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He handles it incredibly poorly. All of his comments throughout the thread are, "I'm right, you're wrong, this is a good UI." Sure, he admits there may be roo

by boucher 18y ago

He handles it incredibly poorly. All of his comments throughout the thread are, "I'm right, you're wrong, this is a good UI." Sure, he admits there may be room for improvement, but he also blatantly disregards useful advice from potential customers (and recognized experts in the field), and in many cases directly insults them.

bdotdub 18y ago
I agree. Some of the people who commented have very valid points, yet he disregards them. Seems very prideful and stubborn.
- teamonkey 18y ago
  To be honest I didn't see that many valid points. Plenty of "lol wut?" but no real criticism apart from the colour of the background. Having said that, like a lot of those people I'm also 100% sure I can build a trip counter with a much better UI than that. Easily. Probably before the App Store opens. And like them, if I didn't have so much internetting to do I'd get on it straight away.
mechanical_fish 18y ago
I wish I remember where I read that every good customer service relationship has two roles: The Complainer, and the Apologist. The secret to happiness is this: If your customer assumes one role, you must assume the other. If your customer calls in anger and yells at you about Problem X, he's the Complainer. The proper response is to become the Apologist: "Gosh, I'm so sorry about X. I am filled with shame. It's entirely our fault that our product is filled with bugs; we should have embraced testing sooner and hired a better design team. I wish my parents had raised me better. Please don't hit me. We'll struggle to do better in the future, despite our haplessness. Here, have a free upgrade and a free support call." If your customer calls and meekly reports that, oh, the software is great, and it's a real bargain, and he hates to even mention it, but Feature X really doesn't work... he's adopting the Apologist role. So you must become the Complainer: "WHAT? Feature X doesn't work! That is terrible! I can't believe we shipped a product with such an awful flaw! I'm going to fire the entire testing staff! Here, have a free upgrade and a free support call while I go shout at whomever is responsible for this travesty." When people don't understand this rule, the situation often turns grim. Two Apologists risk descending into apathy: "Oh, this isn't really a problem, but..." "Well, yeah, that's not correct, but if it isn't really a problem..." "Gosh, though, it sure would be nice if you would fix it." "Well, okay, maybe... next week, sometime? Or maybe next month?" A pair of Complainers risks an escalating argument that starts with insults and ends with lawsuits and violence. (For a fun illustration of this, consider Monty Python's "dirty fork" sketch, in which the workers at a restaurant keep switching roles, from Apologist to Complainer to Extreme Apologist to Extreme Complainer to Suicidal Apologist to Homicidal Complainer, in dramatic and hilarious fashion, and the customer is completely confused. The sketch works because you get the sense, along with the customer, that the whole situation is somehow the customer's fault -- if he could just figure out which role to play, and adopt it, the situation would defuse. But the game is rigged: every time the customer picks a role the restaurant staff perversely adopts the same role and the situation escalates.)
- maw 18y ago
  Apologist usually refers to somebody who makes apologia, not apologies.
  - mechanical_fish 18y ago
    Upmodded. I throw myself before the mercy of the court. The mistake is entirely mine. I am unworthy to live. Please accept a free s/apologist/apologizer/ and I'll try to do better in the future. (Seriously, I had "apologizer" in there, but then my brain threw out "apologist" and it looked and sounded so much better. Pity about the meaning, though.) UPDATE: From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary: Apologizer, n. One who makes an apology; an apologist. Apologist, n. [Cf. F. apologiste.] One who makes an apology; one who speaks or writes in defense of a faith, a cause, or an institution; especially, one who argues in defense of Christianity. I'll squint at that pair of definitions and say: I regret my choice of words, but not enough to go back and fix it.
    - cawel 18y ago
      I throw myself before the mercy of the court. The mistake is entirely mine. I am unworthy to live. WHAT? That is terrible! I'm really sorry and we'll fix that word-swapping bug first thing tomorrow. Here, have a free upgrade and a free support call.
jnovek 18y ago
"but he also blatantly disregards useful advice from potential customers (and recognized experts in the field), and in many cases directly insults them" I think he's possibly does worse than making an ass of himself. As "some random guy" who lurked into this flickr thread, he has successfully introduced me to an interesting type of product that I'd never heard of and successfully convinced me that he's not the guy to buy it from. As a consumer, I can deal with a less-than-perfect UI, but someone who responds to criticism by hurling insults? No thanks.
- cedsav 18y ago
  I read the flicker thread and don't remember any hurled insults... did I miss something?

