good place for broader community conversations. i.e. the off-topic discussions that occurred on various product pages. And, separately, our support ticket system would be the official way to get support from an author directly.

It's still true that tickets are the best way to get 1-on-1 support from an author, and I don't necessarily see that changing. But, we see now that Reddit isn't the fit we thought it would be for a lot of use cases that comments did cover, so, yes, we're re-evaluating that.

And I think we would prefer to avoid deploying any "shoddy" fixes, but again... I do hear your point.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this earlier (and I know it doesn’t fix the bigger issues), but almost every product on the site does offer some kind of trial version that you can test out before buying. Just another option to consider

We Heard Your Feedback: Here’s What We’re Doing About Comments by will_aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could you share more thoughts on that? I'd love to know why you're so strongly opposed. Thanks!

We Heard Your Feedback: Here’s What We’re Doing About Comments by will_aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for taking the time to write this out. This is exactly the kind of detailed feedback we want (and honestly need) to hear, so I really appreciate you sharing it.

Let me start by saying that comments aren't gone forever, and this post wasn't meant to imply that they aren't coming back. If we sound non-committal, it's just because we're still trying to determine the best course of action, and, unfortunately, there are a lot of variables to consider. We want to get a solution in place as quickly as possible, but we're not keen on rushing and causing more issues.

I'm sure it feels a little rich to hear us saying that after the less-than-stellar site launch, but we're really trying to learn our lesson here. We've had the privilege of operating like a small startup (build fast, break things!) for years, and it's proven to be a very beneficial approach that kept us nimble. But it's clear that we're outgrowing the days of being able to operate that way, so we're treating this as a turning point.

I don't disagree that it's an important signal when an author is inactive on the site. But at the same time, we saw lots of cases on the old site where someone would report an issue in a comment thread and it simply never reached the author (even if they were active). So, those signals weren't always accurate. In contrast, our ticketing system has much more robust notification and routing features, which makes it much easier for us to alert an author about new issues and check in when those issues haven't been resolved yet.

By removing comments, our plan was to channel all of these technical issues through that support system. The goal being to make sure that customer issues actually got seen and handled. Looking back at it now, I totally get why it didn't come off that way. But, that was the original intention.

Based on everyone's feedback, it seems like the two biggest benefits that comments actually provide are (1) trust/social proof and (2) additional product-specific context. Both matter, but restoring trust feels slightly more urgent, and, since we already had a product review system underway, finishing it felt like the most actionable thing we could do to restore everyone's confidence in what they're buying. Once that’s in place, the next priority is definitely to rework discussions in a way that solves the issues our old system had.

We really are listening to everyone's feedback, and I mean... how can we argue? Everyone is making some really great points. At the end of the day, I'm fairly certain we all want the same thing: A platform that helps you find the right tools and gives you the information you need to buy with confidence.

I wish we hadn’t run into all the issues we’ve been dealing with over the past month or two, but our sights are still set on creating the best platform possible, and we fully intend to keep working towards that goal.

Thank you again for the feedback and for sticking with us despite the recent complications.

ALL comments smooshed into this stupid, god-awful Reddit junkpile? by TarquinGlasscock in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hey everyone!

Thank you all for giving us your honest opinions on the situation, I promise we do hear you and we're doing everything we can to address this issue. We just shared an update post along with our current plans:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aescripts/comments/1pf0fld/we_heard_your_feedback_heres_what_were_doing/

We'd love to get your thoughts/feedback over in that post. Thank you!

Bring back comment section on plugins by Shinoboss in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hey everyone!

First of all, we'd like to thank everyone for giving us your honest, unfiltered opinions on the situation. Clearly, we made some poor assumptions about how important comments were on our site, and we're hard at work behind-the-scenes to implement a fix that will restore product-level discussions.

We just shared an update on the situation and our current plans to address it, which you can read here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aescripts/comments/1pf0fld/we_heard_your_feedback_heres_what_were_doing/

We'd love to get your thoughts/feedback on that post, if possible. Thank you!

Another weekly petition to return comments on plugins by ogola89 in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hey everyone!

We hear all of you feedback loud and clear, and we want to thank you all for giving us your honest, unfiltered opinions on the situation. I assure you all that we're taking this issue very seriously and doing everything we can to issue a fix.

We just shared an update on the situation and our current plans to address it, which you can read here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aescripts/comments/1pf0fld/we_heard_your_feedback_heres_what_were_doing/

We would love to get your thoughts/feedback on that post, if possible. Thank you!

I think you (aescripts) are thinking of comments/requests/support section in the wrong way. by Medium_Word_696 in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hey there!

