I've dropped TP about six months ago and come back here for amusement, as this is a very entertaining social experiment.
There is no way to put it other than Helios is abusive to their loyal followers. The "silence treatment", vague and empty promises, disrespect, and above all arrogance, just shout out "leave us the $%^& alone!" Yes, it is a dysfunctional relationship between a computer user and a software vendor (anyone say mac?) I often wondered if a marketing firm purchased Helios for conducting an experiment on how much abuse will a fan base "suffer" before it quits (this will also explain the latest v5 hack
)
But some people don't seem to get it; I did, and the arrogance will prevent me from ever using TP again, mainly because I feel that they don't deserve my business, no matter how good their product has been (in 2003 standards) or will be (in an unspecified future). There are perfectly good alternatives that deliver today.
Loyal followers, curse this blasphemy, but eventually (repeatedly) giving the benefit of the doubt to a software vendor is a bit too much. They deliver, we purchase. They don't deliver, we go to the shop next door.
Helios has deleted my posts several times because, I suppose, I mentioned a competitor. If they were confident about their product, they shouldn't care... but they do, and that's a sign as well. So, Helios, here's free advice: be open and talk to your user base; most will love you once again for it.