Dan Sheehan
10-12-2011, 12:28 PM
Please. I do not want to start a bloodbath here. I'm just offering a point for your consideration.
I know the frustration that can come with any sort of business, internet commerce especially. While I very much appreciate the tool recommendations that are frequently found on this site and the well earned praise for the usual vendors, I am just a little concerned by some of the posts that take an issue with a transaction public on this very influential forum.
Really, I'm divided. I appreciate warnings about products and services that are clearly fraudulent or at least dubious. I wish someone warned me about that used car dealership way back when. But having been on the provider side of business transactions, I know there are often two sides to the story. Sometimes there are circumstances beyond control that result in disappointment to one party or another. Or maybe the customer's expectations are not reasonable. Or something really can get lost in the mail.
In this age of e-commerce and virtual communities, I think it is a bit unfair to take transaction issues with vendors public except in the most flagrant violations of trust. It's like the newspapers that publishes something on the front page and then in two days the correction appears in a line on the bottom of page two. The damage is hard to undo. With search engines these days, the dings we give out never go away.
I could tell a few stories about my regrets in pointing fingers. But I think I've made my point. I suggest praise for the good guys and restraint when naming names for a transaction that seems difficult to resolve. Of course, I realize that I'm free to disregard posts too.
This could prove to be a topic people feel strongly about so please use restraint if you care to respond. All measured opinions are welcome though.
I know the frustration that can come with any sort of business, internet commerce especially. While I very much appreciate the tool recommendations that are frequently found on this site and the well earned praise for the usual vendors, I am just a little concerned by some of the posts that take an issue with a transaction public on this very influential forum.
Really, I'm divided. I appreciate warnings about products and services that are clearly fraudulent or at least dubious. I wish someone warned me about that used car dealership way back when. But having been on the provider side of business transactions, I know there are often two sides to the story. Sometimes there are circumstances beyond control that result in disappointment to one party or another. Or maybe the customer's expectations are not reasonable. Or something really can get lost in the mail.
In this age of e-commerce and virtual communities, I think it is a bit unfair to take transaction issues with vendors public except in the most flagrant violations of trust. It's like the newspapers that publishes something on the front page and then in two days the correction appears in a line on the bottom of page two. The damage is hard to undo. With search engines these days, the dings we give out never go away.
I could tell a few stories about my regrets in pointing fingers. But I think I've made my point. I suggest praise for the good guys and restraint when naming names for a transaction that seems difficult to resolve. Of course, I realize that I'm free to disregard posts too.
This could prove to be a topic people feel strongly about so please use restraint if you care to respond. All measured opinions are welcome though.