>It's worse for complicated products, if I was a manufacturer I'd want to be able to rebut them. For example, I was looking to buy a coffee grinder and the reviews were all over the place. It's obvious that a lot didn't read the instructions or had higher expectations than a product at that price point would provide. People complain that a $30 item is made mainly of plastic.
You can rebut. I mean, for a long time the first hit for 'prgmr.com' was a thread on webhostingtalk[1] where someone was complaining that I hadn't set them up and that I had problems. Fair complaints, on the other hand, at the time, five dollars was an unheard of price for what I was providing (It's no longer an unheard-of price. Moore's law abides.) I responded and eh, I think I ended up coming out looking okay.
I guess the thing is, acknowledging your mistakes, yes, is very unprofessional, but really? I think people are sick of dealing with professionals. Showing some humanity and some humility (even when it's the 'false humility' we all put on so that our arrogance is less irritating to others.) can help you a lot.
On the other hand, on that same website, I'm trying to sell burstable 10G cogent ports[2] for a price that is currently unheard of, and I've gotten no bites, so It's possible that people prefer professionals for expensive things and humans for cheap things.
Note, though, (and this is the 'false humility' I describe) you don't want to directly say "you are too dumb to use the product" - even if they are. I mean, you want to explain the proper use of the product, and you want to back out the deals (refunds, usually) with the people that are unwilling or unable to do it correctly. Saying things here like 'Oh, I should improve this documentation here' or 'oh, I should link to this other documentation over there' is also good, especially if you really can improve that documentation. Personally, I think having a reputation for being not particularly easy to use is very good. You don't want to deal with the people that want handholding, especially when your product is as difficult to use safely as a Linux server.
You can rebut. I mean, for a long time the first hit for 'prgmr.com' was a thread on webhostingtalk[1] where someone was complaining that I hadn't set them up and that I had problems. Fair complaints, on the other hand, at the time, five dollars was an unheard of price for what I was providing (It's no longer an unheard-of price. Moore's law abides.) I responded and eh, I think I ended up coming out looking okay.
I guess the thing is, acknowledging your mistakes, yes, is very unprofessional, but really? I think people are sick of dealing with professionals. Showing some humanity and some humility (even when it's the 'false humility' we all put on so that our arrogance is less irritating to others.) can help you a lot.
On the other hand, on that same website, I'm trying to sell burstable 10G cogent ports[2] for a price that is currently unheard of, and I've gotten no bites, so It's possible that people prefer professionals for expensive things and humans for cheap things.
Note, though, (and this is the 'false humility' I describe) you don't want to directly say "you are too dumb to use the product" - even if they are. I mean, you want to explain the proper use of the product, and you want to back out the deals (refunds, usually) with the people that are unwilling or unable to do it correctly. Saying things here like 'Oh, I should improve this documentation here' or 'oh, I should link to this other documentation over there' is also good, especially if you really can improve that documentation. Personally, I think having a reputation for being not particularly easy to use is very good. You don't want to deal with the people that want handholding, especially when your product is as difficult to use safely as a Linux server.
[1]http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/index.php/t-541344.htm...
[2]http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1186971