3 ms·

I know this isn’t a very interesting comment, but just to provide some balance to the mostly negative comments I’m seeing: It’s interesting that you did the ex

by ikawe 3mo ago

I know this isn’t a very interesting comment, but just to provide some balance to the mostly negative comments I’m seeing: It’s interesting that you did the experiment, and I appreciate you sharing your results. It all seems reasonable, even if a bit depressing.

papertigerau 3mo ago
This was also my thought! OP is going to get a lot of arrows for this article, but it's a genuinely great write up that matches a lot of my experience with mass-market products. It's a great account for people to reflect on. I've immediately sent this article to several early-stage founders who are burning astounding amounts of time on undesirable customers.
mmarian 3mo ago
Same here. I feel it's what every software owner thinks, but no one is willing to admit because of the backlash.
OPBoot 3mo ago
A lot of people in the comments are saying he did it for "likes" - that's a pretty harsh reading of the article. What I think a lot of people are missing is that the difference between supporting corporates who spend up to millions per year on your product and supporting end-users who are literlly counting every cent they spend is a huge gulf in terms of expectations, technical ability, professionalism.... the list goes on. It's a completely different game. I thought the article was a brilliant summary of why you simply can't help all the users all the time. It's a hard lesson to learn in the world of Tech Support. We all want to be the knight is shining armour solving customer problems, but the skill to be able to say "no" in the right way is not universal. To those ragging on the author - there are huge numbers of people who, even if you paid them to use your software, they would still complain and swear at you. It's just life. And dealing with the competing interests of customers, time pressures, personal sanity and many more is almost exactly the job description of Tech Support.
- dabluck 3mo ago
  Thanks. I'm not really understanding the likes comment. What are likes in this context? I was very explicit in the post I thought providing better support would build customer relationships and improve retention, and I learned that really isn't true. Also I wrote this a couple days ago so the blog would have content and only submitted on a whim, had I known I'd get 10K views and 100 comments I would've written it more carefully
  - ChrisMarshallNY 3mo ago
    Thanks for posting this. I have experienced similar. I have found that nasty bug reports are most effective. Good data, and the people are too cheesed off/embarrassed, to follow up, after you address it. Occasionally, it can actually be turned around, and they can become evangelists. I have integrated a simple feedback form into the app, with the option to send anonymously. That seems to help. > had I known I'd get 10K views and 100 comments Is that still the case, after being frontpaged on HN (but most comments are probably here)?
    - dabluck 3mo ago
      All comments here yeah. Almost to 11K views and there were less than 50 before I posted, with a dozen new subscribers to the blog.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 3mo ago
        I mention the value of negative feedback, here (in my own blog): https://littlegreenviper.com/the-road-most-traveled-by/#feedback https://littlegreenviper.com/the-road-most-traveled-by/#feed... I don’t really care whether or not I get many views (spoiler: I don’t -too many words). I write for myself.
        hiyfsch 3mo ago
        [dead]
Chaosvex 3mo ago
Everybody on HN knows better than OP how to run their own business and could absolutely please 100% of customers or potential customers 100% of the time. Apparently. Idealism doesn't survive contact with reality.
- psychoslave 3mo ago
  I’m a bit doubtful with this conclusion, as apparently in many cases humans will rather refute reality is meaningful if it fails to pass their idealistic proof-test.

by ikawe 3mo ago

papertigerau 3mo ago

This was also my thought! OP is going to get a lot of arrows for this article, but it's a genuinely great write up that matches a lot of my experience with mass-market products. It's a great account for people to reflect on. I've immediately sent this article to several early-stage founders who are burning astounding amounts of time on undesirable customers.

mmarian 3mo ago

Same here. I feel it's what every software owner thinks, but no one is willing to admit because of the backlash.

OPBoot 3mo ago

A lot of people in the comments are saying he did it for "likes" - that's a pretty harsh reading of the article. What I think a lot of people are missing is that the difference between supporting corporates who spend up to millions per year on your product and supporting end-users who are literlly counting every cent they spend is a huge gulf in terms of expectations, technical ability, professionalism.... the list goes on. It's a completely different game. I thought the article was a brilliant summary of why you simply can't help all the users all the time. It's a hard lesson to learn in the world of Tech Support. We all want to be the knight is shining armour solving customer problems, but the skill to be able to say "no" in the right way is not universal. To those ragging on the author - there are huge numbers of people who, even if you paid them to use your software, they would still complain and swear at you. It's just life. And dealing with the competing interests of customers, time pressures, personal sanity and many more is almost exactly the job description of Tech Support.

dabluck 3mo ago
Thanks. I'm not really understanding the likes comment. What are likes in this context? I was very explicit in the post I thought providing better support would build customer relationships and improve retention, and I learned that really isn't true. Also I wrote this a couple days ago so the blog would have content and only submitted on a whim, had I known I'd get 10K views and 100 comments I would've written it more carefully
- ChrisMarshallNY 3mo ago
  Thanks for posting this. I have experienced similar. I have found that nasty bug reports are most effective. Good data, and the people are too cheesed off/embarrassed, to follow up, after you address it. Occasionally, it can actually be turned around, and they can become evangelists. I have integrated a simple feedback form into the app, with the option to send anonymously. That seems to help. > had I known I'd get 10K views and 100 comments Is that still the case, after being frontpaged on HN (but most comments are probably here)?
  - dabluck 3mo ago
    All comments here yeah. Almost to 11K views and there were less than 50 before I posted, with a dozen new subscribers to the blog.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 3mo ago
      I mention the value of negative feedback, here (in my own blog): https://littlegreenviper.com/the-road-most-traveled-by/#feedback https://littlegreenviper.com/the-road-most-traveled-by/#feed... I don’t really care whether or not I get many views (spoiler: I don’t -too many words). I write for myself.
      - hiyfsch 3mo ago
        [dead]

Chaosvex 3mo ago

Everybody on HN knows better than OP how to run their own business and could absolutely please 100% of customers or potential customers 100% of the time. Apparently. Idealism doesn't survive contact with reality.

psychoslave 3mo ago
I’m a bit doubtful with this conclusion, as apparently in many cases humans will rather refute reality is meaningful if it fails to pass their idealistic proof-test.