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> I can’t help them and I’ve learned over the years that just trying to explain how I have nothing to do with the product they’re using is often just too time c
by ikeboy 10y ago
> I can’t help them and I’ve learned over the years that just trying to explain how I have nothing to do with the product they’re using is often just too time consuming and energy draining to be worth it.
You could write out a form response once, then just send it to everyone, and not respond to follow-ups. Not that you have to, of course, but it shouldn't be energy draining, at least.
- TulliusCicero 10y agoWhen the confused person responds, agitated that someone they think is supposed to help them is deflecting their concerns, that's probably emotionally draining.
- ikeboy 10y agoIf that's the issue they could also block them after replying.
- TulliusCicero 10y agoAt that point, the damage is done. Why is this better than just not replying, again?
- ikeboy 10y agoBecause some people will understand the first reply.
- lomnakkus 10y agoI'd venture to suggest that the overlap between the set of people who will understand the first reply and the set of people who understand that daniel@haxx.se (or whatever it was) is not a tech support address for Toyota, is very small.
- userbinator 10y agoYou could even set up a filter to autoreply when it detects a combination of an unusually large number of automotive terms, the word "help", or similar.
- zapu 10y agoI've been in that position before, where people would find my e-mail address as a supposed tech support for something I have no relationship with whatsoever. Usually when you tell them they have a wrong e-mail, they get really angry ("I want to talk to your manager!" kind of angry). So it's better to just not respond at all.
- AimHere 10y agoWhat about quietly forwarding the email to the legit tech support mailbox for Toyota, if such a thing exists? Are there problems with that approach (other than the tech support people replying to you instead of their customer).
- toyg 10y agoAs he said in the comments, if they couldn't find a support email, why would he be able to? The issue is not Toyota-specific, there are tons of different cars shipping curl; is he supposed to become some sort of customer-support switchboard?
- laumars 10y agoIt's a lot of effort and one which you wouldn't expect businesses to do this so I don't really see why open source projects should be any different.
- Chris2048 10y agoIf there's a limited amount of car companies, why not just compile one email with a big list of contact numbers, and use that reply template whenever you get such an email. I suppose you could even send it out automatically based on filter conditions?
- toyg 10y agoAnd then those numbers change, and how are you gonna know? Do you periodically call them all? Do you wait for people to get mad at you because the number has changed, before you spend more time figuring out what the number is supposed to be today? And what if you don't even know all manufacturers from Asia or Brazil? And what if people complain that they want the number for their own language or country? That list gets very long very quickly. But above all, why should he care? He's a developer, doesn't get a dime from such carmakers, why should it be his problem?