As far as I know, there are three sites hosting TurboCAD specific forums wherein users can post questions and get answers, share ideas and files, and converse about subjects concerning TurboCAD programs (both newer releases and older versions). They are (in order of amount of traffic): IMSI's TurboCAD forums, ITUG's TurboCAD forums, and the Message board at the TurboCAD File Library.
This bit of boilerplate describes my philosophy on the subject of forum support:
Most of what I have learned about TurboCAD has been gained through practice, careful experimentation and, most of all, participation in the user forums. Most of what I get out of the forums comes from other people's questions, the responses to those questions from other participants and the research that is sometimes required for me to answer the ones I deal with.
There is a lot of "gain" in this system. One person asks a question and gets one, two, maybe three answers and 10, 20, maybe 100? people benefit. Because of this "gain", my personal commitment to the forum, and the value I place on my time, I try to ensure that my participation helps as many users as possible. It matters not to me whether they are active participants or are just lurking in the background. For these reasons, I generally urge users, that request assistance through email, to post their question(s) on the appropriate forum.
Having said that, there are some steps that users can take to get accurate answers as quickly as possible with a minimum of confusion. The following generally applies to all three sites except as noted:
All three forums have a help facility. I highly recommend that new users or users that have not read them do so. They can be quite helpful. The help facilities in the IMSI and ITUG forums are quite extensive and easy to navigate.
Except in the case of problems with new tools, features, and functions in new releases it is likely that your question has been asked and answered many times before. All three forums are searchable. Even if you do not find what you are looking for, you will likely encounter some message threads worth reading anyway.
Preface your question with the Edition and version number of the program you are asking about (i.e. Professional v6.5, Designer v7.1, Standard v8, etc.) This may seem redundant in the IMSI forums because they are divided into sections for different versions. It is a good idea to do this anyway as some users do not post in the appropriate forum or take the shot-gun approach and post on several forums not realizing the problems and wasted time that results from this practice. It really does help a responder if he or she knows what program you are using.
IMSI Forums: When answering questions or responding to a particular post, please respond by pushing that post's Reply button to ensure that others can follow the conversation. Do not start a new message thread unless you want to add or ask something that is related to the conversation but is not a direct reply. For a completely new subject, start a new topic thread after scanning the recent history to see if an applicable topic thread is already active. ITUG: This forum is being moved and reconstituted with new forum software. I will update this when it settles down. File Library: This forum has one less level of control so your options are replies and new messages only. The messages can be viewed in chronological order or by thread. I recommend the threaded view to follow conversations. Look for the control links on the right side of the message page. Images and files must be posted and retrieved from separate directories.
When posting questions, try to be specific and clear as possible. Same for answers. Try to use conventional names for tools and operations as found in the TurboCAD's tool tips, menus, and help file. Oh yes, do try TurboCAD's help facility first! It is frequently derided and scoffed at but it really does have some good stuff. If nothing else, it will help you to get the lingo right and avoid one source of confusion. Pictures are worth...so include an image or file if it can help explain the problem.
When posting files, be sure to use the compressed option when saving the file. This speeds up everybody's transfer time and conserves finite server capacity. When posting images, use the .GIF format for line drawings, wire frames, dialog boxes and the like. This will result in smaller and better-looking files than JPEGS (.jpg). When posting renders and other images with color/shade gradation use JPEGS (.jpg), as that will produce smaller and better looking files for such images then GIFS.
Revisions:
2/11/02
Original post
7/5/03
Notation in item 4 about new ITUG forum being in a state of change
