Possible Bug?

Spike/QC,

I quess part of the problem stems from the lack of clarity on the part of Sophos. When someone has a possible bug to report, historically (and this may be going back before your time, depending on your age), users submit that directly to support, not through the heavy filtering of a forum (which by it's very nature serves to insulate the people who need to recieve such reports from those who have those reports to make). So let's consider what a customer does to report a possible bug: They look for the support option in the navigation menu. This option offers several dead ends ("support services" suggests it is an option for this, but once you get there it isn't), so you end up selecting the "contact us" option < http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/contact-support.aspx >. Nothing about not contacting about free products there. So then the next choice is primarily between a second "contact us" page < http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/contact-support/contact-information.aspx > which provides direcdt email contact information, or "submit a query" < https://secure2.sophos.com/en-us/support/contact-support/support-query.aspx >. Either seem to be appropriate since they are both addressed to support. Yet again, nothing about not contacting about free products there. Sure, there is a field for "license or serial number" but that field is optional, which is consistant with the forms for most companies since they accept issue reports for both purchased and free products through the same foarm mechanism. So why should I suspect any difference here, particularly (as I say) since there is nothing to indicate submissions from free product users are not welcome here. But when support responds you find that out: "Can you please provide sophos license number for further investigating?"

Now, what about those forums. Well, lets go back to that navigation menu. The single forum option is "sophostalk community". Once you get there, there is a reference (buried at the bottom of several paragraphs; funtionally equivalent to mouse print) a suggestion that "If you're a user of the brilliant, free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac: Home Edition tool, try visiting the SophosFreeTalk online community." A suggestion, not a requirment.

First off, burying something at the bottom of several paragraphs is a good way to hide it, not make it readily apparant and stress any importance to on it. Secondly, my experience is that such forums are strictly (or at least primarily) user to user and not an adequate means to bring an issue to the attention of the company since these forums are only moderated by company staff, and even then, typically not true support people but customer service people working for the support department. The company support forums are typically at least a place where there is some technical support people, thus providing at least some possibility that the issue  will be brought to the attention of those who need to at least have some influence in getting the issue looked at (although even those are secondary to a direct report of a possible bug).

Secondly, there is again nothing to state that submissions from free product users are not welcome here. There is a suggestion to use other forums but nothing is stated specifically that questions from free users are not allowed here. In fact, there is a section SPECIFICALLY MARKED FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING FREE SOFTWARE. It's called "Sophos free tools". But post a message there and you'll find out quickly enough that you are not welcome there, despite being posted in a forum section SPECIFICALLY MARKED FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING FREE SOFTWARE.

I think I have explained, based on Sophos own website and the responses of it's own people, how a user of Sophos free software could easily get the impression that they are being segregated from the "real" customer.

Oh, and QC, your example of the camera sounds "good" but it's fabricated nonsense. Companies like Canon have seperate sections within their forums for specific models and groups of products (pro, non-pro) but they typically do not maintain seperate forums. Yes, if you post a message in the incorrect section, you will have your message moved but you won't be exiled to bum-f* where only 2nd class customers are allowed.

Spike/QC,

I quess part of the problem stems from the lack of clarity on the part of Sophos. When someone has a possible bug to report, historically (and this may be going back before your time, depending on your age), users submit that directly to support, not through the heavy filtering of a forum (which by it's very nature serves to insulate the people who need to recieve such reports from those who have those reports to make). So let's consider what a customer does to report a possible bug: They look for the support option in the navigation menu. This option offers several dead ends ("support services" suggests it is an option for this, but once you get there it isn't), so you end up selecting the "contact us" option < http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/contact-support.aspx >. Nothing about not contacting about free products there. So then the next choice is primarily between a second "contact us" page < http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/contact-support/contact-information.aspx > which provides direcdt email contact information, or "submit a query" < https://secure2.sophos.com/en-us/support/contact-support/support-query.aspx >. Either seem to be appropriate since they are both addressed to support. Yet again, nothing about not contacting about free products there. Sure, there is a field for "license or serial number" but that field is optional, which is consistant with the forms for most companies since they accept issue reports for both purchased and free products through the same foarm mechanism. So why should I suspect any difference here, particularly (as I say) since there is nothing to indicate submissions from free product users are not welcome here. But when support responds you find that out: "Can you please provide sophos license number for further investigating?"

Now, what about those forums. Well, lets go back to that navigation menu. The single forum option is "sophostalk community". Once you get there, there is a reference (buried at the bottom of several paragraphs; funtionally equivalent to mouse print) a suggestion that "If you're a user of the brilliant, free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac: Home Edition tool, try visiting the SophosFreeTalk online community." A suggestion, not a requirment.

First off, burying something at the bottom of several paragraphs is a good way to hide it, not make it readily apparant and stress any importance to on it. Secondly, my experience is that such forums are strictly (or at least primarily) user to user and not an adequate means to bring an issue to the attention of the company since these forums are only moderated by company staff, and even then, typically not true support people but customer service people working for the support department. The company support forums are typically at least a place where there is some technical support people, thus providing at least some possibility that the issue  will be brought to the attention of those who need to at least have some influence in getting the issue looked at (although even those are secondary to a direct report of a possible bug).

Secondly, there is again nothing to state that submissions from free product users are not welcome here. There is a suggestion to use other forums but nothing is stated specifically that questions from free users are not allowed here. In fact, there is a section SPECIFICALLY MARKED FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING FREE SOFTWARE. It's called "Sophos free tools". But post a message there and you'll find out quickly enough that you are not welcome there, despite being posted in a forum section SPECIFICALLY MARKED FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING FREE SOFTWARE.

I think I have explained, based on Sophos own website and the responses of it's own people, how a user of Sophos free software could easily get the impression that they are being segregated from the "real" customer.

Oh, and QC, your example of the camera sounds "good" but it's fabricated nonsense. Companies like Canon have seperate sections within their forums for specific models and groups of products (pro, non-pro) but they typically do not maintain seperate forums. Yes, if you post a message in the incorrect section, you will have your message moved but you won't be exiled to bum-f* where only 2nd class customers are allowed.