Since RonR is still MIA, I would like to chime in...
I disagree with RonR on the value of OBi Web portal, and i disagree with MT on politics, but I hope I was able to be respectful to both (and everybody else on this forum).
Quote from: RFord on June 05, 2012, 05:51:40 AM
Maybe Michigan Telephone (asxhole) can shed some light on this issue, since he has waged a one-man war to have RonR ban from this forum.
I don't think it was a healthy was to start the thread... If OBi banned RonR just on MT's say so -
they are the stupid ones; not MT. I think RonR's complaint about back door access was correct; but it could rub somebody in OBi the wrong way. So, if Ron was banned - and it's a huge if - maybe OBi didn't take criticism well. Or maybe they didn't take criticism well, and Ron decided that he has better things in life than to compensate for woefully inadequate documentation for a company that doesn't listen to his opinion. Like everybody else - I don't know what happened. But there are many more options than MT had RonR ban from this forum.
Now, what's next? Maybe, somebody in OBi will realize that having good user documentation is important. Well, given absence of OBi staff in this thread (and, if I remember correctly, they were absent from the conversation about back door as well for long time) - that's unlikely to happen. Maybe, the sales of OBi devices will decrease (when people won't know how to set them up, and end up returning). Maybe, OBi is signing up a deal with VSPs, where they will sell 100,000 "preconfigured" devices, and dissatisfaction of tinkering geeks will be a drop in the sales bucket.
But also, maybe people will not set up the plans that are beyond their comprehension. As I was reading Ron's responses, more than once I was thinking, do you
really need something that complex? Maybe start with something simpler (more permissive) - and see if you want to adjust it later. But when somebody gives you a working solution to the complex configuration that you asked - sure, why settle for less!
All in all - OBi is a great family of devices (I own four); but if Ron's departure will force OBihai do some soul-searching - it may be a great thing. That said, I sincerely hope that Ron is on a highly-paid gig, and will show up tomorrow to calm us all down