Earlier today I joined the Filemaker Cafe forum and because they have a time-limited offer of lifetime membership I posted a general query in the thread offering this, asking what benefits paying a membership fee would give. The query read:

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Why should anyone pay to join this forum when you can join another - Filemaker Forums - for free?

This forum shows that it has a large number of people online (but a smaller membership) yet there are very few posts per day compared with Filemaker Forums where the quality of advice is equal to this.

Any files, screenshots, etc uploaded to the other forum are free for anyone to view or download. Here you have to be a paying member to see anything other than the text posts.

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A few minutes ago I checked back on the FileMaker Cafe and could not find my post! It had obviously been deleted.

On joining this forum I had to go to my e-mail account to verify my account just created here and I found a message from the FileMaker Cafe which was quite abusive (and poorly written), and, more to the point, failed to answer the basic question - what benefits would I get?

I don't think I will bother to continue with Filemaker cafe.

On completing the joining procedure with this forum I received a welcome message...

'Nuff said.

Welcome, Fran. You are not alone in your observations but it takes most people a bit longer to figure it out. Those that figure it out (but continue to frequent there) only do so because they like some of the other people who post there (and they want to help those with questions that still haven't figured it out) and NOT because of the behaviors, such as deleting posts and banning people based upon a whim by the person who owns it. Were you threatened with lawsuit? That's his favorite line he emails to people.

There are many good people who post there. But the true treasure is here ... Stephen (Ocean West) started this forum and oversees it and we are very lucky to have it. The people who answer questions here are some of the very best in the industry and they give their time and expertise for free to assist in answering posts here.

Without question, it is the greatest resource. :smile2:

All I can say is LaRetta said it all! Welcome to the forum, hope you can learn alot.

Thank you both for the welcome

As one who lurks far more than posts, I have to say FM Forums is a godsend. Thanks to those who put their effort in to making it great.

Hello Everyone

It's been awhile and am sitting in a hotel on my laptop. And saw that I still had this forum bookmarked. Thought I'd chime in on this thread.

Fran,

This site and the people here are the best you will find on the internet. They will guide you through almost any problem you come across. They did with me. Although I am not actively a developer like I was before. What I learned has been applied where I currently work with multiple files that I turned into runtimes.

Just search when you have a problem and if that does not get you going...ask away.

Just a quick thanks to everyone that helped me learn what I learned here. Without the knowledge I gained here I would not be employed where I am and living in Tx now.

I'm now an Oilfield Electronics/IT Tech.

Cheers,

Michael