When Good Intent Goes Horribly Wrong

July 28, 2009 By

Let me start by mentioning quickly that I’ve been spending a little time cleaning things up around the site. Just little things, mostly – fine-tuning the sidebar and footer, doing a review of plugins, re-arranging categories, integrating Google Search. That kind of thing. As part of this minor refresh, I decided I’d finally jump ship and add one of the comment systems I’d heard so much about. When you look at this kind of thing, you quickly find that you only have two real choices: Disqus – a system used on dozens of my friends blogs, that I own a t-shirt for already, and have seen nothing but praise for; and IntenseDebate – a system that seems to be far less widely known despite being owned by Automattic. This was an INCREDIBLY hard decision, but eventually my allegiance to the WordPress team won out.

After signing up for and installing IntenseDebate, I had to import my comments from my database to theirs. No problem. I was told that my blog was queued and could be for several hours. Fine. I made myself lunch and returned to find that my import had started (yay!) but that I was at 0%. So I went grocery shopping. Then did some housework. Then made dinner. No change. So I finally turned to Google. Turns out I’m not alone. A search at their GetSatisfaction page reveals piles of threads – very few listed as resolved – and while users are trying to help each other – it didn’t look like the company was around much (I’ll get back to this). I submitted a help request through the website, and went back to trying to figure it out on my own.

Let The Troubles Begin

After several hours of effort I, in frustration, uninstalled the plugin. At the recomendation of the web in general, I also removed the database entries (By hand) and went back to local comments. This seemed like a step backwards to me so after verifying that local comments did indeed work, I re-installed it. Then I removed and re-installed it again. And again. And again using the IntenseDebate Clear Database plugin. Then again. Then – in the interest of experimentation, I removed it and installed Disqus. It was up and running (and working!) in 15 minutes. I sighed. My allegiance to WP shined through, though, and I removed Disqus, and gave ID a few more tries. Nothing seemed to work.

Around 7:20pm, I sent a tweet that read “Having some major problems getting ID set up. Sent a support request no reply. Maybe Twitter help?”. I directed it both at @IntenseDebate and @mkoenig – the only employee who seemed to be active on GS. After not hearing anything for an hour or so, I gave up – left the plugin installed, just in case, and moved on to other things. Eventually, I fell asleep on the couch next to my laptop. Several hours later I was awoken by Seesmic telling me I had a reply. It was from @mkoenig, and came in around 12:45 am. It was now 12:51 am and he was asking me to email him. My email (just a super-quick, lets-get-a-conversation-started-while-you’re-at-your-desk email) was sent at 12:54 am. I waited. Then kept waiting. And waited some more. This post is going live around 4:10 am. I have yet to hear back from them.

Greener Grass – 3 Tips For IntenseDebate

I know it sound like I’m ranting – I am. And I know it probably looks like I’m jumping the gun on wanting this to work – I’m probably doing that too. But I’m frustrated. My beef here, too, doesn’t fall with the fact that it’s still not working on my site – though that would be awesome – but rather with the support I’ve received. I’ve done years of customer service, several of which were online for a startup, so I’d like to reach out and offer some advice to ID here.

  1. I love that you’ve got people on GetSatisfaction. I think it’s an awesome way to connect with your users. But if you’re going to be on there – use it to it’s full potential. There should be lots of threads being marked as resolved, comments from USERS being promoted as solutions, and employees clearly listed and interacting. And this Auston guy – who seems like he was the GS guy – appears to no longer be with you. Or, at least he doesn’t have the employee tag. His ID profile still says he’s a developer for you, so I’m not too sure.
  2. You should be ALL OVER Twitter. Yes, I used caps and bolded that. Sure, you’ve got @IntenseDebate locked down and it looks like @mkoenig is using his personal account for support. But the ‘official’ account is announcements-only and Michael’s has DAYS between tweets. A handful of searches reveals lots of people looking for ID help – not all of which are being addressed – and even more are simply venting. Some generic searches and the competitor reveals lots of outreach possibility too. You’re a community-focused product, Twitter should be KEY for you.
  3. You seem to be lacking follow-through. When I finally did hear from someone (Who told me to email – something I’d already tried), I heard nothing back… Despite replying in mere minutes. I don’t mind waiting until the morning for a reply – but that expectation should have been set. Twitter is INSTANT and moves fast – and I replied both with a tweet and an email pretty quick. If you didn’t intend to reply until the morning, your tweet should have read “@tommyvallier sorry for the delay. please email me at info@intensedebate.com – I’ll check it in the morning.”. If you did intend to reply tonight and got distracted, busy or fell asleep, that sucks. In either case, it’s a screw-up.

Customer service – ESPECIALLY online, can really turn around and bit you in the behind. While I’m probably the last guy in the world to be complaining and passing along a ‘how-to’ (considering my current employment status), I’m hoping this strikes a chord with someone. I probably, too, should throw in the towel here too and just switch to Discus (Who I’m half expecting to find this post before anyone at ID the this point)… But I’m going to give it another shot. What can I say – I’m a sucker for punishment.

