There are many brand specific forums out there.
Phase One has their "user to user" forum where they moderate ,and sometimes answer questions, but have made it a point that it is for users to communicate and support each other in an open fashion. It covers their multiple hardware and software products. It is also open to anyone, no need to be approved or have a login. For major support it is recommended that you go through the normal support channels of contacting your dealer and they will open a case.
I know when I was a reseller from Imacon/Hasselblad Nick T ran the Flexframe forums,which he moderated and I was active on. Mostly all the people if not all that were on this forum were Hassy owners. Now I think this has evolved into another site
http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/ . From the welcome message:
"There are two levels of membership on the hasselbladdigitalforum.
As a basic member you are granted access to this board and the help board only. Basic membership is really just designed so that new users can quickly get access to help, without having to wait for full membership approval.
Owners of Hasselblad or Imacon digital backs will be upgraded to full membership once a moderator has reviewed your profile information. Please be patient as we currently have a great many profiles to approve.
Nick-T"
So this site is closed to people from what I have read in the bylines to all others except Hasselblad users.
I have found that many people enjoy looking around on the forums to gather information before making a purchase decisions and also educating themselves. So sites that have an open policy for the sharing of information are very important to the community.
In my opinion it may not be a bad idea to start sub-threads for specific users to gather and be observed especially if there is not open site for them to do this at.
Also I would like to see when a thread is started for a specific type of topic ie: iso test of a specific topic, that it not be interjected with other products that may detract from the original topic.
Just my 2 cents.
L
Lance Schad
Capture Integration - Miami/Atlanta
305-394-3196 cell | 305-534-5702 office
Capture Integration
My Blog
[email protected]