Do unto others...
I hope that this is not out of line with the subject of this blog, but I can say that this is something that I have been dealing with since the very beginnings of my online adventures. What is it about the Internet that either makes people feel angry, smarter than everyone, or just outright rude?
The reason I pose this question is that it seems as though when people send an email, as opposed to calling an organization, they unleash rudeness and malcontent at the drop of a hat. Often times before the hat even drops, on the lucky chance there even is a hat with some of these people. Let's take, for example, someone offering suggestions about our magazine. However, the same really applies to any company receiving feedback or (usually) criticism about their product and services.
In the case of our magazine, we are aware that it is not perfect yet. If it were, we would probably all be bored. In fact, it's quite the opposite here where there are five of us working our butts off to make this publication as good as it can be. Our publisher, Kerry Murdock, is very good at instilling the idea that the magazine and website need to always be improving, and that we will never be perfect. He's right. After all, our job is tough. The spectrum of readers that we have is phenomenal, ranging from the complete novice who is looking for help with registering domain names to experienced programmers who are looking to hone their e-commerce skills and keep up with current events. And then there is everyone in between. It's hard. We can't please everyone all the time. There will be articles that will either be above or below some people's level of understanding. Such is life.
Which brings me to the topic of this post. If you feel the need to email us and criticize us, then try to be nice about it. Keep to the old addage that before you point out something wrong, point out something you like. It's not that we don't like criticism, in fact we welcome it. I believe Kerry might be a glutton for punishment when it comes to hearing criticisms about our magazine. That's how much we want to improve it. But like anything else in life, there is no reason to come at us with anger or belittlement. I'm sure most of you are aware of this phenomenon, as it seems that most people that are composing an email (especially a critical one) suddenly become the smartest, most impolite people in the world.
Occasionally there will be typos. It's not because our editor sucks, or because we don't have one. It's because our editor, Mitch Bettis, is an extremely busy man and occasionally things will slip through the cracks. Sometimes our data may not be ideal for some people, but it is important to understand that we don't mis-represent the data at all. In fact, we make a point of illustrating how we collected our data, and offer it in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion. As a former biochemist, believe me when I say that we will never mis-represent collected data, I won't let it happen and Kerry wouldn't believe in such an act.
So as a review here, we welcome feedback. We need your feedback. Hopefully our readers and subscribers understand that we want to make the magazine the best that it can be. So keep it coming, but try to be nice about it. Even if you send us a mean, impolite email you will still receive a courteous response from Kerry and an honest effort to help fix the problem. And that, my friends, is customer service, honesty and a commitment to improvement.
