Data (and OTHER) "Integrity" Issues at ADM

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 3179

Posted by srdiamond15
2005-05-03 18:17:32

Hidden away among numerous points, the following accompanied a recent beta release of ADM 3+:

“2. . Previously, ADM user files split temporarily while in use into two files - the .adm file and a temporary .dsc file. The two files ‘remarried’ into one after the closing, but this temporary separation sometimes caused data integrity problems. Our new file format eliminates this splitting behavior, and the related problems. It is part of our continuing program to address data protection issues.” - Eric Sommer

This revelation comes after months of complaints of a small minority of ADM “fans” that they have lost data in ADM, denials by ADM stalwarts of any serious risk of data loss, and statements by Sommer that any losses were normal incidents of using beta software. This problem in the innards of the program WAS NEVER MENTIONED until ADM’s developers were ready to do something about it! Just prior to this admission, the ADM stalwarts had become so defensive about the product that I was actually BANNED from the forum for “adversarial conduct,” after resigning from the core “Trusted Testers” group.

Don’t count on promises being kept. The developer states that customer support requests will be answered in 24 hours, but users report that when they have serious problems—such as data loss—they cannot get a response. The developer just happens to lose the request.

Don’t take that to mean that the developer responds reliably to requests for technical support on less embarrassing matters. (Thinking back, I joined the “Trusted Testers” because it seemed the only way to get questions answered.) My support request of last week has not been answered. In that request I asked whether ADM afforded a way of including the topics’ expansion states within a view.

Unless I am missing something (the tech support request arose from that possibility), I find it hard to believe that no one (including me) had previously noted that this alone makes the program a big pain to use. This is not a development environment that values or encourages critical thinking. Eric Sommer _needs_ FANS, who apparently self-select for their capacity to provide adulation.

Something stinks over at ADM. It goes beyond ordinary problems with software use. Put simply, the *main* integrity problem for ADM does NOT relate to the integrity of the _data_. (It amazes me how blind people, including me, can be to obvious signs of ethical indifference. Certain online environments prime complacence.) BEWARE.

Stephen R. Diamond

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