Filed Under: Archives, Customer Service, Rambles, Social Media, WordPress

Digg Advertising Gone Mad

July 23, 2009 By

So, I woke up this morning and, after getting a coffee, opened my browser. One of my first hits of the day is always Digg – just to check out what’s on the front page. But this morning I was greeted with a monster of an ad as seen in the top half of the image below. Now, it did slide away after 10-15 seconds (I wasn’t counting), but not before I could grab a screenshot of it.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Archives, Rambles

The Next Chapter?

September 25, 2008 By

So – it looks like it’s been a while since I’ve blogged here. Mostly, it’s been a lack of time while I fought like crazy to make my way in the new media freelancing space. When I last posted, I mentioned that in addition to trying my hand at the self-employment space, I’d be keeping my ears open for the chance to work with a new team doing exciting things, and while a great deal of my time this summer was spent in negotiations with a few companies, nothing panned out, and I continued to try it on my own.

When I went into the summer, I gave myself a timeline to do this on my own of three months. Beyond that, I was going to start handing out resumes, and looking for “real world” style work. Well, after a few talks with a few people, it looks like I found work with a web development company in downtown Kingston. I don’t want to dive into too much about what I’ll be doing (Or who the company is), as I haven’t discussed my “public” life too much with my likely-soon-to-be boss, but I do want to comment on the change.

Fear and Frowns

The new work will bring two substantial changes for me, one I’m scared of, and one saddens me deeply. The first, and the change I’m scared more of, is the shift in industry. I’ve been working in customer service/support, and generally with people, for 8 years. In fact, with the exception of one summer job, ALL of my work has been in customer service or user support. Even my most recent role with TalkShoe centered around making sure our users were happy. Shifting from a customer service space to a development space – and away from a space I LOVE to be in, social media – scares the crap out of me.

But in addition to being scared of the shift, the new job has me pretty sad. I’ve been working from home for just over 2 years now, and have really enjoyed it. In addition to the idea that I’m more at liberty to set my own schedule, working from home has allowed me to keep up with house work, blogs, emails and phone calls. Most importantly though, it’s allowed me to spend more time with my wife. As a nurse, her hectic schedule doesn’t leave a lot of time to spend together – working from home allows us to spend time together, at least in the same room, even if I am busy on my computer.

A Final Push?

When I last posted, I had a TREMENDOUS outcry of support, both from past colleges at TalkShoe, as well as users, friends and connections from all around the blogosphere. I was touched. I’m wondering, a little, if I can’t use that same outpouring now to help out.

While I have heard of the company it’s looking like I’ll soon be working for, and the idea of working with a bunch of geeks again is SUPER exciting, I’ve done web development work in a “corporate” environment before… and didn’t like it. I also REALLY don’t want to leave either customer service, or the work from home environment. So this is my appeal to my community: If you can help me out – and maybe find me work in the customer service space between now and Monday (So I can stop before I start), please get in touch.

Filed Under: Archives, Personal, Rambles

A Day Inside Facebook

April 2, 2008 By

Yesterday, I spent a large amount of time inside the website known as Facebook. Most of this time was spent browsing people’s profiles or managing how I was connected to people. I’ll likely do more of the same today, but I thought I’d report on what I did, and what the plans are.

Spring Cleaning

I started the day by removing the nearly 40 applications I wasn’t using. This brought me down to 22. Half of those are official, Facebook-created apps such as groups, and events, and 3 more are applications that I play a role in as a Developer. So I’m left with 8, really. Not bad.

I next went through and tweaked my Facebook privacy and limited profile settings. This was going to play a bigger role in my plans later in the day. I also moved a few things around on my profile, and tidied things up there.

Lunchtime Reading

I ate my soup and garlic bread while browsing the immense application directory. After recently removing applications, this might seem like an odd choice, but I wasn’t adding anything – yet. Facebook’s application platform (which, I promise, will be a whole post unto itself shortly) offers a lot of widely varying applications for use. I was looking for those that would help make my time insdie facebook more productive.

I’ve got a list and will be expermenting soon.

Managing People And Connections

More and more, Facebook is becoming my Rolodex. While some people use LinkedIn for this, Facebook allows me to not only connect to people, but to get a small glimpse into their lives and what they’re doing. For me, it’s really an advance marriage of LinkedIn and Twitter.

I’ve been making a big use of the friend groups within facebook to keep track of my connections, and a large amount of time (A few hours, in fact) went to re-organizing those. In all, I now have 37 of these groups. Some of these, like my “Canadian”, “American” and “International” cast wide nets, while other groups only have 3 or 4 people in them.

Every event I’ve attended (Except for one) has it’s own group, and people I met, or visited with, at an event goes into that group. This means that I can quickly pull up a group and see who was around. As I friend more people, I can then add them to their correct groups, and keep them sorted. Something I couldn’t do with my physical Rolodex. Not easily, anyway – and I tried.

