The robots.txt file on support.zortrax.com changed maybe a couple of weeks ago. Now it blocks all search engines from indexing the pages on that site. forum.zortrax.com is doing the same.
So, if you're searching for help troubleshooting your printer, you won't get any results from the site support.zortrax.com or forum.zortrax.com.
you're the second (Labrat was the other) that posts about the forum without probably thought about how Z-Politics changed about the 'Community'
In the past the forum was heavily censored by Z and some opportunists (I sometimes call them the M.A.M. Z-Fanclub) that were eagerly reporting bad behavior to the admins.
I am convinced that Z now has no interest in that forum anymore. They prepare for a product launch with an even more closed product and have no interest that those users get to here for asking questions.
Z-Management is not posting here anymore that was different before spring.
They have introduced a Community Manager in summer, not seen here very often anymore.
The word community cannot be found on the web pages of Z anymore.
They added a disclaimer in the page header of the forum that Z offers no support here.
They started a blog about what's going on wich is (of course) read only
Consequently the shoutbox was removed from the forum.
Any links to the forum have been removed and search engines get blocked.
So we are left here graciously to entertain ourselves (not all bad) instead of just shutting down the forum.
I hope that Zortrax responds here with an explanation on why this usage of this user forum is apparently being actively discouraged. A friend is planning to buy a printer next year, probably a Zortrax on my recommendation, and now I'm wondering if he should be warned off.
There was once a forum war remembered now as War-Z(with no affiliation to the movie). The Rebel Alliance won the fight in the end but at an overall loss for everyone as the great Z-Management retracted from the forums and with them, over time, taking the ability to gain new blood into the ranks of the Rebel Alliance. Small victories were born out of the war such as the HydePark section. With the loss of the Shout Box in recent months the Alliance is further more crippled only having their wit and ability to shout at each other to comfort them. It has been many long months now since the war ended, reflecting back on it, the forum needed a change but was it worth the cost is a question still yet to be answered.
