It would be naive to believe that the site was closed down only on account of spam.
The Phase One forum allowed users to directly and publicly engage with Phase. There was a Phase one moderator to whom you could direct your questions and complaints.
This was a courageous move that signalled to the market that Phase had nothing to hide and was not afraid of being publicly challenged by its users. It made sense as Phase was building a brand name and market share, but now that Phase is the market leader, this type of openness has become a liability.
I was an early P45 user and went to the forum when I could not get good answers from their technical support team regarding lens cast. Since direct contact with Phase technicians was not allowed, I had to talk to my dealer who would then talk to the Phase technician, who did not even acknowledge the problem.
The forum gave me a chance not only to get great advice from other users on how to cope with lens cast, but also to openly and publicly challenge Phase regarding this problem.
The conspiracy theorist in me says that Phase has closed the forum to avoid similar public questions/challenges about its new line of products about to be released.
But I hope Phase will prove me wrong and reopen the forum.
