Did the WotC boards blow up...again?

[Bump2daWiza]

He has a point. It is not like Morrus went to the Wizos site and posted these comments. Tao is the one stirring things up on a rival company's site.

 

[Scribble]

I agree with Tao.

It's why that old saying "You catch more flies with honey then vinegar" exists.

If someone approaches me with "You idiot, this is how you do X" I will be much less receptive then if someone approaches me with: "hey, you might want to consider making these changes, and here is why-"

Constructive criticism.

Also as a rep of a business, I agree, you do need to make sure your statements are as professional as possible. Even if you're off the clock so to speak. I work for a health insurance company. We have pleanty of competition. I would never make a public statement calling them names. That makes my company look bad. (some companies even regulate what their employees can say in their personal blogs and such about their own comopany or competition.)

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I agree with Tao.

It's why that old saying "You catch more flies with honey then vinegar" exists.

If someone approaches me with "You idiot, this is how you do X" I will be much less receptive then if someone approaches me with: "hey, you might want to consider making these changes, and here is why-"

Constructive criticism.

I love this fanboy-seeming stuff. I knew it was coming the moment certain people saw this thread. Scribble, get real. Everything Tao has said is just as unpleasant as anything Morrus has said, it's just a different kind of unpleasantness, a smug condescending, superior kind of unpleasantness, instead of "You suck dude" kind of deal. I don't feel there's anything constructive about that.

 

[Bump2daWiza]

Also as a rep of a business, I agree, you do need to make sure your statements are as professional as possible. Even if you're off the clock so to speak. I work for a health insurance company. We have pleanty of competition. I would never make a public statement calling them names. That makes my company look bad. (some companies even regulate what their employees can say in their personal blogs and such about their own comopany or competition.)

But Morrus is the boss, and the face of the company. Plus he entertains. This would be more like Bill O'Reily calling Keith Olberman a "snott-nosed jerk". The fact is there is an audience for this kind of thing because Wizards has managed to anger so many of its customers and other d20 companies over the previous year.

 

[Tao]

This site isn't WOTC and I would hate for WOTC employees to get to dictate the terms of conversation here. Sometimes the truth hurts, but making up reasons to lash out against the message-bearer won't win you any points.

I am not trying to dictate anything or pressure anyone. Morris is free to talk as he would like. This is his home court.

I simply said that I would expect a greater level of professionalism when talking about people that he used to work with, and that if his intention was to make his voice heard by anyone that could solve the problem he chose the wrong way to do it. If his intention was to just rile people up and make himself look good, then mission accomplished. That's what I said in my original post, and I stand by that statement.

I think people are looking at my post in a much different light than it was intended. I'm not calling him out. I'm trying to level with him and be brutally honest about where things stand and what would be required to get his analysis to the people that it needs to reach. I was replying with the understanding that he was genuinely interested in contributing to the solution... which he seemed to be.

If my assessment of the situation was incorrect, then I apologize. If I came off as being smug or arrogant, again, I apologize. That's not who I am at all, nor was that my intention. I was just trying to help out and got a little defensive, since at least one of the snipes was directed towards me, personally. Again, I am not here to speak for WotC. Hell, I'd probably get in trouble if they even knew I was being as candid as I am being. I was just trying to let people know how to contribute positively towards a solution. Sorry if I overstepped any bounds.

As it stands, I have said my peace and my further involvement in this particular thread is clearly not welcomed. If anyone would like to contact me for any reason, it shouldn't be hard to figure out how. It sucks that I am getting all the rage otherwise intended for the company I happen to collect a paycheck from, but I suppose that's a professional hazard. As it stands, I am every bit as interested in getting the forums up as anyone here might be. I hope that there is a solution soon, and would encourage anyone interested to send in a complaint through Customer Service so that corporate knows that it is a real measurable problem, and that the forums should be as much of a priority as their other projects.

 

[Scribble]

I love this fanboy stuff.

