Comments on: Terms & Conditions Update: Forced Assistance For Obstinance

By: jesse

jesse — Fri, 02 May 2025 00:55:51 +0000

When I lived in Boston years back there was this casual little pasta place I loved to go to that had a whole picnic table inside near the counter. Above the table was a sign reading “MANAGEMENT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FAILURE TO SEAT YOURSELF PROPERLY.” Even after all these years that sign comes to mind surprisingly often for me.

Anyway, point is, I feel for you, jdw. These are strange times to be in any kind of public-facing customer service role.

By: jdw

jdw — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 15:41:49 +0000

In reply to David. > outstanding documentation > website design > valuable services you provide

By: jdw

jdw — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 15:40:33 +0000

In reply to vonunov. It's on my bucket list. -jdw

By: David

David — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 15:02:18 +0000

Mad respect! This is totally reasonable and understandable. I really like outstanding documentation, website design, and valuable services you provide.

By: vonunov

vonunov — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 06:05:18 +0000

I’d like to tell you what this post does to me, but I can’t find words that I would say in front of my boss or grandma. Have you ever tried standup?

By: mm

mm — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 09:05:46 +0000

Posts like these are just one of the myriad reasons why you’re my favorite hosting provider! Sorry you have to deal with these a******s!

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 05:04:48 +0000

Loving the name of the policy. Definitely the acronym of the time (move over YOLO)

Also I thought this (and now you have to as well) when you said this:

“Do note that people who’ve intentionally been making our lives difficult have historically greatly overestimated the dismay the prospect of their departure would elicit”

Dickhead: You just lost yourself a customer!
jdw: I forced myself to what?
Dickhead (surrounded by people holding handfuls of cash): YOU JUST LOST YOURSELF A CUSTOMER

(a la The Simpsons 8F08 “Flaming Moe’s”)

By: John

John — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 23:31:44 +0000

Just want to say (as you hopefully already know) that for every bothersome dickweed like the ones you describe, there are hundreds more who have nothing but thanks for the service you provide.

Carrier pigeons at the ready as always 🙂
J

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 21:01:43 +0000

I am happy you are still running this site all these years later. I used to host back in the early 2000’s and loved it. I started up again for another effort and after reviewing all the other hosting sites decided this was the best option for me.

By: jdw

jdw — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 19:04:54 +0000

In reply to MiquelFire.

It’s really not about abuse. If you abuse me, I don’t much care unless it goes on long enough to get tedious. If you abuse anybody else, there’s no fee. I may warn you once if it’s especially mild but usually I’ll terminate you on the spot. This policy about time. Our time has value; this policy defends us against efforts to waste it.

I don’t want to say it’s impossible to get this policy invoked (solely) by posting on the forums. Someone will eventually find a way to prove me wrong. Sure, people sometimes do get snippy there. (Though I admit I don’t always de-escalate, and can’t blame anyone but myself for that!) But posting on the forums is what we want people to do. People who do are still talking and (usually) listening. There’s hope. This policy is more for the sort of person who refuses to post to the forums. Which is a position you may find hard to understand. I certainly do.

Email: The whirligig on my site is broken.
Our auto-reply: We do not provide email support. If you don’t have a subscription membership, you can ask your question for free on our forum.
Email: What? This is a serious problem! Fix it! Now!
Our auto-reply: We do not provide email support. If you don’t have a subscription membership, you can ask your question for free on our forum.
Email: I can’t believe you’re trying to blackmail me into paying for support to fix your own broken shit! You’re disgusting!
Our auto-reply: We do not provide email support. If you don’t have a subscription membership, you can ask your question for free on our forum.
Email: I WILL DESTROY YOU!!
PayPal: Your customer has opened a “Goods not received” dispute…

Under this policy, we’re going to beat that dispute, charge them $50 for the hassle, convert them to a subscription membership, and let them know that their whirligig is broken because they clicked “Disable DNS” last week. (Or whatever.) Then the person will either ragequit or continue on as a subscription member able to get the sort of help they need in the future. Either way works for us.

I ought to probably add that if it really had been our problem, they still would have received the first auto-reply, but we would have fixed it. If our stuff really is broken, we don’t care if you tell us by email, forum, carrier pigeon or smoke signal.

These cases require that the problem be on their end, that they ignore the directions we give them to get help, and that they do something to hassle, harass, or burden us instead.

-jdw