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I said previously that I think the 'Unofficial' needs to be more noticeable. Once that is corrected, I dont see it as a huge issue. People are not idiots, but

I said previously that I think the 'Unofficial' needs to be more noticeable. Once that is corrected, I dont see it as a huge issue. People are not idiots, but they are generally frustrated about support options. If there are tons of people using GS's unofficial support forums instead of your own, that tells you that your system is broken, and needs to be repaired.

pxlpshr 18y ago
If there are tons of people using GS's unofficial support forums instead of your own, that tells you that your system is broken, and needs to be repaired. SNAP!
- pxlpshr 18y ago
  Ok ok, I should have provided more substance in my post. Thank you for spanking me HN. :) Certainly I don't feel 37signals customer support is broken, but there is a point in that quote: Would it have really been that difficult for Jason to have his people monitor a customer-created Get Satisfaction page too? Honestly, he's probably wasted at least two full work days writing these posts — which could have been direct-from-the-founder responses to a lot of customers while he picked up the phone and had a talk with GS team. After all, all the link-backs from GS to 37signals is only going to boost their SEO overtime. There are a lot of benefits to GS that 37signals ignores in favor of an ego-driven tantrum that has turned me off yet again. For the record, I am both a 37signals and GS customer.
  - Semiapies 18y ago
    I think the premise here is that it's better to stop this sort of exploitation through some short-term action than to pay off GS over the long term.
  - trapper 18y ago
    Shouldn't whether a company CHOOSES to do it be their choice? The law would say yes. I'm betting a bigco will C&D them in the near future if they don't make it company-opt-in.
  - ricree 18y ago
    How far does this extend, though? It's all well and great to say that they can monitor any one third party support site, but Get Satisfaction isn't the only one out there. Should companies really be expected to go monitor every third party support site that decides that they're going to post a page?
run4yourlives 18y ago
GS shouldn't set up anything for companies that don't want to use their service, full stop, end of story.
cedsav 18y ago
Users end up on GS because of a Google search. Does that necessarily mean that they looked for and couldn't find a proper support channel first? I don't think so. I'm sure there are plenty of people (me included) who google first, and navigate the site to a support page as a last resort.
sounddust 18y ago
"Unofficial" isn't enough. The post itself explains why; pretty much every part of the UI suggests that the GS page is coming from 37signals. Things like "report a problem" which imply that it will be reported to someone who can do something about it (rather than GS). And using "we" ambiguously. Furthermore, many companies offer "unofficial support" pages on their own websites, which are meant to allow people to help each other resolve problems in the case that they are waiting for an official response. GS should not allow themselves to be confused by that type of forum. They need to remove company logos, remove excessive mentioning of the company's name, and put a big description at the top of the page that explains that GS is in no way related to the company being discussed.
gamache 18y ago
People are not idiots It sounds to me like you have not worked in tech support. Considering that GS is a hosting site for tech support forums, my opinion is that they should be as close to idiot-proof as possible. For some reason, in my estimation a financial one, they are not.
ricree 18y ago
"If there are tons of people using GS's unofficial support forums instead of your own, that tells you that your system is broken, and needs to be repaired." Or it means that they have good placement on google results. When I search for "37signals help", the third result is the getsatisfaction page. Now, in this case the actual 37signals page came up first, but 37signals receives a fair amount of incoming links due to the popularity of their blog. In the case of a company that doesn't play quite as well with PageRank, might getsatisfaction be the number one result? It doesn't seem that unreasonable that some people might end up there instead of the actual support avenues.

pxlpshr 18y ago

If there are tons of people using GS's unofficial support forums instead of your own, that tells you that your system is broken, and needs to be repaired. SNAP!

pxlpshr 18y ago
Ok ok, I should have provided more substance in my post. Thank you for spanking me HN. :) Certainly I don't feel 37signals customer support is broken, but there is a point in that quote: Would it have really been that difficult for Jason to have his people monitor a customer-created Get Satisfaction page too? Honestly, he's probably wasted at least two full work days writing these posts — which could have been direct-from-the-founder responses to a lot of customers while he picked up the phone and had a talk with GS team. After all, all the link-backs from GS to 37signals is only going to boost their SEO overtime. There are a lot of benefits to GS that 37signals ignores in favor of an ego-driven tantrum that has turned me off yet again. For the record, I am both a 37signals and GS customer.
- Semiapies 18y ago
  I think the premise here is that it's better to stop this sort of exploitation through some short-term action than to pay off GS over the long term.
- trapper 18y ago
  Shouldn't whether a company CHOOSES to do it be their choice? The law would say yes. I'm betting a bigco will C&D them in the near future if they don't make it company-opt-in.
- ricree 18y ago
  How far does this extend, though? It's all well and great to say that they can monitor any one third party support site, but Get Satisfaction isn't the only one out there. Should companies really be expected to go monitor every third party support site that decides that they're going to post a page?

run4yourlives 18y ago

GS shouldn't set up anything for companies that don't want to use their service, full stop, end of story.

cedsav 18y ago

Users end up on GS because of a Google search. Does that necessarily mean that they looked for and couldn't find a proper support channel first? I don't think so. I'm sure there are plenty of people (me included) who google first, and navigate the site to a support page as a last resort.

sounddust 18y ago

"Unofficial" isn't enough. The post itself explains why; pretty much every part of the UI suggests that the GS page is coming from 37signals. Things like "report a problem" which imply that it will be reported to someone who can do something about it (rather than GS). And using "we" ambiguously. Furthermore, many companies offer "unofficial support" pages on their own websites, which are meant to allow people to help each other resolve problems in the case that they are waiting for an official response. GS should not allow themselves to be confused by that type of forum. They need to remove company logos, remove excessive mentioning of the company's name, and put a big description at the top of the page that explains that GS is in no way related to the company being discussed.

gamache 18y ago

People are not idiots It sounds to me like you have not worked in tech support. Considering that GS is a hosting site for tech support forums, my opinion is that they should be as close to idiot-proof as possible. For some reason, in my estimation a financial one, they are not.

ricree 18y ago

"If there are tons of people using GS's unofficial support forums instead of your own, that tells you that your system is broken, and needs to be repaired." Or it means that they have good placement on google results. When I search for "37signals help", the third result is the getsatisfaction page. Now, in this case the actual 37signals page came up first, but 37signals receives a fair amount of incoming links due to the popularity of their blog. In the case of a company that doesn't play quite as well with PageRank, might getsatisfaction be the number one result? It doesn't seem that unreasonable that some people might end up there instead of the actual support avenues.