I'm not being critical of TUCOWS, but of the industry as a whole.Oh boy .... That kind of thinking can be the very source of the problem.
Support is rarely a profit center, it is almost always a cost center.
Support is *ALLWAYS* an *INDIRECT* profit center.
Remember 50% of *ALL* sales in most industries is via *WORD OF MOUTH*. I'll say it again 50%!
This is espicially true in commodities markets, which the domain name industry currently is, where the only way businesses can distinguish themselves is via *SUPPORT, SERVICE, QUALITY and ACCOUNTABILITY*!
The key, IHMO, is that far too many companies do not understand this and so do not take steps to run support *EFFICIENTLY*. They seem to take the position that all they need is a warm body answering the phone within 30 minutes between the hours of 8AM and 5PM in their time zone.
Ever get a business card with the persons *HOME PHONE NUMBER* on it? Who were you more inclined to do business with, that person or the person whos business card *DID NOT* provide their home phone number?
This is *EXACTLY* why I personally am willing to pay $2 -3$ extra per domain (and not have DNS, Forwarding, etc. to boot!) to be here at Tucows / OpenSRS. I'm fed up with the absolute *BULLSHIT* that other registrars have put me though and then then justify this via their "rock bottom prices" -- Sorry folks but I just could not hold that one in!
I just hope Tucows continues to treat it's customers this way, except for getting off their butts and fixing the OpenSRS docs ... :-D LOL!
So, since it doesn't make money, all you can really do is try to control costs, and the biggest cost is the cost of labor.
So technical support is usually staffed as near minimum wage as possible. Few companies pay for actual talent.
OTOH, the folks here mostly are actually in the trenches, doing stuff that the folks in support have only heard about.
In all fairness, when I need OpenSRS support, it's rarely a technical problem, and always more of a social problem.
.. or a problem with the Evil Registrar not following the rules.
-- Lynn
On Wed, 15 Jan 2003 15:35:57 -0500, Chris R Chapman wrote:
I just had to pick up on this exchange as I think it illustrates a really
interesting paradigm:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You say OpenSRS doesn't support Windows? So bug OpenSRS
support. If they can't meet your needs, and you can't code your own
solution, go elsewhere.
As I stated in my first post I did contact OpenSRS tech
support by phone before I ever started posting here. In
fact I had no idea this "forum" even existed until OpenSRS
told me about it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------*THEY* told me to ask the question here.
PRECISELY!
THIS is the triumph of "open" projects like OpenSRS; why have "OpenSRS
Techs" at all? "They" haven't the foggiest beyond a static list of yes/no
Q&As, so why not outsource the solution to the listserv for next to no cost?
The trouble is, they represent the sponsors of the "Standard", which is by
no means a fait accomplis. I think it behooves them to be a little more on
the ball when developers need assistance. I've encountered the same
indifferent attitude when asking questions of the techs as well. Stock
reply is "go to the listserv"-- even when its a matter of pointing out
inconsistencies between the API documentation and their own PERL scripts.
Sure, it gives us consultants some work, but the flipside is that even we
are stymied from time to time and with little help beyond the empty chasms
of newsgroups and listservs where you hope to find a kindred soul who can
lead you out of the wilderness.
Chris R Chapman