Again with the insults? We dissagree you resort to insults... Guess that's the pattern. (Now am I a Tao fanboy or a WoTC fanboy?)

I knew it was coming the moment certain people saw this thread. Scribble, get real. Everything Tao has said is just as unpleasant as anything Morrus has said, it's just a different kind of unpleasantness, a smug condescending, superior kind of unpleasantness, instead of "You suck dude" kind of deal. I don't feel there's anything constructive about that.

He's making the statement, if you want to be taken more seriously be more professional in your presentation. Don't resort to insults.

As a person who's worked Customer service a lot in the past, a caller who opens with: "Can't you idiots do anything right?" is going to get a lot less of my attention then a caller who opens in a friendly manner.

 

[Bump2daWiza]

As a person who's worked Customer service a lot in the past, a caller who opens with: "Can't you idiots do anything right?" is going to get a lot less of my attention then a caller who opens in a friendly manner.

That is a very bad way to do customer service. It is human nature, but there is a good chance the person who feels that way has a legit complaint. Not only that, but angry customers tell others about their experience. If anything, give the angry guy more attention.

 

[Nifft]

Nope, but I've also been careful to preface my statements with "in my opinion" and "I can't speak for the rest of the company". I don't have any kind of special designation that labels me as a representative of WotC on this board. Morris is, however, clearly labeled as a representative of ENWorld.

He's an administrator, but he's not using his "administrator voice" -- over here, mods are allowed to participate as regular people.

You seem to be making it fairly clear that you don't have any interest in contributing to any kind of solution. You seem more anxious to shoot the messenger than to take anything beneficial out of what I might be saying. If that is not the case, then I apologize.

I have no ability to affect WotC's policy, nor do I have power over their boards. I'm here to learn from people who know what's going on -- and you seem to be trying to shut one of them up. I'm against shutting people up when they're giving me useful or interesting information.

No, but in light of these issues they seem to be more than willing to throw the forums under the bus to get there. DDI & Gleemax != the forums. One of the reasons that WotC has openly given for the recent issues is the fact that resources were pulled to work on DDI/Gleemax/Magic Online.

Wow, if that is the case, they really fail to understand what bad service and word of mouth about that service can do to dampen enthusiasm. I honestly was ready to buy a year's worth of DDI when I first got my 4e books. Now? Not so sure.

It seems as though we may actually agree on something. Maybe. I'm not entirely certain as to whether or not you are being sarcastic.

If the boards are up, go search for my threads there.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Scribble]

That is a very bad way to do customer service. It is human nature, but there is a good chance the person who feels that way has a legit complaint. Not only that, but angry customers tell others about their experience. If anything, give the angry guy more attention.

Sure. But human nature is human nature. People respond better to not being yelled at and called a moron. Which seems to be what Tao is really saying.

If I'm working a call line, and someone opens with "you guys are idiots..." usually first I have tos pend time calming them down, and getting to what the actual problem is.

If they don't ever get aroud to what the problem is, it normally goes into a que with: "This guy has problems with his claims not paying correctly."

As opposed to someone who rationally gives me information that I can use to either: fix the problem right then and there, or pass on to the people who can fix it with enough info for them to know what to fix in the first place.

 

[Bump2daWiza]

Sure. But human nature is human nature. People respond better to not being yelled at and called a moron. Which seems to be what Tao is really saying.

If I'm working a call line, and someone opens with "you guys are idiots..." usually first I have tos pend time calming them down, and getting to what the actual problem is.

If they don't ever get aroud to what the problem is, it normally goes into a que with: "This guy has problems with his claims not paying correctly."

As opposed to someone who rationally gives me information that I can use to either: fix the problem right then and there, or pass on to the people who can fix it with enough info for them to know what to fix in the first place.

But that is different than what Morrus was doing. He was being snippy but also making valid points. You are describing a customer who is too angry and irrational to even convey his complaint to you.