I am trying to deal with my ISP’s support department, via their online “chat live with us” service. Somehow they’ve determined at the “high server divsion” that the horsey mailing list I’ve been on since about 1995 is spam, so they’ve blocked it. Not like “sent to my spam folder” - I mean blocked like I never see that anything was sent to me. Blocked like bouncing and removed from the mailing list, as if my email address were bad. I’m not very happy about this. My email volume has been down lately, and I wonder what else is being blocked that I can’t see.
Meanwhile… Their online chat is better than nothing, but the technology they are using is not good. A particularly annoying thing is that there is no “bing” sound (or anything like that) to let me know when the CSR has “said” something. So I have to watch the screen while I wait for them to respond.
I think I finally got the right info, but only on the second try. They said to report it to one address the first time. Now I’m to send a message to a different group, with details so they can investigate.
Once the CSR ends the session, I can still read the now-dimmed text, but there is no way to copy/paste it for reference. Guess I’m supposed to transcribe it or do screen shots.
<sigh>
I was introduced to BlogCatalog recently by Erica O’Grady. I’m not sure if it works with Tumblr… Let’s find out. I’m supposed to include this link in my blog. Here it is:
http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/internet
With a little luck this blog will be reviewed and listed on BlogCatalog.com in a day or two.
[Update: Both the Tumblelogs I submitted to BlogCatalog were approved later that same evening. I spent a little time poking around on the site, and found some other blogs I’m now following. Looks like a pretty cool service.]
Arrgh! UI Geek Peeve #242: If you’re going to provide a link to a “larger image” make sure it brings up an image that is… wait for it… larger! And not 5% larger, either. Large enough to make it worth my while to bother with it.
It’s one of a thousand little details that say a company doesn’t care spit about customer service. Why should they invest the time of one programmer on setting up some vastly complex rule like: if bLargeImage, then DisplayTheLink, else Don’t, when they could just throw same-sized images into the mix whenever they don’t have large ones, and let thousands of site users waste their own time instead. (OK, that’s some horrendous pseudocode, but you get the idea.)
Here’s how the user experience goes: I see a little image. It’s interesting for whatever reason, and I’d like to know more. I notice a “larger image” link, or mouse over it and get “the finger” so, hopeful, I click. I wait. Another window opens, or something pops up. An image loads. And it’s the same image I just saw, or one maybe 5% bigger. Of no use whatsoever. “Rats!” I think, Charlie-Brown-like. “Tricked again.” Now I have to aim the mouse and close the window to get back to browsing.
I was interested in your product, and now I’m annoyed.
I’ve been working with a bunch of sites recently that take you through a process like signing up for email or taking a quiz, then leave you stranded on a confirmation page, with no clear path to follow.
Would it kill them to provide a shiny, inviting, “Go Shopping!” button or something?
Instead, I’m expected to figure out what’s next, or just wander off to some other site.
Because it won’t last forever, here’s a screenshot. June 6th, 2008, 10:50 Pacific Time. Amazon.com is down.
