What do you think of company representation on here, and was JohnR justified throwing his toys?

Forums › Off topic › What do you think of company representation on here, and was JohnR justified throwing his toys?

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#374979 31-Aug-2010 16:06

It was locked 'quickly' as I had just got home, read through the thread, and decided the OP's question had been answered, and where it was heading was going to provide no benefit to the community.

Maybe you did not intend it to be personal, but you did say

Personally I thought john always did a good job and helped a lot of people out, but could be a bit condescending at times.

and all that will happen from here is trolls will come, start feeding, and will discourage any form of company representation.

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#374980 31-Aug-2010 16:06

I think you could forgive him for being blunt when you take a look at how many things he replies to. You should probably replace blunt with efficient.

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#374982 31-Aug-2010 16:07

rscole86: It was locked 'quickly' as I had just got home, read through the thread, and decided the OP's question had been answered, and where it was heading was going to provide no benefit to the community.

Maybe you did not intend it to be personal, but you did say

Personally I thought john always did a good job and helped a lot of people out, but could be a bit condescending at times.

and all that will happen from here is trolls will come, start feeding, and will discourage any form of company representation.

Fair point, I probably didnt articulate it in a very good manner, but the point does remain, as a representative of a company, is this what you would expect? and if not, then do companies need at treating this as another communication channel with appropriate guidelines in place?

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#374986 31-Aug-2010 16:11

Balchy: As I said, how would you react to some of his comments should you be on the receiving end on the phone?

I have been on the "receiving" end of phone calls with JohnR, and he was very pleasant and helpful, where nobody else was volunteering to help/had sufficient knowledge to help.

VFNZPaulBrislen

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#374987 31-Aug-2010 16:11

Just a few things here:

JohnR does not claim to represent Vodafone, never has and has gone out of his way to make that clear over the years. I represent Vodafone in public and John represents John.

All the work John does on these forums he does on his own time and under his own steam. I've had plenty of compliments handed my way for "allowing" John to do this but believe me, it was an easy call to make. John wants to help out and I want him to do that.

And when John gets tired of being abused for it, and whether you think it's abuse or not it absolutely comes across that way, John will be fully within his rights to call it a day and walk away. But as a long time Geekzone reader and follower, that would be a very sad day indeed.

It seems all too easy for some people to forget there are real human beings reading these posts. People like John come here to help because they see a need and they know they can fix a problem. But they'll stop coming to Geekzone or Facebook or Twitter or wherever if they're treated like something you'd wipe off your shoe before coming indoors.

It might be worth thinking about that.

Paul Brislen
Head of Corporate Communications
Vodafone

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

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#374988 31-Aug-2010 16:13

Thanks paul,

In that case it may pay to make sure any company tag is removed from profiles, or a disclaimer stating that they do not represent the company in an official capacity.

As the poster in the original thread stated. People may not know this fact, and having him tagged as "vodafone" and doing that work makes it very hard to distinguish

Cymro

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#374991 31-Aug-2010 16:15

Balchy:
rscole86: It was locked 'quickly' as I had just got home, read through the thread, and decided the OP's question had been answered, and where it was heading was going to provide no benefit to the community.

Maybe you did not intend it to be personal, but you did say

Personally I thought john always did a good job and helped a lot of people out, but could be a bit condescending at times.

and all that will happen from here is trolls will come, start feeding, and will discourage any form of company representation.

Fair point, I probably didnt articulate it in a very good manner, but the point does remain, as a representative of a company, is this what you would expect? and if not, then do companies need at treating this as another communication channel with appropriate guidelines in place?

Sorry but I disagree with your assertion that his manner was condescending, I certainly didn't see that in his responses at all, especially the last one, and it would seem that the majority of posters in this thread disagree as well.

Frankly I'm more offended by the rampant fanboi'ism in the response that pissed him off and the senseless bashing that sometimes goes on of the "tall poppies" (Voda/Telstra/Telecom). It's fine to bash them when you have a real issue, but far too often people want to grab their pitchfork and start an angry mob over nothing.

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#374992 31-Aug-2010 16:18

Balchy:
IlDuce:
Balchy: and letting him know that not everyone knows who is is, or who he represents.

Thats not hard to work out... It says "Vodafone NZ" as the company name on the left, below his username, on every post he makes.

And as such, is representing his company and should be a bit more respectful. As I said, how would you react to some of his comments should you be on the receiving end on the phone?

Good manners go in two directions.

Is that what happened?

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#374993 31-Aug-2010 16:19

PaulBrislen: Just a few things here:

JohnR does not claim to represent Vodafone, never has and has gone out of his way to make that clear over the years. I represent Vodafone in public and John represents John.

All the work John does on these forums he does on his own time and under his own steam. I've had plenty of compliments handed my way for "allowing" John to do this but believe me, it was an easy call to make. John wants to help out and I want him to do that.

And when John gets tired of being abused for it, and whether you think it's abuse or not it absolutely comes across that way, John will be fully within his rights to call it a day and walk away. But as a long time Geekzone reader and follower, that would be a very sad day indeed.

It seems all too easy for some people to forget there are real human beings reading these posts. People like John come here to help because they see a need and they know they can fix a problem. But they'll stop coming to Geekzone or Facebook or Twitter or wherever if they're treated like something you'd wipe off your shoe before coming indoors.

