Online Criticism Isn't Just Easy, It Sticks Around Too
from the they-ruined-my-pants dept
We've noted before how some business owners feel extremely threatened by criticism on the web. The idea that anybody can become a critic and have a platform to broadcast their opinion is a scary one for businesses that don't treat their customers well. But there's another related issue here: web criticism sticks around. One blogger has noted that a post he made about how he was frustrated with his bank continues to attract comments from other annoyed customers. It's much like our post on Amazon Prime from February 2005, which thanks to the magic of search engines, continues to attract new comments every day from people upset with the way Amazon bills for the program (with some of them blaming us for it). His point is that not only does news travel quickly online, it sticks around -- just ask the maker of Kryptonite bike locks. Perhaps this is part of the reason some businesses freak out so badly when they're criticized online, and will fuel further calls from some quarters to moderate or censor user-generated business reviews and comments. But that's not a solution; the best way to deal with it is to treat your customers well.
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Filed Under: criticism, user generated content
Companies: amazon
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Once the soup is spoiled
It is easier to keep a customer, husband/wife, friend that it is to make a new one. Unfortunately the Cell Phone companies do not understand this.
You cannot jump up the cliff.
Sad when you see someone or some company jump off the cliff.
Oh, yeah, first.
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Awesome!!!.........Not!!!
Has their services improved? No.
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Re: Awesome!!!.........Not!!!
That's because of their monopoly power to lock you in. How ridiculous it is, that you can't buy the cell phone of your choice and sign up for any telco you want!
Why should they give a rats patooty?
If politicians weren't bought so cheaply, we might still have a country.
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The wonderful thing about internets is;
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It's just in their nature
Nope. Businesses freak out when they're criticized in any public forum.
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You can't please everybody
Eventually, everyone will be criticized online. We just have to understand to read the criticism and take it with a grain of salt. If enough people are giving horrible reviews, though, there may be something there.
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Re: You can't please everybody
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Pleasing everyone?
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Re: Pleasing everyone?
Maybe, but the truth is lots of people write very good reviews too. I never buy anything online without doing research first and as such I have never had a problem ordering online. When you read reviews you will always get some unsatisfied customers, and often they have reason to be. But they are almost always countered with more positive reviews if the company is actually decent.
I just don't agree with the claim that only dissatisfied people post reviews, it's just isn't true at all.
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it's all about respect
Vera
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Yes, the pages would probably still be available through other archive resources but it would allow the search engines to remove them from their return lists, which is how most of the old references are being kept alive.
It allows for pages to "disappear" but not through regulation and forced removal.
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Online comments last forever!
Not to mention the Wayback machine on archive.org. The net is pretty much forever!
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More opportunities to manipulate search results?
A larger point is missed though: the anonymity of comments. Who says people trashing a particular business aren't simply their competitors? And likewise, can't those praising service/products be compensated by the businesses themselves?
I think a wise move by anybody researching a particular business would be to simply declare any forum/blog comment worthless (yep, I realize that would apply to my comment as well:) and only seriously consider brand-name blog posts whose owners don't hide their identities behind anonymous aliases.
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Criticism certainly hangs around.
In 2000, I published a series of articles on my website concerning a very dangerous building site and the failure of the developer to make it safe. By the end of the year, I had removed the story but it remained on my host's server.
Two years later, the property developer had the nerve (and stupidity) to threaten me with an action for libel.
I seemed that the search engines had maintained their references to the pages (or the developer didn't want to make a fuss while the buildings were still standing).
In this case, the property developer was badly bitten... he didn't take into account the fact that web publishers have the perfect means to riposte!!
Check out the site at http://www.edward-ware.co.uk/ if you want to laugh... yes, I did register HIS name as a domain, and published his lawyer's letters and republished the articles and promoted them to the top of Google.
There is a postscript. After two years, I allowed the domain registration to lapse, then... the developer abused me in the street, calling me names (how satisfying!). I re-registered the domain... righteous revenge is so sweet... for web producers!
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Chrysler Extended Warranty rip off
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yassine-breik-dans@live.fr
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