By just about every measurement, Symantec Connect is a huge success in enabling users to troubleshoot their issues, allowing users to network and exchange information and insight into how to maximize the strength of their Symantec products, but also in innovating in terms of a community solution. No other community from any other enterprise company provides their users with the breath of functionality in terms of forums, videos, idea exchange, article libraries… and all in one integrated space. That being said, the future of Symantec Connect’s success is outside of these protective walls. It’s in the vast ocean of Symantec-oriented discussions that are initiated every minute of every day on Twitter, Facebook, thousands of other forums, blogs, and links being shared between users.

For example, using a real-time listening platform, we can see that just in the past week, “Symantec” has been mentioned in:...

You may have already noticed our newest feature on Connect, Ideas.  The concept is simple, we are proving a place where the community can suggest ideas for new features in Symantec products, new products altogether or even ideas for how Symantec as a company could change.  You can even suggest ideas for Connect.  Once an idea is submitted, community members can vote that idea up or down.  The page defaults to list ideas that are "popular now" at the top of the list.  So as you vote you increase the visibility of various ideas.  Take a look and let us know what you think - in fact, submit some ideas for how we can improve Symantec Connect!  

The short video below will show you around ideas.

New Symantec Rewards Point Structure

We are excited to announce a new point structure for the Symantec Connect Rewards program. This new point structure is the result of feedback from you, the users.

No longer is there a maximum number of points that you can earn when you contribute to the community. And no longer will the community managers be responsible for determining the number of points you will receive per content item. Also, you’ll find that content that is of little value to the community is no longer given the same weight as valuable solutions and information.

Beginning today, Monday, 11 May, 2009, you will receive a baseline number of points for each contribution you make, and the community itself will determine the total number of points you will receive for your contribution. When another community member finds your content valuable, he or she can give it a “thumbs up” vote. Each thumbs up vote will add points to...

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update on Connect. During that time we've been working on several (and by several I mean more than 150) enhancements to Connect that will roll out over the next three to four weeks as part of our 1.1 release. Before I get to a more detailed list, here are the big enhancements coming before the end of April:

Performance. We're making several tweaks to performance - especially when publishing content.

Login State. In addition to allowing you to stay logged in for a week at a time, we are returning you to the page where you clicked the "login" link rather than redirecting you to the home page.

Ideas. If you've ever wanted to share an Idea on a feature for an existing Symantec product or a new product altogether, this is your chance. Submit your idea and vote on other ideas. Top ideas "float" to the...

 Hi all - a few days ago I wrote about several changes we made in response to feedback this community provided.  Today, we're making several additional changes that I want to make you aware of.

One of the biggest concerns with Connect has been how to navigate to and post forum discussion threads.  We created a very flexible architecture that allowed you to post a forum discussion in more than one product board.  Unfortunately, this caused some confusion.  So, starting today, we are making a few changes to the forums to make them behave more like a traditional forum.  This will, of course, result in the loss of some of that fancy multi-tag functionality, but based on your feedback, ease of navigation is more important.  You asked for it, you got it.  Here's what we are doing:

FORUM LISTING PAGES:  Previously we had one listing page of forum threads...

There have been a number of questions about what the little pieces of pie next to usernames mean. It is simply a quick, visual way for users to identify the lifetime contributions that different users have made to the site. Where possible, we have transferred over status from the Juice, STN and the Altiris Support Forums. (For example, STN users received 3 points for every post on the old site. Juice user points transferred straight across.) You can find out how you can earn points that contribute to your status here.