Sentinel
9-2-02, 12:21 PM
OK, some of us have been having issues with our CGI files ever since the whole "space server" issue. Well it seems, for me at least, that my web site is up and running perfectly. I have done nothing to my CGI files or the CGI-BIN directory and they seem to all be working fine as well. So it seems, for me at least, that the entire "space server" issue is behind us now.
My assessment of this entire incident is as follows.
1. From a technical aspect PowWeb did the best they could as they could in their best efforts to get us back up and running as soon as they could in a manner that would last. Not just quick patch and kludge something that would then go down again the next day. I would rather that they do it that way. Take the server offline for an hour and fix it right rather than kludge it for a second only to have it go down worse later. So from a technical aspect I give them a thumbs up. of course, as a disclaimer I am only guessing as to how they handled it from an outsiders point of view. That is how it looked to me. They could have been sitting around telling each other jokes for a few hours and fixed it in a second, but it does not look that way.
2. From a public relations aspect they dropped the ball miserably. They only made one mistake. Lack of communication. As I said it appears as though they were doing all they could. They just did not let us know that.
Now that it is all over they are responding to our backed up email and posting announcements and updates. And that is good. But I think that one quick post up front might have helped.
3. Moderation of the forums. I thnk that PowWeb has every right and obligation to remove posts that are not in the appropriate forum or just plain ranting and flamming. However I think removal of posts that are just simply negative towards PowWeb is not acceptable.
I think that numerous threads were started in all the wrong forums and some of them degenerated down to just screaming "PowWeb sucks!". These kinds of posts are not useful, helpful and you are not likley to get help from someone you are yelling at and calling names.
I think that the proper course of action on PowWebs part would have been to lock all similar threads and consolidate the issue into one thread. There was, after all, only one issue affecting us all. One single thread would have helped us all to keep track of what was going on.
Also, any improper posts in that thread should have been removed and relaced with a one line "Improper comment(s) removed by moderator". Any threads in the wrong forum should have been moved to the correct forum.
I think that these actions would do better for PowWeb because deleting entire threads only makes disgruntled customers post elsewhere where PowWeb has no control. This could hurt them in future customers. Also, if prospective customers come here and don't see anything negative from anybody that is also kind of suspicious, no? :) When reading a support forum in a prospective host I was thinking of using I wuld think it odd to not see anything negative at all. Every forum always has at least one disgruntled customer that is complaining about something. I always expect to see at least that. No company can satisfy everyone all the time.
My guess is that PowWeb has no PR or customer service guy/girl. I think, and correct me if I'm wrong here, that the people that answer our tech support email and post tech support announcements here in these forums are the same people working on the machines. If that is the case then I know these guys. My family is all computer techs and they do not like to be bothered when they are having a virtual world crash down around them. They get pretty angry when I talk to them when they are fixing my PC for me. I have learned to just leave them alone until they are done. :) Afterward they fix things faster that way and then they are much more agreeable to talk to. No mechanic likes being poked in the back by a customer when they are working on your car.
If that is the case then we as PowWeb customers need to know that TechMan will not answer us while crap is happening until it is done. And TechMan needs to know that he has to shoot us all a quick announcement saying "I know there is a problem. Now leave me alone and I'll fix it. Keep emailing me and I will spend more time answering your email and phone calls then working on the machine.". Or PowWeb needs to hire a customer service person that can filed all the phone calls and emails (which could raise our rates).
My assessment of this entire incident is as follows.
1. From a technical aspect PowWeb did the best they could as they could in their best efforts to get us back up and running as soon as they could in a manner that would last. Not just quick patch and kludge something that would then go down again the next day. I would rather that they do it that way. Take the server offline for an hour and fix it right rather than kludge it for a second only to have it go down worse later. So from a technical aspect I give them a thumbs up. of course, as a disclaimer I am only guessing as to how they handled it from an outsiders point of view. That is how it looked to me. They could have been sitting around telling each other jokes for a few hours and fixed it in a second, but it does not look that way.
2. From a public relations aspect they dropped the ball miserably. They only made one mistake. Lack of communication. As I said it appears as though they were doing all they could. They just did not let us know that.
Now that it is all over they are responding to our backed up email and posting announcements and updates. And that is good. But I think that one quick post up front might have helped.
3. Moderation of the forums. I thnk that PowWeb has every right and obligation to remove posts that are not in the appropriate forum or just plain ranting and flamming. However I think removal of posts that are just simply negative towards PowWeb is not acceptable.
I think that numerous threads were started in all the wrong forums and some of them degenerated down to just screaming "PowWeb sucks!". These kinds of posts are not useful, helpful and you are not likley to get help from someone you are yelling at and calling names.
I think that the proper course of action on PowWebs part would have been to lock all similar threads and consolidate the issue into one thread. There was, after all, only one issue affecting us all. One single thread would have helped us all to keep track of what was going on.
Also, any improper posts in that thread should have been removed and relaced with a one line "Improper comment(s) removed by moderator". Any threads in the wrong forum should have been moved to the correct forum.
I think that these actions would do better for PowWeb because deleting entire threads only makes disgruntled customers post elsewhere where PowWeb has no control. This could hurt them in future customers. Also, if prospective customers come here and don't see anything negative from anybody that is also kind of suspicious, no? :) When reading a support forum in a prospective host I was thinking of using I wuld think it odd to not see anything negative at all. Every forum always has at least one disgruntled customer that is complaining about something. I always expect to see at least that. No company can satisfy everyone all the time.
My guess is that PowWeb has no PR or customer service guy/girl. I think, and correct me if I'm wrong here, that the people that answer our tech support email and post tech support announcements here in these forums are the same people working on the machines. If that is the case then I know these guys. My family is all computer techs and they do not like to be bothered when they are having a virtual world crash down around them. They get pretty angry when I talk to them when they are fixing my PC for me. I have learned to just leave them alone until they are done. :) Afterward they fix things faster that way and then they are much more agreeable to talk to. No mechanic likes being poked in the back by a customer when they are working on your car.
If that is the case then we as PowWeb customers need to know that TechMan will not answer us while crap is happening until it is done. And TechMan needs to know that he has to shoot us all a quick announcement saying "I know there is a problem. Now leave me alone and I'll fix it. Keep emailing me and I will spend more time answering your email and phone calls then working on the machine.". Or PowWeb needs to hire a customer service person that can filed all the phone calls and emails (which could raise our rates).