It might be worth thinking about that.

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#374995 31-Aug-2010 16:21

nickd: I think you could forgive him for being blunt when you take a look at how many things he replies to. You should probably replace blunt with efficient.

You've nailed it. Spot on.

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#374996 31-Aug-2010 16:24

He is actually a really nice and helpful guy to talk to. With forum posts, people can be blunt and to the point, but that is just the problem with the medium.

Linuxluver

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#374997 31-Aug-2010 16:24

Balchy: Thanks paul,

In that case it may pay to make sure any company tag is removed from profiles, or a disclaimer stating that they do not represent the company in an official capacity.

As the poster in the original thread stated. People may not know this fact, and having him tagged as "vodafone" and doing that work makes it very hard to distinguish

Lots of people here have their company names displayed.

You expect them all to act like your every post is a customer service call?

Get rid of that idea. It's clouding your mind.

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freitasm

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#374998 31-Aug-2010 16:25

rscole86:
xpd: Some people just don't know how lucky they are to have staff from various companies actively helping out here.

Agreed.

And personally, I do not think its right for people to discuss the actions of another user here on the forums. Sure, discuss the way companies interact with people on the internet via forums, social media etc. But be very careful, companies do not like coming onto forums and helping people. As all it takes is one person to say something they should think twice about, and the company will never come back.

I agree with this.

Balchy: In that case it may pay to make sure any company tag is removed from profiles, or a disclaimer stating that they do not represent the company in an official capacity.

The Vodafone tag was added because John, in many of his helpful support activities around here asked for personal information and we needed to have a way for people to know he is someone they could work with.

Cymro: Frankly I'm more offended by the rampant fanboi'ism in the response that pissed him off and the senseless bashing that sometimes goes on of the "tall poppies" (Voda/Telstra/Telecom). It's fine to bash them when you have a real issue, but far too often people want to grab their pitchfork and start an angry mob over nothing.

I agree with this too. I only saw faboyism from people suggesting 2degrees does a better job than Vodafone in participating around here. I am appaled by that comment.

Linuxluver: Good manners go in two directions.

Exactly. I saw a couple of people (and since we naming here, SteveOn and Balchy being rude at JohnR and acting as fanboys.

Balchy: Personally I thought john always did a good job and helped a lot of people out, but could be a bit condescending at times.

Condescending as SteveOn's post? Actually a plain rude post in my opinion. I will repeat here what I posted in that thread:

SteveON:
M_I_C_H_A_E_L: Yeah I know. For some Reason I thought I would still keep my credit. It wasnt until I was on 2D when I thought "Oh $%^&, Ive probably lost my credit now".

Oh well. Thanks for the replies/Jokes guys :)

At least you know your going to get a better deal... Not to mention if you have a problem with 2d about 2-3 of their sales reps will pounce on the thread. Where-as VF... Ouch?!?

I am shocked. First because johnr and Paul Brislen have always been helpful around here.

Second because you manage to single handedly allienate a person that have always helped here on Geekzone.

I am very disappointed with how this comment is out of context. I have always seen Vodafone's help here (including from a few other people) as exemplar.

You folks just did a disservice to the entire community by being disrespectful in a fanboy kind of way.

Not impressed at all.

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#375000 31-Aug-2010 16:29

PaulBrislen: JohnR does not claim to represent Vodafone, never has and has gone out of his way to make that clear over the years. I represent Vodafone in public and John represents John.

Brilliant way of putting it.

PaulBrislen: All the work John does on these forums he does on his own time and under his own steam. I've had plenty of compliments handed my way for "allowing" John to do this but believe me, it was an easy call to make. John wants to help out and I want him to do that.

And for that I am sure a lot more people thank JohnR than people complain about him.

PaulBrislen: It seems all too easy for some people to forget there are real human beings reading these posts. People like John come here to help because they see a need and they know they can fix a problem. But they'll stop coming to Geekzone or Facebook or Twitter or wherever if they're treated like something you'd wipe off your shoe before coming indoors.

It might be worth thinking about that.

Excellent comment.

Linuxluver:
Balchy: As the poster in the original thread stated. People may not know this fact, and having him tagged as "vodafone" and doing that work makes it very hard to distinguish

Lots of people here have their company names displayed.

You expect them all to act like your every post is a customer service call?

Get rid of that idea. It's clouding your mind.

Yep. I am not saying people can be rude just because they are here. But don't expect people to be your servant. Not a single company has an official help desk on Geekzone. If you want official support, call their help desk number.

Whatever you get here is free and you should be thankful for it.

I am very disappointed that a single comment that was on the verge of fanboyism made some mob together on someone who has always been an example around here.

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#375002 31-Aug-2010 16:30

What PaulB says is too true - whilst we may slag off Vodafone (or Telecom or Singshot etc etc) as a company it's a totally different ball game when it comes to individuals.

Without people like JohnR (and PaulB etc) geekzone would be a far worse place to hang out. And personally I liked (and fully understood) that what PaulB says is "officiall" and what JohnR (and other Vodafoners) say is "unofficial but with some inside knowledge".

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