As was said: When the only tool you have is a hammer you tend to see every problem as a nail.
Use a proper online discussion board if you don't want to use the mailing list. I agree that a blog is a poor substitute for a list or forum if discussion is your goal. It's great for pontificating and getting some cursory feedback, but not much else. ----- Original Message ----- From: "elliot noss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Robert L Mathews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 6:58 AM Subject: Re: OpenSRS Live Reseller Update [Domains] - 08/04/2004 > > I can't help but > > assume the reason you guys used a blog for that is it's a Tucows product, > > not because it's the best tool for this particular job. > > Disagree completely. Three reasons for using blogware for this instead > of the list. > > It allows the folks not subscribed to the list to express their opinions > and be part of the dialogue. Note the majority of customers do not > subscribe. Discuss list is an important communication channel, but by no > means the only one. > > Second, it allows us to post background documents and articles from > other sources in a much easier to consume format in connection with the > feedback. Having all the background materials and discussion in one > place provides (at least it would for me) an easier means of accessing > everything, or some of it, than a thread in an archive would. It is > easier to deal with for the customer who wants to see it only for one > time in an hour in a single sitting. It is easier to refer the press to. > It is easier to present to ICANN task forces to make your voice a part > of the formal record. All in, it allows the opinions expressed to have > more influence. > > Third, we are trying to be more effective in our communication > generally. We are ok relative to most other companies (IMHO) but we can > get much better. Both in what we communicate (the whole roadmap/client > code thing we were talking about last week) and in how we communicate. > We have no magic bullets. We are trying things. I would be surprised if > you would want to discourage that. > > In an earlier post you wrote: > > >I've been told many people there are desperate for > >customer feedback, but they don't have the time to read or post to the > >mailing list. > > I have no idea who said that, but the empirical data contradicts this. I > read and post. Ross reads and posts. James, Bruce, Kim (the product > managers relaevant to the various offerings) read and post. Most senior > people do. Mike Cooperman, our CFO, does not. He is not expected to :-). > > The list always will have its place, but it is just one tool of many. > > Regards
