Convince me to stick with ReadyNAS

And we come to the crux of this whole thing - you hit the nail on the head, other companies did not have the forum and user involvement the ReadyNAS line had. Where else do you get what feels like a secret back door to the core group of people that actually created the product you use? People who know it inside and out? As Chirpa alluded to in another thread Netgear markets their product in ways that suggest it possesses certain features, features that exist because 'third party' developers took it upon themselves to contribute code - in the same way they reaped the benefit of selling their product in part based on the laurels of the forum. I know I decided on ReadyNAS because of this forum - I despise calling tech support (not specifically Netgear, any tech support) as it usually takes way too long to get to someone that can really help. Taking into account any problem I have has most probably been had elsewhere first I've always looked at the internet as my first line of support. The forum enabled users to reach good help fast, on their time. If Netgear no longer values this forum then by extension they no longer value my business. I see reports of the site being unreachable, documents not being updated or even created in the first place and the lack of direction from anyone in a position to do so as an admission from Netgear the forum now holds less value.