Evan – Twitter needs a better policy on Usernames
December 19, 2008 | 66 Comments
Evan,
I have a bunch of Twitter usernames — I gobbled them up in March 2007. I’d consider them some of the “quality” ones. Almost like the domain game of 1995, I grabbed some of the best Twitter usernames, because I could see value in their use in the future.
Last night, “celtics” was pulled from me. You moved my account to “bc_fan_news“. I’m running a fan account with news on the Boston ‘Celtics’. I’m not trying to impersonate them — my username’s profile clearly states it is a fan account, run by a fan, and not officially affiliated at all. In prior weeks, I lost ’stanford’ and ‘bostoncollege’. Why not give them [The Boston Celtics] the username ‘bostonceltics’ instead? Why was my ‘celtics’ one swiped? Why was anyone’s username swiped?
Dear Rackspace: You Pissed Me Off
October 31, 2008 | 7 Comments
Update: Rackspace got realistic about this situation and reduced my overages charge to 1/3 of the original amount. That’s much more fair. Overall it’s been a good relationship – there have been downs, but overall they have done well for me.
Dear Rackspace,
No need to split this $1,600 payment over 3 months, just send me the bill for the overages. Talk to your management and tell them it’s fucking bullshit too. And yes, word spreads. And yes, when I’m thinking about the next 2 servers needed for my startup, I will remember this.
I take responsibility for this — but I think you share equally in this. My expectations must be out-of-whack. When my bandwidth doubles on Sept 27 [roughly that day], I’d think you’d let me know, “Steve, wtf just happened — you’re using twice the bandwidth you have been using the past 6 months of being our customer.” This is managed services I’m paying for. I’m not asking you to wipe my ass, but tell me if my bandwidth or storage amounts go out of whack. Lesson learned, I’ll be checking bandwidth reports — but it was a simple thing to correct for me; I would have corrected it back on Sept 27, instead of having 800GB in overages at your RAPE RATE of $2/GB.
Pardon the fury in this email and the language — I’m typically composed and professional. But this is disgusting. As mentioned on the phone, I feel like when I have gone over on minutes with a cell phone and then they take full advantage of you [because you signed a contract at some ass-raping number]. You replied with, “yeah, but the cell phone company doesn’t alert you either” — well is that really the standard you want to uphold yourself to?
Amazon S3 offers the same bandwidth for $0.17/gb — I have now shifted things over to them, to ensure I don’t get above my bandwidth with you each month. Don’t you think that’s a bit fucked up? I shouldn’t have to do that, especially when I’m paying 3x what I normally would for a server — because I want your “managed” services (aka “take care of shit for me; alert me to problems”). We’ll see if Amazon has any other products that might work better for me — EC2, etc. You’re making me have to look at other companies now. I really hope you lose my thousands of dollars per year account because you are greedy.
If you charged me even $0.25/GB for that 800GB overage, I’d feel better. This was a mistake and will not happen again — if it does, I’ll shut the fuck up and pay my $2/GB.
Anyhow, I have no say here what so ever. You’re not willing to be reasonable on this 1st instance of a problem. So, bill me.
Not fanatical at all. Bad taste in my mouth — and unfortunately will likely tell everyone I know in the tech world about this distaste.
Regards,
Steve Poland
Dear WTF Chuck – Twitter has $5M, why can’t they hire a Sys Admin?
February 1, 2008 | 2 Comments
Dear WTF Chuck,
Why is Twitter always down, despite them being flush with cash ($5mm), and all of their users whining for the past year about how much downtime they experience? Yet, we the users, go with the flow and don’t punish them (by leaving their service), because some of us are addicted to their service!
Go buy some servers and scale your operation! Hopefully moving hosts yesterday will better things.
-FRUSTRATED TWITTER ADDICT IN BUFFALO, NY
This is a new type of post on my Site called ‘Dear WTF Chuck‘. This is a spoof on ‘Dear Abby’ and is for you to rant to the world (or at least readers of my blog) on topics relating to web tech, affiliate marketing, etc. Feel free to submit your own rant using my contact form (select ‘Dear WTF Chuck Post Submission’ as the subject of your email) and use the above post as an example of the proper format (title, question/rant, possible solution, signature that includes or does not include a link to your website).
Dear WTF Chuck – Still Using Cash & Checks to Pay Friends “Fee Free”
January 31, 2008 | 2 Comments
Dear WTF Chuck,
My friend just reserved our campsite for May — my share is $26, as he just told me via IM. In order to pay him, I’ll have to give him cash or a check. Why can’t I just send him $26 via PayPal, which would withdraw (exactly) $26 from my checking account, and deposit (exactly) $26 into his checking account? Why must PayPal charge fees for that?
I think any money exchanges via PayPal below $50 should be free — and heck, show me ads on the 4 screens I must go through when sending out a payment like this. In this digital age, I shouldn’t have to give my buddy cash or check — I should be able to click a button on my computer and transfer money into his account (without fees!).
-LIVING IN THE 18TH CENTURY AGAINST MY WILL IN BUFFALO, NY
This is a new type of post on my Site called ‘Dear WTF Chuck‘. This is a spoof on ‘Dear Abby’ and is for you to rant to the world (or at least readers of my blog) on topics relating to web tech, affiliate marketing, etc. Feel free to submit your own rant using my contact form (select ‘Dear WTF Chuck Post Submission’ as the subject of your email) and use the above post as an example of the proper format (title, question/rant, possible solution, signature that includes or does not include a link to your website).
