In order to keep the Forum as a free service, we can't afford the overhead of reviewing each membership application. When we have reason to believe a member is not a licensed user, we act swiftly to request their SIM, run it past CNC Software, and ban their email and IP address from the forum for life if we find that they are an illegal user. Usually the snitch tips come in from other members. Forum narcs! We could include the SIM number as required info during registrationr, but I believe CNC Software was not entirely sure this was a good idea. Someone from CNC could confirm this. My person view is that licensed users would tend to bear the brunt of any actions we would take to crack down on illegal users. How many first time posters were helped quickly out of a jam the very day of their posting? What if the registration process took 2 weeks? [ 07-16-2002, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

It obviously boils down to personal preference, but the majority vote is to keep the color scheme as is. [ 07-11-2002, 07:37 AM: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

Received a complaint regarding the colour scheme of this site. I use white text on a black background. I personally find it softer on the eyes - white is nice for paper, but harsh on a monitor. Hollywood agrees - check out the credit roll at the end of any movie. We also use Mastercam which has a black background as a default. The "Printer-friendly view of this topic" currently offers a Black text on white view, for those who are interested. The "black on white" camp has these arguments: "Black on white is much more readable. The way it is today, the forum is very hard to read. Functionality should dictate the form not vice versa." Just to see where others stand - with no promise of a change - I'll put it to a poll.

Sure. Did you want the same content as you provided for the FAQ? If not, send me the content (as Charles did for the 'Speed up MC' topic), and I'll throw it into the Tech Tips area.

'sausage' has been banned from the Forum using email and IP blocking. His account has also been locked and frozen. His last message was clearly written to provoke this outcome. sausage has violated several forum rules, including the two top unwritten rules: 1. Be nice to PDG 2. Don't xxxx off the Webmaster [ 06-05-2002, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

An eMastercam.com Forum Member found 'kuei' promoting illegal Mastercam sales on another forum. No longer considered a licensed Mastercam user in good standing, kuei has been banned from use of the eMastercam.com Forum. [ 11-21-2002, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

Keeping an eye on this thread... The forum is reseller-run with CNC Software's blessing and promotion. We happily follow their recommendations regarding some of the forum policies. As a Member, you live by a few rules here, as detailed in our Forum Guidelines. We stay away from complaints about resellers, we don't quote prices, we try to be polite, and when we offer criticism, we keep in the constructive realm. It's the price we pay for a vibrant on-line community. There's a delicate balance that is [surprisingly] rarely challenged. Right now bryan.davis is rubbing a few people the wrong way, but I'm not convinced his comments are out of line. When you boil off the 'venting', he's saying that in his opinion Solids does not compete with the functionality offered by other CAD packages, so the pricing shouldn't put it in direct competition with said packages. That's good direct end user feedback for CNC Software. Philosophies regarding web forums are varied. FastCompany.com had an interesting article regarding web use - Internet 101. Here's a snip: quote: Look at the Royal Dutch/Shell site [www.shell.com]. There, visitors can engage in online conversations on a wide range of social issues. Many of the comments are critical of the company, but Shell doesn't interfere. The company understands that it can't own the Web. In a way, that's a huge -- and rare -- leap forward. The Internet is still quite young for some industries including ours. I think we're only at an early stage of 'web enlightenment'. You may see the rules and expectations change in the years to come. For now, I think things here are working well (for all parties invovled - developer,resellers,educators,users), with only minor posting restrictions.

Removed prices from this thread - leaving in the 'half price' description. CNC Software discourages any discussion of pricing over the Internet, and we will respect their wishes on this forum. Around the globe product prices may fluctuate for various reasons including but not limited to economic conditions, varying service structures, international translation costs, and distribution costs. [ 05-28-2002, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

From the Forum Guidelines: Issues with your reseller should be resolved directly with your reseller and/or CNC Software. Airing out your issues using the forum will not be tolerated. -- I've edited this thread down to remove some comments directed at a reseller. Although some resellers invite the opportunity to hear (read) what their clients have to say on a public forum, others prefer that you contact them directly. Since it would be too difficult to moderate the forum based on the wishes of your local reseller, we choose not to entertain comments related to your reseller. This is a small price to ensure the continued message reply contributions from Mastercam's reseller channel.

At the end of the day yesterday most of the forum posts (messages) from the day went missing. Now they're back, but the messages complaining about the missing posts are now missing. Best explanation is some web server maintenance and reconfiguration which our ISP had planned for months ago. We were to have received a warning so that the board could be closed during the server work. Oops. [ 03-21-2002, 09:48 AM: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

This is a test of the Polling feature recently added to the Forum engine. At this time only Forum Administrators may post a new poll. So who will win Hockey Gold?

All good points Gcode. We can't make the registration process a full time job. We heavily promote that the site is for licensed users, and have a BSA link on every page. I request SIM numbers when my Spidey Senses start to tingle, and banish members who can not provide valid information. This all requires a relatively small amount of effect compared to validation each individual registration.