When Worlds Collide

Facebook is, with the exception of email, the only place where my “work” world and my “real” world come together. It sure makes for an interesting dynamic when I sign in, too. It’s because of this that I’ve always been a heavy user of the limited profile option. People in my limited profile group, for example (Don’t check, you likely are) can’t see my friends list. Nor can they see photo galleries I post (Unless I specify they can) or my mailing addressor my home phone number.

I use the privace settings more to manage the fact that this is a place where two – very different – worlds come together and it allows me to be a complete goofball with my former room-mates, my wedding party, and my high school buddies, while being a complete goofball with new friends I’ve met through the world of social media. Sorting people took a LONG time, but it means that my Facebook world can have the balance it, apparently, needs.

Your Turn

I’m going to write more on my tricks within the Facebook walls soon (Including a full list of my privacy groups, and a look at my apps), but I want to know how you’re using the site. What does it bring to you? Who does it connect you with? What apps do you use? Why? Let me know.

Filed Under: Archives, Facebook, Personal, Rambles

Take My Money, Please

March 4, 2008 By

I’ll admit it, I’m not a music buff. I don’t generally attend concerts, I don’t buy a lot of music (In either the digital or physical senses) and generally my radios (Again, digital and physical) are off. I listen to podcasts when I’m near my computer or traveling solo, and I let whoever I’m with control the background when I’m not alone.

But the other day I bought some music. Specifically, I bought 2 CDs worth of it. Now, being that I don’t listen to music often, this might seem a little silly. Especially when, and my memory is bad – so I may be wrong here, I have yet to really enjoy much of anything this group has put out before.

Lost? I bought the new Nine Inch Nails albums Ghosts I-IV.

Why? To support the idea. NIN has released two distinct versions of the digital download. The first is a free download from the website containing only the first part of the collection, Ghosts I. You can go, right now, and download that from their site for free. They also released a torrent file of it to help things along. The second costs 5.00, but is all four volumes, and contains a 40-page ebook and a bunch of extras, like wallpapers and avatars. Your options when you pay for the download are MP3 (320k, LAME encoded, already properly ID3′d, for the techies) and both Apple and FLAC lossless formats (In iTunes and not).

But NIN has gone beyond that. For 10.00 you get physical copies of the CDs. For 75 you get the 2 CDs, a Blu-Ray of the albums (With slideshow) and a DVD of the multi-track parts that make up the songs. Perfect for re-mixing. There was a 300 dollar package too, containing autographed vinyls. All 2500 of them have been sold, though. You still get the downloads, too, when you buy a physical copy.

The greatest part of this release, and the reason I jumped up and down when I saw this, was the FAQ page. More specifically, the line that read Ghosts I-IV is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. Podcasters? Go nuts – you can play ALL of the new track. Or mix them. Or add to them. And if you pick up that remix package? You can then mix up all sorts of goodies.

I haven’t listened to the music yet, so I can’t tell you if it’s good… But I can tell you it was worth my 5.00 to support the idea. Well played, Trent.

Filed Under: Archives, Rambles

Why I Stopped Reading Three Blogs

March 2, 2008 By

Alright – so this stirred the pot on Twitter, so I thought I’d expand on this here.

I tossed a comment onto Twitter today which read: “Pondering unsubscribing from 3 blogs who are using “retroblogging” techniques. Sorry, but I simply don’t have the time.“. A lot of people commented back to me about this, and wondered what it is and why I’m no longer going to be reading them… So I thought I’d expand.

First, I’ve been explained that “retroblogging” is creating blog posts that are past-dated, though publishing them on a later date. The people I’ve seen doing this have explained to me that this is done to put additional perspective on when the thought hit, and not when the post was written. This would mean that my handful of blog post ideas in my notebook from PodCamp toronto would all be dated … last weekend. Part of the “retroblogging” thin, though, is that posts are still published in order… So this post wouldn’t be “allowed” until ALL of my posts “from” last weekend went up.  That way everything stays in order and retains the perspective of when things are thought of.

Here’s the problem, though. If I’m a reader  of your blog, which I may have been until today, 3 posts in 10 minutes is CRAZY. I make a point of trying to keep on top of my blogs. I use my “mark as read” buttons very frequently, and try to go to bed with a clean slate. Why? Because it lets me start each day fresh and new and able to keep up. I do, occasionally, let some things drift, but that should be my call. If it’s March 2nd and you’re posting something dated February 27th,  along with 3, 5 or 8 other posts, IT’S OLD NEWS. And having to devote 10, 20 or 45 minutes to catch up on your blog, because you, for whatever reason, didn’t post it when it should have been posted, is TOO MUCH TIME – and I’m not going to put up with it any more.
If I’m no longer a subscriber to your blog, I’m sorry. I’m hoping important things you have to say reach me via others. If you think I was (And am no longer as a result of this) a reader, feel free to get in touch. Especially if you change your practices.

Filed Under: Archives, Rambles, Social Media
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