

Does free mean you cannot complain? - madhan
http://www.codelathe.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/04/does-free-mean-you-cannot-complain/

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ajdecon
Well, no. In fact, for services which are purely free, complaining is really
the only way to push for a change.

But it does mean that if you're complaining about something very far outside
the core of the product, you're a lot less likely to be taken seriously by
either the provider or bystanders, and rightfully so. And if it's a freemium
service, you shouldn't be surprised that complaints from paying customers
warrant more attention than free users.

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TallGuyShort
More importantly than how much it costs is how it represents itself. If a
service specifically tells you that from time to time you can expect a few
hiccups, you can't complain, paid or not. If Gmail were to announce that it
had developed the perfect spam filter, and people switched to it for that very
reason, they would have every right to complain if it didn't work.

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devbloke
I don't know why so many people come to rescue twitter. So, the point of
argument is don't whine if you lose tweets. Because the notional value of
tweets is less compared to gdocs.

I guess there are four methods: 1\. calmly complaining 2\. complaining 3\. bit
of grunting 4\. whining

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pierrefar
No, you shouldn't complain, but you could do one of either two things:

1\. Offer constructive criticism. In some cases that won't work ("Hey, try not
to lose my emails next time, OK?") but in others it works a treat ("Hey, can
you offer me a way to download my email?").

2\. Vote with your feet as most likely there are competitors that offer the
same service also for free. Good luck moving your data, but you already knew
you were committing your data to a service that is not guaranteed to exist
tomorrow, right?

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ErrantX
there is, I would suggest, a difference between complaints and whining.

Whining is only, really, allowed when you pay for a service. Other wise
register your complaint calmly and sensibly.

Secondly there is a vast difference between losing some tweets and gmail
losing emails or gdocs losing documents. Sure have a bit of a moan: but you
can only really viably complain if what is lost has significant value (a point
the blog writer makes whe nhe talks about grannies vs. companies losing
email).

~~~
codemechanic
if something is not right, does it matter what the tone is? Why there is
always such a defense to twitter?

~~~
ErrantX
dont get me wrong: im not defending Twitter (it bugs the crap out of me
sometime).

I just heartily dislike whiners (having experienced being whined at over a
service). Fine it doesnt work, fine it's a problem: but if you've raised it
with me dont remind me every 10s and dont posts a million blog posts
lambasting me for not fixing it instantly. If it's not fixed next week tell me
again, if it's still broken in a month THEN have a moan. But if you whine the
second it breaks I wont bother fixing it till you ask nicely :)

~~~
codemechanic
yeap.makes sense. i agree.

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nop
If you are using a service that is making money by your mere presence aren't
you in a way paying them?

Although I don't exactly understand the rationale that free invalidates
complaints, I would think a company wants to hear from their disgruntled
customers. While praise is a nice morale boost it's the unhappy customers you
need to please, the happy ones are already taken care of.

------
haseman
It does mean you can't complain (or risk sounding like a whiny teenager) It
doesn't mean you can't offer constructive criticism or take your business
elsewhere.

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ryanvm
Nothing means you cannot complain.

------
DanielBMarkham
I've seen this a few times on HN. I don't like it.

Somebody will make a criticism about the programming of the site and somebody
else will say something like shut up and stop complaining! It's free.

I think any time a user of your code speaks, you should listen. There's good
stuff in there. I don't care if it is free or not. If you're providing it, and
I'm using it, then we're in some kind of a relationship. And that relationship
means I get to provide feedback. I _also_ think that people should be polite
when providing feedback.

And I would like a pony.

Now can we get back to technical articles instead of "what's polite?"
articles? Is this Ms. Manners or HN? These things will just generate unneeded
smoke.

