Saitek Forum registration is a shambles!!

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

It takes quite a lot to get me annoyed but having bought a new Saitek Pro Yoke and second throttle quadrant at the weekend I decided to register on their official forum.If you want to read any discussion you have to join otherwise you just get to see a FAQ forum. What? You have to register just to READ??So I start the registration process and the first question I'm asked is my date of birth. Arrgghh! Why do you need to know how old I am? I only want to read forum messages and perhaps ask a question and maybe even help someone. And you need to know my age? Incredible! :-mad So I supply a DoB, a username and my email address. I get a automated response with a registration code which I need to supply to complete the process.I enter it and then get a message that I'm in a moderation queue and cannot access the forums until a moderator completes the process.Well that was 24 hours ago and I'm still waiting to be processed. I am not happy at all. Not one bit!! :-mad I have paid good money to Saitek and all I want to do is read their forums but I'm denied that until they pull their finger out.Has anyone else experienced this complete and utter shambles of a registration process? If anyone from Saitek is reading this your forum administration is a complete joke. Annoying someone who has just spent

[Guest jbinner]

Thus why I buy CH products. :) I CAN ALWAYS find mike if I offer him a few beers. :) Joking aside, it's MUCH easier to reach CH. Saitek is fat in the pockets and really doesn't care right now about us. Why should they? Their other markets make probably a zillion more then FS Market does.my 2 cents anyway.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

John,I've had my current CH gear for 5 years and before that different CH gear.But using the Saitek yoke at a show on Saturday showed it to be miles better than the CH yoke. The stainless steel shaft is so much smoother than the plastic CH one. And as for CH's pricing of their throttle quadrant I won't even go there!CH may be easier to reach but we don't buy kit based on how easy someone is to reach. ;-) The Saitek Pro Yokes were outselling CH ones by a healthy margin. CH seriously needs to rethink their hardware strategy. Their latest Eclipse yoke is overpriced and not sufficiently aimed at the serious flight simmer.Cheers,

[Guest jbinner]

I had a different "feel" from the SimCon '07 when I first saw the Saitek product last year. I wasn't impressed, added to that the issues that arose when it first hit market, etc.To each their own. :)

[RobertVA 0]

Maybe they've had some problems with SPAM and other abusive posts and could only control things by having each forum membership approved by a moderator. DOB inquiries may be a mechanism to control abusive posts or meet government requirements concerning the collection of information on minors. For privacy reasons I always respond with a date NEAR the one that shows on official documents.Don't forget that some people may have been observing Veteran's Day.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

The only issue I've read about was the phantom button presses and that problem was quickly addressed. I had a problem with the second of my two throttle quadrants but that simply required a Registry edit.I'll admit to always believing that CH was the best of the budget gear but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Saitek yoke and judging by the number being used at the show on setups I wasn't alone. I don't remember seeing a single CH throttle quadrant and hardly any CH yokes. Saitek dominated and they weren't sponsoring the show.Each to their own indeed but I certainly don't believe in blind loyalty.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

DOB inquiries may be a mechanism to control abusive posts or meet government requirements concerning the collection of information on minors.But AvSim doesn't require a DoB. Why would Saitek? And how do they check what you've supplied is correct? You don't state what country you live in and even if you did how could they check a foreigner's DoB? I consider the mandatory DoB request to be a serious failure of judgement by them. There was no T&C on how old you had to be anyway so why would a minor (under 18?) be excluded?Don't forget that some people may have been observing Veteran's Day.Even assuming that to be the case they had all day yesterday (12th) to process a very simple application.

[mgh 89]

"If you want to read any discussion you have to join otherwise you just get to see a FAQ forum. What? You have to register just to READ??"I went to the Saitek Forum via the home page and could read the posts even though I'm not registered.http://www.saitekforum.com/It's always helpful to get the facts right!

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

It's always helpful to get the facts right!I did get my facts right. What you are seeing there is the Announcements and Common Fixes forums, not the remainder which you will only see once registered.

[mgh 89]

"If you want to read any discussion you have to join otherwise you just get to see a FAQ forum. What? You have to register just to READ??"You can see more than you say. As an un-registered user I get to see the Announcements, the Common Fixes, and the X52 Pro MFD Plug-in/SDK discussion forums in the Official Forums, as well as the FAQs. I got there from the Home Page ( http://www.saitek.com/ ) by clicking Support|Official Forums.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

Edited for refinements.You can see more than you say. As an un-registered user I get to see the Announcements, the Common Fixes, and the X52 Pro MFD Plug-in/SDK discussion forums in the Official Forums, as well as the FAQs.Until my registration was processed I couldn't access any of the forums using that URL you supplied. I just saw a message that access was not possible until the moderator had accepted my registration. That just added to my frustration.As you can see from the attached screenshot there are many forums that are not available until you register. What use is the X52 and SDK forums to owners of the Pro Yoke?I have now had my account activated - nearly 48 hours after registering so I can see the forums that interest me. I don't consider the delay or the restrictions acceptable whatever you may think. Avsim isn't this heavy handed and quite right too.Here's a snapshot of some so you can see how many aren't available.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/194285.jpg

[mgh 89]

The fact still remains that your original post was incorrect.Anyway, I'm pleased you are now satisfied even though you had to wait all of 48 hours.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

The fact still remains that your original post was incorrect.Incorrect. All of my post was correct except for one sentence. This one...If you want to read any discussion you have to join otherwise you just get to see a FAQ forum.I could see 3 forums, not one. You're very selective with your comments. I notice you don't defend the DoB requirement. And you also think waiting 48 hours simply to read the majority of forums is acceptable.I've said all I want to on this. I'm now unsubscribing from this thread.

[mgh 89]

Bye bye!

[Guest Saitek_UK]

Hi,Someone brought this thread to my attention so I thought it best to clear up Mr. Proudfoot's concerns.Being a responsible public company we have elected to comply with COPPA regulations which, if you read the information at http://www.coppa.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_On..._Protection_Act I'm sure you'll agree is a reasonable and responsible course of action - hence the request for a DoB. As for why we're currently moderating all users, that's simply because we've been repeatedly spammed over the last two months by spambots able to get around the forum software's registration blocks; until recently these have been very good at stopping this kind of intrusion but the spammers continue to work out ways to get around this. I'm sure with the realisation that we have children using the forum that you understand our reasons for doing this too.