4 ms·

Am I the only one who felt the whole post has some "free users are jerks" attitude?

jdp23 16y ago
You're not the only one who felt that :-)
ericb 16y ago
Yes, and instead of seeming purely apologetic, the post comes off as tool-ish. You can see the attitude that lead them to the gaff shine through their mea culpa! I wouldn't go with chargify now on the theory that they will continue to do these things in spite of themselves. Their mental model of how people react is flawed, and the underlying love of their audience is missing, which inevitably leads to more mistakes. As a counterpoint--someone who's got the love, like Peldi of Balsamiq, won't run into these problems continually, and when they do, can recover trust faster.
bapadna 16y ago
It sounded like it was written by a slightly more ambitious Randal Graves: This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers. I'm not surprised that his freemium experiment failed. I've often advocated Cheapium to avoid some of the problems he's mentioned, but the way he switched models was JV at best.
melvinram 16y ago
In many cases they are. We offer a few free WordPress plugins that get us some very interesting emails. You'd really be surprised at the level of entitlement some people have when you offer something for free. On the other hand, paying clients really respect their time and our time. I'm not saying it's all their fault. It's your responsibility (as someone who chooses freemium as a business model) to make sure you don't allow them to be jerks to you. That means putting limits on how much resources you allocate to supporting them and having clear revenue channels that allow you to make your revenue goals. Still, many freeloaders can be plain jerks at times.
- prawn 16y ago
  There should be a "This is free, stop and think about that" equivalent to LMGTFY that you (and others) can use as a response.
  - tezza 16y ago
    Just to work with your theme, perhaps I could suggest: LRMGFY ? The endearingly sensitive Low Rent Motherfucker Go Fuck Yourself ? I don't think that'd get too many happy Tweeters.
smackfu 16y ago
Especially since the free users are obviously the ones who will complain loudest when you kill the free option.

jdp23 16y ago

You're not the only one who felt that :-)

ericb 16y ago

Yes, and instead of seeming purely apologetic, the post comes off as tool-ish. You can see the attitude that lead them to the gaff shine through their mea culpa! I wouldn't go with chargify now on the theory that they will continue to do these things in spite of themselves. Their mental model of how people react is flawed, and the underlying love of their audience is missing, which inevitably leads to more mistakes. As a counterpoint--someone who's got the love, like Peldi of Balsamiq, won't run into these problems continually, and when they do, can recover trust faster.

bapadna 16y ago

It sounded like it was written by a slightly more ambitious Randal Graves: This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers. I'm not surprised that his freemium experiment failed. I've often advocated Cheapium to avoid some of the problems he's mentioned, but the way he switched models was JV at best.

melvinram 16y ago

In many cases they are. We offer a few free WordPress plugins that get us some very interesting emails. You'd really be surprised at the level of entitlement some people have when you offer something for free. On the other hand, paying clients really respect their time and our time. I'm not saying it's all their fault. It's your responsibility (as someone who chooses freemium as a business model) to make sure you don't allow them to be jerks to you. That means putting limits on how much resources you allocate to supporting them and having clear revenue channels that allow you to make your revenue goals. Still, many freeloaders can be plain jerks at times.

prawn 16y ago
There should be a "This is free, stop and think about that" equivalent to LMGTFY that you (and others) can use as a response.
- tezza 16y ago
  Just to work with your theme, perhaps I could suggest: LRMGFY ? The endearingly sensitive Low Rent Motherfucker Go Fuck Yourself ? I don't think that'd get too many happy Tweeters.

smackfu 16y ago

Especially since the free users are obviously the ones who will complain loudest when you kill the free option.