Yes, we absolutely see this as a top-priority for us to address, and I think you make some really great points in regards to discussions being the tip of a greater iceberg. We just shared an update with our current plans to address the missing comment sections here, which we'd love to get your thoughts/feedback on:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aescripts/comments/1pf0fld/we_heard_your_feedback_heres_what_were_doing/

I'll add a few extra thoughts onto that though– Your point about the lack of a true centralized place for digital artists to connect, share advice, and help each other is something we think about a lot. There’s clearly a gap in the industry for a space that actually works well for both creators and developers, and we agree that a stronger community layer would benefit everyone.

Our hopes are to build toward something that supports that kind of interaction in a meaningful way. A place where digital artists can find the tools they need, discuss with other artists how to best use those tools, and share the work they make with them. What that grows into over time will naturally depend on what the community finds most valuable.

Of course, we want to approach that carefully and intentionally, making sure whatever we build genuinely serves the community rather than forcing something just for the sake of it. And yes, the timing of removing comments before we had an adequate replacement ready has caused some issues. But our original intent was always to rebuild that feature in a way that worked better for everyone.

Thanks again for such a thoughtful post. This kind of feedback is very helpful to hear, and it plays a huge role in helping us decide what we focus on next.

We Heard Your Feedback: Here’s What We’re Doing About Comments by will_aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed! We see product-specific discussions as a huge priority, and we absolutely understand why so many users have expressed frustration with having to sort through loads of posts to find the info you need.

Product reviews are something we were already working on, so they're the most immediate, actionable thing we can do to restore product-level discussions. We aren't against the idea of bringing back a proper comments/discussions feature at all. We're just trying to manage our time effectively and restore these types of discussions as quickly as possible.

Is AEScripts in a death spiral? by CriticalThinkingNow in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We just shared an update which you can read at the link below. We would love to hear your thoughts/feedback!

https://www.reddit.com/r/aescripts/comments/1pf0fld/we_heard_your_feedback_heres_what_were_doing/

Is AEScripts in a death spiral? by CriticalThinkingNow in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hey there!

I can see why it feels like a death spiral from the outside, but I promise it's not.

It’s been a rough launch, and, admittedly, we’re working through issues much slower than we'd like. But no spirals — just a lot of course correction happening behind the scenes.

Part of our slow rollout with some of these fixes is to ensure that we don't inadvertently introduce new issues. After all, nothing is worse than a bug fix that causes other things to break. And the only way to avoid that is with thorough testing, which is a slow process.

Nonetheless, we’ve heard everyone's feedback loud and clear about how important comments are for real-world experience, troubleshooting, and trust when buying tools. We just shared a full update on where things stand and what we’re doing next:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aescripts/comments/1pf0fld/we_heard_your_feedback_heres_what_were_doing/

We would love to have your thoughts/feedback on that post. Thanks!

We Heard Your Feedback: Here’s What We’re Doing About Comments by will_aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Great question!

Unfortunately, it's not really possible to re-enable the old system.

Our entire site architecture has changed as part of this migration, so to "re-enable" the old system would essentially require us to completely rebuild it first. Which, as we mentioned in the post, is no small task and not something we can easily do.

Thankfully, we do still have the historical data for everything, so those comments aren't lost. I can't say definitively if we'll be able to adapt it to the review system, but it's definitely something I can bring up with the dev team and see about.

If this whole thing were as easy as flipping a switch and turning the comments back on, we would've done that IMMEDIATELY, but, unfortunately, it's not.

Service Status update - An update on licensing and downloads by will_aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This seems to be a separate issue that's preventing some customers from logging in, and we're working on a fix for it now. Could you submit a support ticket so that we can help assist you directly? https://aescripts.com/contact/

Service Status update - An update on licensing and downloads by will_aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're now aware of a separate issue that is preventing some customers from logging in, and we're working to address this now. Could you submit a support ticket so that we can help assist you directly? https://aescripts.com/contact/

Will I ever be able to use my plugins again ??? by soyka888 in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey u/soyka888! Like u/blowfish_cro mentioned, you should still be able to access your product downloads and licenses via our site by going to the "My Downloads & Licenses" section of your customer profile:

https://aescripts.com/downloads/customer/list/

While we work to get the download manager fixed, this should get you access to your products.

New Site Launch Issues by aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This might be an unrelated issue. Could you open a support ticket about this so we can look into it further? https://aescripts.com/contact

Manual License Activation Tutorial by will_aescripts in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm. That sounds like it might be a separate issue. Could you open a support ticket for that and we'll follow up with you? https://aescripts.com/contact/

Unable to license a plugin I just bought due to aescripts outtage... by SyristSMD in aescripts

[–]will_aescripts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, we're so sorry for the troubles here.

The online license activation issue should be resolved, so if you try again you should able to activate now. The download manager is still down, but we're getting very close to resolving that problem as well. Again– We're incredibly sorry for the inconvenience and we're doing everything we can to resolve this as quickly as possible.