Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

This is an editorial environment

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:9/3/1999; 7:12:21 PM
Topic:This is an editorial environment
Msg #:10550
Prev/Next:10549 / 10551

To clear up some confusion, now that there is a DG just for Frontier, we can be very clear about a division that has been a little too murky in the past.

This is an editorial environment. It is not a product support forum. You may post questions about Frontier here, and while people will address you professionally and politely, the official place to get questions answered is on the Frontier DG.

This is like the separation between the business functions and the editorial functions at a newspaper. For example, if you bought an ad on the op-ed page of the NY Times, there's nothing to stop the Times from running an editorial that is critical of your company, or even against the interests of your company. And they could run that story on the same page as your ad.

That same separation, now, thankfully exists here as well. When I post a message here I am doing so not as the CEO of UserLand Software, but as the editor of UserLand.Com and all its related sites.

I've been having a longish email exchange with a Frontier user who believes that I must treat him like a customer here on this DG. I have one of these excruciating exchanges every couple of months. Now I have something I can point them to to explain it.

It does not matter how much money you paid to UserLand for software, you have no influence over what I say here, and no cause to object if I say or do something you don't like. And further this is not subject to discussion, any more than the NY Times editorial policy is subject to discussion.

BTW, there are a lot of reasons for this. The only alternative would be to shut the DG down. I do my share of customer service at UserLand, but this is where I write and think and explore new ideas. Customer service is something different. It's about solving problems, and listening to concerns, and working with people in a different way.

This DG is an editorial product.

Dave Winer



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