5 ms·

Maybe they should be more transparent upfront about the sale, no? Seems a bad way to handle a sale with your current users.

ghshephard 16y ago
What more do you need to know than the following: "We have decided to pursue other opportunities and will be shutting down our service on January 31, 2011. Thanks for supporting us and for all you've done."
- famoreira 16y ago
  Well I am sure they are entitled to it but I don't understand the secrecy around the sale.
  - ghshephard 16y ago
    I'm actually quite interested in knowing what type of transparency you are looking for and how it will help you as a customer/user of etacts? Seriously - I realize we all have an innate selfish desire to hear the details of the deal (myself, more than most, I suspect) - but in terms of the etacts guys being transparent with their user base, so their users know what next steps to take - what else should they have done/what would you have liked them to do for you?
    - staunch 16y ago
      Is it really so hard to understand that users want to know why a company is shutting down a service they use? Even brick & mortar places will usually tell customers "Our lease renewal would be too expensive" or the "Sales have slowed due to the economy". All they had to say was "We've been acquired by Salesforce". They handled it differently than most companies do.
      - ghshephard 16y ago
        Oh, I totally understand that users want to know why a company is shutting down - myself included. Heck, I'd also like to know if they are selling any of their services/IP, who they are selling them to, and, as long as we are playing this game, I'd _love_ to know what the terms were, how much, and whether the team will be moving to salesforce as well. These are all things that I very much am interested in. My Nit with the OP is that they made a comment about how etacts was handling "transparency" with their user base - and I believe that they did 100% of what I'd expect any service provider I'm with do - give me a heads up, in advance, as to what the next steps with their organization and service were (and issue me a partial refund - I'm not sure if the etacts guys had paying customers yet). As a interested observer, I want much, much more. As an etacts customer, I'm satisfied that they've provided me the transparency I'd expect of any responsible service provider. Compare this to how Yahoo has been handling delicious - "Sunsetting?", "Closing", "Keeping up", "Selling?" - who knows - it's not even clear they know/knew.
      - jimboyoungblood 16y ago
        What's hard to understand is why so many here feel entitled to that information. Don't you think there's at least a tiny chance that under the terms of the deal, they weren't allowed to disclose "We've been acquired by Salesforce" ?

ghshephard 16y ago

What more do you need to know than the following: "We have decided to pursue other opportunities and will be shutting down our service on January 31, 2011. Thanks for supporting us and for all you've done."

famoreira 16y ago
Well I am sure they are entitled to it but I don't understand the secrecy around the sale.
- ghshephard 16y ago
  I'm actually quite interested in knowing what type of transparency you are looking for and how it will help you as a customer/user of etacts? Seriously - I realize we all have an innate selfish desire to hear the details of the deal (myself, more than most, I suspect) - but in terms of the etacts guys being transparent with their user base, so their users know what next steps to take - what else should they have done/what would you have liked them to do for you?
  - staunch 16y ago
    Is it really so hard to understand that users want to know why a company is shutting down a service they use? Even brick & mortar places will usually tell customers "Our lease renewal would be too expensive" or the "Sales have slowed due to the economy". All they had to say was "We've been acquired by Salesforce". They handled it differently than most companies do.
    - ghshephard 16y ago
      Oh, I totally understand that users want to know why a company is shutting down - myself included. Heck, I'd also like to know if they are selling any of their services/IP, who they are selling them to, and, as long as we are playing this game, I'd _love_ to know what the terms were, how much, and whether the team will be moving to salesforce as well. These are all things that I very much am interested in. My Nit with the OP is that they made a comment about how etacts was handling "transparency" with their user base - and I believe that they did 100% of what I'd expect any service provider I'm with do - give me a heads up, in advance, as to what the next steps with their organization and service were (and issue me a partial refund - I'm not sure if the etacts guys had paying customers yet). As a interested observer, I want much, much more. As an etacts customer, I'm satisfied that they've provided me the transparency I'd expect of any responsible service provider. Compare this to how Yahoo has been handling delicious - "Sunsetting?", "Closing", "Keeping up", "Selling?" - who knows - it's not even clear they know/knew.
    - jimboyoungblood 16y ago
      What's hard to understand is why so many here feel entitled to that information. Don't you think there's at least a tiny chance that under the terms of the deal, they weren't allowed to disclose "We've been acquired by Salesforce" ?