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The word terrorism is reserved for actions not approved by our government. Please don't dilute its meaning by using it for a customer insisting on a refund.

by gnu8 13y ago

maaku 13y ago
If you're going to nitpick, please be accurate. Terrorism is the strategy of taking actions to incite terror within a population to achieve some goal. It goes back much, much further than the current concept of a nation-state.
- 001sky 13y ago
  Its better surmised as just anti-civilian warfare.
  - maaku 13y ago
    What? No. Terrorism is the incitement of terror within a population. Waging general, all-out war does not accomplish that goal very well - the certain risk of an invading standing army is much less terrifying than the uncertain risk of unseen agents with random but deadly agendas. The goal of war is to conquer or destroy. The goal of a terrorist is to leave a social structure intact as-is, but to spread fear and uncertainty within its ranks. These are totally different purposes.
    - 001sky 13y ago
      Nothing incites terror like killing innocent people. Maybe you didn't get the memo? Picking the weakest and most vulnerable (children, women, the edlerly) and adding a does of arbitrary intentionality (apparent randomness) also helps. The word 'war', in general terms, also predates and is different than your (apparent, statist) post-modern definition.
  - makomk 13y ago
    No, gnu8's definition is the correct one. For instance, recently in the UK a cell of Islamic terrorists launched a terrorist attack in which they murdered a serving British soldier. They intentionally targeted him because he was in the military and were apparently quite apologetic to the civilians who saw it. Was universally described as a terrorist attack by the media.
- rfrey 13y ago
  I think gnu was being facetious, maaku. As in "only the government gets to redefine 'terrorism' any way they want".
john_b 13y ago
It's an analogy. "We do not respond to ultimatums" would also work, but then this post would belong more in their FAQ or policy section than a blog post. And if anyone has diluted the word "terrorism" recently it has been various governments.
PeterWhittaker 13y ago
Sometimes reading the comments helps me decide whether or not to read the article. I wasn't going to read this one, but your comment made me think I should - I fully expected to "+1" your comment, because on the whole, I agree with your statement. Then I read the article, upvoted the OP, and decided to write this. A better headline would have been "We don't negotiate with blackmailing, SOB bullies who string us along with songs of high praise only to demand - DEMAND - their money back for no reason after days/weeks of a fully supported free trial, and who threaten us with all the fury of god's own social network". Well, that would have been a more accurate headline, perhaps not a better one. Given the article, whose veracity I will for now take at face value, the headline used works for me. I have no problem with this particular bit of hyperbole. It's certainly more SFW than "We don't negotiate with fuck-stick time-wasting rave-rave-rave-then-bail bullies". Though I would have read that article before coming to the HN comments. :->
- macspoofing 13y ago
  >We don't negotiate with blackmailing, SOB bullies who string us along with songs of high praise only to demand - DEMAND - their money back for no reason after days/weeks of a fully supported free trial, and who threaten us with all the fury of god's own social network There was no free trial. As I understood it, ignitiondeck does not do trials because they "want to discourage the process of ‘shopping,’ that is, someone testing many products in order to try them hoping to return the ones they do not like." (Is that really so bad!!!?!) So no try-before-you-buy, no refunds. The customer claimed their plugin didn't work for them, after they bought it. Their policy is what it is, I get that, but it really sucks, and they're just opening themselves up to this kind of negativity. The customer isn't looking so hot here with his ridiculous SEO threats, but neither is ignitiondeck.
  - PeterWhittaker 13y ago
    Re the free trial - yes, you are correct, I misunderstood the pre-sales Q&A bit the first time I read through it. Makes me reconsider my conclusion, that does.

The word terrorism is reserved for actions not approved by our government. Please don't dilute its meaning by using it for a customer insisting on a refund.

by gnu8 13y ago

The word terrorism is reserved for actions not approved by our government. Please don't dilute its meaning by using it for a customer insisting on a refund.

maaku 13y ago

If you're going to nitpick, please be accurate. Terrorism is the strategy of taking actions to incite terror within a population to achieve some goal. It goes back much, much further than the current concept of a nation-state.

001sky 13y ago
Its better surmised as just anti-civilian warfare.
- maaku 13y ago
  What? No. Terrorism is the incitement of terror within a population. Waging general, all-out war does not accomplish that goal very well - the certain risk of an invading standing army is much less terrifying than the uncertain risk of unseen agents with random but deadly agendas. The goal of war is to conquer or destroy. The goal of a terrorist is to leave a social structure intact as-is, but to spread fear and uncertainty within its ranks. These are totally different purposes.
  - 001sky 13y ago
    Nothing incites terror like killing innocent people. Maybe you didn't get the memo? Picking the weakest and most vulnerable (children, women, the edlerly) and adding a does of arbitrary intentionality (apparent randomness) also helps. The word 'war', in general terms, also predates and is different than your (apparent, statist) post-modern definition.
- makomk 13y ago
  No, gnu8's definition is the correct one. For instance, recently in the UK a cell of Islamic terrorists launched a terrorist attack in which they murdered a serving British soldier. They intentionally targeted him because he was in the military and were apparently quite apologetic to the civilians who saw it. Was universally described as a terrorist attack by the media.
rfrey 13y ago
I think gnu was being facetious, maaku. As in "only the government gets to redefine 'terrorism' any way they want".

john_b 13y ago

It's an analogy. "We do not respond to ultimatums" would also work, but then this post would belong more in their FAQ or policy section than a blog post. And if anyone has diluted the word "terrorism" recently it has been various governments.

PeterWhittaker 13y ago

Sometimes reading the comments helps me decide whether or not to read the article. I wasn't going to read this one, but your comment made me think I should - I fully expected to "+1" your comment, because on the whole, I agree with your statement. Then I read the article, upvoted the OP, and decided to write this. A better headline would have been "We don't negotiate with blackmailing, SOB bullies who string us along with songs of high praise only to demand - DEMAND - their money back for no reason after days/weeks of a fully supported free trial, and who threaten us with all the fury of god's own social network". Well, that would have been a more accurate headline, perhaps not a better one. Given the article, whose veracity I will for now take at face value, the headline used works for me. I have no problem with this particular bit of hyperbole. It's certainly more SFW than "We don't negotiate with fuck-stick time-wasting rave-rave-rave-then-bail bullies". Though I would have read that article before coming to the HN comments. :->

macspoofing 13y ago
>We don't negotiate with blackmailing, SOB bullies who string us along with songs of high praise only to demand - DEMAND - their money back for no reason after days/weeks of a fully supported free trial, and who threaten us with all the fury of god's own social network There was no free trial. As I understood it, ignitiondeck does not do trials because they "want to discourage the process of ‘shopping,’ that is, someone testing many products in order to try them hoping to return the ones they do not like." (Is that really so bad!!!?!) So no try-before-you-buy, no refunds. The customer claimed their plugin didn't work for them, after they bought it. Their policy is what it is, I get that, but it really sucks, and they're just opening themselves up to this kind of negativity. The customer isn't looking so hot here with his ridiculous SEO threats, but neither is ignitiondeck.
- PeterWhittaker 13y ago
  Re the free trial - yes, you are correct, I misunderstood the pre-sales Q&A bit the first time I read through it. Makes me reconsider my conclusion, that does.