I actually get so much spam everyday through the webmaster account on our various domains, that I deleted this email before even reading it. Then I deleted JAMMAN's forward of the email, but retrieved it in time. We don't sell our email list to anyone. If you make your email viewable in your profile, it's up there for people who want to check it out. A small price to pay for allowing Members to email you files, etc. Perhaps 1400 individual emails back to [email protected] letting him know you're not happy would be in order? Paresh is actually a Member here: Profile: http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...file&u=00000125 Only post: http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...ic&f=1&t=000089 Hey - they seem to program with Mastercam! I'll check the forum rules on Monday to see if any have been broken.

The forum went down for 6 hours today. Our ISP disabled the main script around 10:15 am today as a security precaution. I trust everyone got some actual CNC programming done in the meantime. After some analysis, it looks like it was not really a security issue - just a zealous single user using an offline browser to capture the entire web site. This activity was bogging the server down a bit, and flagged the attention of the sys admin at our ISP. So as a result, we know have Members only access. Everyone needs to register, even to read the forum. I wonder if the Members total will spike? Also, the single user who wasted a good part of my day becomes the first member on our banned IP list, and won't be able to register for the forum. They can of course contact me if they'd like to chat about it, once they've read this message after logging in from another location. The words I'm looking for are "I won't do that again." I also took the opportunity to update the forum to the latest available UBB engine. [ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

https://archive:[email protected]

I'm liking 'Senior Member' as a generic title, but I do like custom nicknames. 'Enthusiast' seems to be a good one for James. At some point the UBB forum engine will have 'polling', and we could vote on nicknames for the forum stars. May go with 'Senior Member' until that happens. 'Young Skywalker' was a test custom title for 'Willy' in our support department. Use the Emperor's voice in your mind as you read this title to yourself.

James and cadcam have cracked the 1000 message mark. Any suggestion for custom titles instead of 'Member'?

I've removed Multax from the Forum and noted the IP addresses that were used to post messages here. Multax was removed for failure to maintain a valid email address, and failure to produce a valid SIM number within a reasonable time frame. Multax's controversial messages had drawn my attention in the past few weeks. Remember that Forum membership is a privilege, not a right. Our frequent flyers invest much time and effort here. Their contributions are priceless to the Mastercam community at large. I will moderate this forum as I see fit to keep things moving in a very positive direction.

I was shocked to see that a private email to Multax [[email protected]] bounced back undelivered. I'll post the message here for all to see. quote: Subject: Please provide Mastercam SIM # Multax - You've successfully drawn attention to yourself and your use of the eMastercam.com Forums. Our eMastercam.com Forums are intended for use by licensed users. Please provide your company's name and your Mastercam SIM # so that I may verify through CNC Software that you are indeed a licensed user. Your Forum privileges will be revoked if I fail to hear back from you. Please also change your profile to include a valid email address. Contact me via email. [ 10-19-2001: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

Hey Bullines - Dictionary.com says the word in question is British Vulgar Slang. The Forum Rules that we've all agreed to during Registration read: quote: You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this BB to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law. Anyone notice the word vulgar there? bryan.davis - Do you want any actions taken? [ 10-18-2001: Message edited by: Webmaster ]

Ask your reseller about when you can expect tapered tool support in multiaxis toolpaths right out of the box.

CNC Software discourages any discussion of pricing over the Internet, and we will respect their wishes on this forum. Around the globe product prices may fluctuate for various reasons including but not limited to economic conditions, varying service structures, international translation costs, and distribution costs.

MP Post Processor Reference Guide ISBN: 1-883310-27-X

The MP Post Processor Reference Guide is now available from your local Mastercam reseller. -- The MP Post Processor Reference Guide contains detailed information that will assist you in modifying post processors written in the MP language, CNC Software's proprietary scripting language for Mill, Lathe, and Wire applications. The Reference Guide is *not* intended for use as a 'how to' manual for writing post processors. The Reference Guide ships as a collection of Adobe PDF files on a single CD. The Reference Guide is designed to be used online and features extensive hyperlinking between and within chapters. Formatted to an 8 ½ x 11 page size, the manual can also be printed - although at over 1,500 pages you might consider printing sections only as you find necessary. -- Before jumping into post development, CNC Software offers these warnings: To be able to modify a post processor and understand the material in this Reference Guide, you should have a basic understanding of how a computer program is structured and operates. As a minimum, you should understand: -how the syntax of a programming language affects program operation -the use of variables to store and pass information -branching within a program based on conditional and Boolean expressions -jumping within a program through subroutine calls -mathematical expressions and formulas -nesting in formulas and a program language structure -general debugging techniques Remember that your local Mastercam reseller may offer post processor development services. -- Please contact your local reseller additional information.

I've put that last set of App Patches back up on the Patches page. They will overwrite this 10-01-2001 patch and replace the functionality.