4 ms·

Not once in that entire letter do they say the word "sorry". You'd think a company so experienced with corporate indifference would have the courage to admit th

Not once in that entire letter do they say the word "sorry". You'd think a company so experienced with corporate indifference would have the courage to admit they made a mistake, say I'm sorry, state their next actions to fix the problem and move forward. I know these situations are tough, but Thor spends way too much in the letter promoting and PRing instead of apologizing and fixing.

Semiapies 18y ago
For all the complaints about how Jason Fried should have given them a holler and jawed it out person-to-person, none of GS's defenders note that they aren't doing what one person would do upon accidentally wronging another: apologize. Of course, there's a very good reason for that: saying "Sorry" can be cited as a possible admission of guilt. Really, it looks like GS is trying to establish a public record that they acted quickly to resolve these problems without admitting wrongdoing at any point. That isn't behavior that's very consistent with "smart, but naive guys at a startup". If they didn't run out and get a lawyer and have him/her start looking over their copy and responses to the blog post, then they're more sophisticated than their defenders give them credit for.
- webwright 18y ago
  Except here: "Thanks for the feedback, and I’m sorry for the hassle." http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-else#comment_41863 http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-... Do you have to use the word "sorry" to express regret/"mea culpa"? All of that stuff felt pretty apologetic to me (comments, blog posts, etc).
  - Semiapies 18y ago
    You're right. Muller's comment there is head and shoulders above later remarks by GS (and much of the arguments made on their behalf). As to your question, yes, you do have to say "sorry" or "I apologize". You also have to avoid criticizing those you've wronged while doing so and in subsequent statements on the matter.
    - Semiapies 18y ago
      Specifically, you have to avoid saying things like this: "I have to be honest: All of these charges of extortion are distressing for someone who has worked so hard to try and encourage open and honest communication between companies and customers. I know that the pile-on effect is in effect here, but to hear it told in these comments, we’re evil people who are trying to exploit people in the worst way. We’ve always been simply trying to help improve the way companies do their customer service and make it more human. We apparently need to be better at explaining the way it works, I suppose. "And now, I’ll step aside and dodge the bottle I see sailing through the air in my direction." http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-else#comment_42097 http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-... It's the attempts to evoke pity for them and cast any criticism as mindless persecution by people who aren't smart enough to get them that create more hostility. When you're in the wrong, it's just not time to go on about how you feel hurt by people being critical of you. More appropriate would be, "We work very hard at trying to encourage open and honest communication between companies and customers. For that reason, I find it very distressing that our efforts could strike people as evil or extortionate. That is not in any way our intent, and we are looking at ways to better explain how what we do works."
webwright 18y ago
I dunno, man. They commented on the original post, wrote a blog post, had a web conference, and wrote an open letter. All of them had a strong tone of "mea culpa"/regret even if some of them didn't use the word sorry.
- tptacek 18y ago
  Tony, this isn't rocket science. You've been PR trained. This is one of the basic rules of crisis management: the first thing you do is, KILL THE STORY. They need to defuse this. But every time they provide a justification or make a comment on JF's behavior, they're keeping the story alive. I have a little bit of crisis management experience. What works is telling people you screwed up. That leaves no room to argue about whether you screwed up. What doesn't work is trying to get your side of the story out first. That leaves a whole lot of room to argue about stuff. I am mystified as to why GetSatisfaction wants this controversy to rocket to the top of Google's search results. Why aren't they just killing this stupid story?
  - webwright 18y ago
    Heh. Yaw, I woulda stopped at one mea culpa in their shoes-- instead, they did 5 or so (2 blog posts, 3 comments, and a live webcast). I think they are probably just so eager to eat their own dogfood (open, transparent conversation) that they just can't stop. The PR reaction is a different (and really interesting) conversation. Someone oughta write a blog post about it... ;-)

Semiapies 18y ago

For all the complaints about how Jason Fried should have given them a holler and jawed it out person-to-person, none of GS's defenders note that they aren't doing what one person would do upon accidentally wronging another: apologize. Of course, there's a very good reason for that: saying "Sorry" can be cited as a possible admission of guilt. Really, it looks like GS is trying to establish a public record that they acted quickly to resolve these problems without admitting wrongdoing at any point. That isn't behavior that's very consistent with "smart, but naive guys at a startup". If they didn't run out and get a lawyer and have him/her start looking over their copy and responses to the blog post, then they're more sophisticated than their defenders give them credit for.

webwright 18y ago
Except here: "Thanks for the feedback, and I’m sorry for the hassle." http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-else#comment_41863 http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-... Do you have to use the word "sorry" to express regret/"mea culpa"? All of that stuff felt pretty apologetic to me (comments, blog posts, etc).
- Semiapies 18y ago
  You're right. Muller's comment there is head and shoulders above later remarks by GS (and much of the arguments made on their behalf). As to your question, yes, you do have to say "sorry" or "I apologize". You also have to avoid criticizing those you've wronged while doing so and in subsequent statements on the matter.
  - Semiapies 18y ago
    Specifically, you have to avoid saying things like this: "I have to be honest: All of these charges of extortion are distressing for someone who has worked so hard to try and encourage open and honest communication between companies and customers. I know that the pile-on effect is in effect here, but to hear it told in these comments, we’re evil people who are trying to exploit people in the worst way. We’ve always been simply trying to help improve the way companies do their customer service and make it more human. We apparently need to be better at explaining the way it works, I suppose. "And now, I’ll step aside and dodge the bottle I see sailing through the air in my direction." http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-else#comment_42097 http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-... It's the attempts to evoke pity for them and cast any criticism as mindless persecution by people who aren't smart enough to get them that create more hostility. When you're in the wrong, it's just not time to go on about how you feel hurt by people being critical of you. More appropriate would be, "We work very hard at trying to encourage open and honest communication between companies and customers. For that reason, I find it very distressing that our efforts could strike people as evil or extortionate. That is not in any way our intent, and we are looking at ways to better explain how what we do works."

webwright 18y ago

I dunno, man. They commented on the original post, wrote a blog post, had a web conference, and wrote an open letter. All of them had a strong tone of "mea culpa"/regret even if some of them didn't use the word sorry.

tptacek 18y ago
Tony, this isn't rocket science. You've been PR trained. This is one of the basic rules of crisis management: the first thing you do is, KILL THE STORY. They need to defuse this. But every time they provide a justification or make a comment on JF's behavior, they're keeping the story alive. I have a little bit of crisis management experience. What works is telling people you screwed up. That leaves no room to argue about whether you screwed up. What doesn't work is trying to get your side of the story out first. That leaves a whole lot of room to argue about stuff. I am mystified as to why GetSatisfaction wants this controversy to rocket to the top of Google's search results. Why aren't they just killing this stupid story?
- webwright 18y ago
  Heh. Yaw, I woulda stopped at one mea culpa in their shoes-- instead, they did 5 or so (2 blog posts, 3 comments, and a live webcast). I think they are probably just so eager to eat their own dogfood (open, transparent conversation) that they just can't stop. The PR reaction is a different (and really interesting) conversation. Someone oughta write a blog post about it... ;-)