Comments on: Terms & Conditions Update: Forced Assistance For Obstinance https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/2025/03/30/terms-conditions-update-forced-assistance-for-obstinance/ A blog from the staff at NearlyFreeSpeech.NET. Sun, 30 Mar 2025 19:04:54 +0000 hourly 1 By: jdw https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/2025/03/30/terms-conditions-update-forced-assistance-for-obstinance/#comment-30012 Sun, 30 Mar 2025 19:04:54 +0000 https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/?p=813#comment-30012 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 carrier pigeon or smoke signal. These cases require both that the problem be on their end and that they’re not open to that possibility. (And, obviously, that they look at the directions we give them and say “Well, I’m not doing that!“)

-jdw

]]> By: MiquelFire https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/2025/03/30/terms-conditions-update-forced-assistance-for-obstinance/#comment-30011 Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:54:56 +0000 https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/?p=813#comment-30011 I do not want to imagine how much of this abuse you get to have to make this policy. While I have seen things that would cause this on the forums, it’s not enough to cause this policy to be needed.

]]> By: jdw https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/2025/03/30/terms-conditions-update-forced-assistance-for-obstinance/#comment-30010 Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:48:27 +0000 https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/?p=813#comment-30010 In reply to Finn.

Let us know if you figure it out! Not only would that be of great help to us and to people having a bad time, but I suspect there are a lot of other relevant applications of such a capability, especially in the current climate! We’re open to anything that doesn’t reward bad behavior. -jdw

]]> By: Finn https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/2025/03/30/terms-conditions-update-forced-assistance-for-obstinance/#comment-30009 Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:22:42 +0000 https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/?p=813#comment-30009 Impressed that you can make an infuriating situation this entertaining in the writeup. Hope it continues to be rare and that this policy helps mitigate the cost!

Now I’m trying to imagine what it would take to de-obstinate the people who run into it. Not because I think that should be in your scope (webhosting and therapy are different jobs), it’s just the kind of support puzzle I enjoy noodling on.

]]> By: Porter B. Hall https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/2025/03/30/terms-conditions-update-forced-assistance-for-obstinance/#comment-30008 Sun, 30 Mar 2025 16:25:35 +0000 https://blog.nearlyfreespeech.net/?p=813#comment-30008 I really appreciate you folks and have been a happy customer for years. This policy makes sense and is fair.

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