On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 21:34:39 -0700 rikona <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello Praedor, > > Sunday, October 12, 2003, 7:41:58 PM, you wrote: > > PA> It seems patently indefensible and unfair to out-and-out ban > PA> opera, safari, konqueror, etc, as a matter of policy. It most > PA> certainly isn't a security problem as IE certainly isn't more > PA> secure than opera, etc. > > I've gone round and round with several companies on this issue (I use > Opera), and the problem seems to be management: (1) "the budget is > VERY tight", and (2) "it better look good, or you're toast". The more > honest ones have admitted they can't justify developing for more than > IE, given the huge REPORTED market share. With so many people using > spoofing, it just makes the market share look even bigger than it is. > We can't win for loosing. > > IMHO, only a very large number of complaints everywhere will begin to > put a dent in this.
OR... just one complaint in the _right place_ -- using a real example, here's what I typically do... Last Feb, while I was paying bills online -- all was fine until I got to my satellite TV bill -- when paying those bills over my DSL line previously, I didn't notice any problems; BUT... when I tried paying them over a dial-up, it was virtually impossible because the site was poorly designed for slow links -- everything was done with images (with no alt="Descriptive text") forcing me to wait for the complete page to see what I could do on the site... I thought about it and concluded that webmasters are generally proud of their efforts and are resistant to change... and they certainly don't like their "baby" criticized... So... what's one to do? Easy it turned out... I crafted a message to that company's President with comments like: | Subject: Can it be any more painful? | I'm sure that sending this to your webmaster(s) would get little, or no | attention; so... [snip stuff about my setup and DSL v. dial-up] | Your webmaster(s) may think the pages | look "cool"; but... have the pages ever been viewed the way many users see | them...? | | Today, I'm trying to pay via a SLOW dialup since I'm away from home. | | Trying to make a payment over a slow link, in a word, SUCKS!! | | To understand the problems, I strongly suggest you sit your webmaster(s) | in front of a 20-30kb modem attached computer and have them try to make a | payment... [should have his $$$ attention now... snip loads more details on how to make it better] This got me a same day response: | Thank you for your email and the constructive criticism... I will in fact | take your suggestion and view our web page and payment process [snip] | i find we learn best from our customers experiences. [snip] Less than 2 weeks later (YUP! Less than TWO weeks), I wrote him back: | Looks like you really shook up your webmasters... THANKS! | Looks MUCH better... | [snip details about improvements -- then compliment the staff which will surely find its way to the webmasters...] | but I am impressed with the speed at which you and your staff | accomplished the changes. | | I'm detecting a definitely a more customer oriented approach at | <company> than in the days I complained about transmission problems... My point is that there is no law against contacting the President/CEO of any company directly, putting the issues in business terms that s/he will understand -- don't get technical here; just enough so the s/he understands your pain in dealing with her company... many will deflect to a filter group; but some will address it personally. Any President/CEO who is overly filtering is not doing a good job anyway, IMO. Don't forget the follow-up compliments if you get the desired changes... HTH
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