by boucher 18y ago

bdotdub 18y ago

I agree. Some of the people who commented have very valid points, yet he disregards them. Seems very prideful and stubborn.

teamonkey 18y ago
To be honest I didn't see that many valid points. Plenty of "lol wut?" but no real criticism apart from the colour of the background. Having said that, like a lot of those people I'm also 100% sure I can build a trip counter with a much better UI than that. Easily. Probably before the App Store opens. And like them, if I didn't have so much internetting to do I'd get on it straight away.

mechanical_fish 18y ago

I wish I remember where I read that every good customer service relationship has two roles: The Complainer, and the Apologist. The secret to happiness is this: If your customer assumes one role, you must assume the other. If your customer calls in anger and yells at you about Problem X, he's the Complainer. The proper response is to become the Apologist: "Gosh, I'm so sorry about X. I am filled with shame. It's entirely our fault that our product is filled with bugs; we should have embraced testing sooner and hired a better design team. I wish my parents had raised me better. Please don't hit me. We'll struggle to do better in the future, despite our haplessness. Here, have a free upgrade and a free support call." If your customer calls and meekly reports that, oh, the software is great, and it's a real bargain, and he hates to even mention it, but Feature X really doesn't work... he's adopting the Apologist role. So you must become the Complainer: "WHAT? Feature X doesn't work! That is terrible! I can't believe we shipped a product with such an awful flaw! I'm going to fire the entire testing staff! Here, have a free upgrade and a free support call while I go shout at whomever is responsible for this travesty." When people don't understand this rule, the situation often turns grim. Two Apologists risk descending into apathy: "Oh, this isn't really a problem, but..." "Well, yeah, that's not correct, but if it isn't really a problem..." "Gosh, though, it sure would be nice if you would fix it." "Well, okay, maybe... next week, sometime? Or maybe next month?" A pair of Complainers risks an escalating argument that starts with insults and ends with lawsuits and violence. (For a fun illustration of this, consider Monty Python's "dirty fork" sketch, in which the workers at a restaurant keep switching roles, from Apologist to Complainer to Extreme Apologist to Extreme Complainer to Suicidal Apologist to Homicidal Complainer, in dramatic and hilarious fashion, and the customer is completely confused. The sketch works because you get the sense, along with the customer, that the whole situation is somehow the customer's fault -- if he could just figure out which role to play, and adopt it, the situation would defuse. But the game is rigged: every time the customer picks a role the restaurant staff perversely adopts the same role and the situation escalates.)

maw 18y ago
Apologist usually refers to somebody who makes apologia, not apologies.
- mechanical_fish 18y ago
  Upmodded. I throw myself before the mercy of the court. The mistake is entirely mine. I am unworthy to live. Please accept a free s/apologist/apologizer/ and I'll try to do better in the future. (Seriously, I had "apologizer" in there, but then my brain threw out "apologist" and it looked and sounded so much better. Pity about the meaning, though.) UPDATE: From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary: Apologizer, n. One who makes an apology; an apologist. Apologist, n. [Cf. F. apologiste.] One who makes an apology; one who speaks or writes in defense of a faith, a cause, or an institution; especially, one who argues in defense of Christianity. I'll squint at that pair of definitions and say: I regret my choice of words, but not enough to go back and fix it.
  - cawel 18y ago
    I throw myself before the mercy of the court. The mistake is entirely mine. I am unworthy to live. WHAT? That is terrible! I'm really sorry and we'll fix that word-swapping bug first thing tomorrow. Here, have a free upgrade and a free support call.

jnovek 18y ago

"but he also blatantly disregards useful advice from potential customers (and recognized experts in the field), and in many cases directly insults them" I think he's possibly does worse than making an ass of himself. As "some random guy" who lurked into this flickr thread, he has successfully introduced me to an interesting type of product that I'd never heard of and successfully convinced me that he's not the guy to buy it from. As a consumer, I can deal with a less-than-perfect UI, but someone who responds to criticism by hurling insults? No thanks.

cedsav 18y ago
I read the flicker thread and don't remember any hurled insults... did I miss something?