WordPress turns 10

Five Years ago I sign up for WordPress.com blogging account for a course I was taking on blogging and I really haven’t looked back since then. And since then my addiction to all things WordPress has really taken hold.

And now WordPress is turning 10 and the local WordPress Community is having it’s first social event of the year celebrate.

To RSVP go to the Vancouver WordPress Meetup Group Page. We have a limited space of 80 spots and 49 people are already attending so you don’t want to miss out!

Tags: 10th anniversary, Meetup, wordpress, WP10

The Lighthouse Pub

It all started with a conversation in the pub… But many things do I suppose…

I heard the Lighthouse Pub in Sechelt was formerly the China Pavilion from Expo 86. But after talking with the pub manager Dale Schweighardt he told me it was a restaurant near the China Pavilion. And so 15 minutes later the mystery was solved…

Weeks later I was browsing Wikipedia and found the Sechelt Waterdrome (Water Airport) was reported as being closed… I though that was completely wrong I had just flown home from Vancouver to Sechelt  on Harbour Air.

I had also remembered Tim Bray speak about Wikipedia at Northern Voice a Vancouver blogging conference in 2011. I can’t remember his exact words but remember the sentiment quite clearly.

If you see an error on Wikipedia you should try to correct it as a small part of your responsibility as a human being is to share your expertise. ~ A paraphrased quote from Tim Bray.

So I learnt how to edited the page and added detail about who still lands floats planes on Sechelt Inlet in Porpoise Bay and bam my first edit ever on Wikipedia!.

Serendipity

The serendipity and a generous amount of curiosity lead me to read all about Expo 86. I didn’t see any mention of the Lighthouse Pub and its history. A subsequent google search only lead to me a very old and outdated website and mentioned that the Lighthouse Pub was formerly the Munich Festhaus!?!?

Sacrebleu!

The Munich Festhaus at Expo 86.
Photo Credit Brad Wood ~ obLiterated

Being a former journalist my spidey senses were tingling… So I went on an investigation… I first found out the source of the wrong information was a book called VANCOUVER’S EXPO ’86 by Bill Cotter. But after looking at photos of Munich Festhaus on Flickr there is no way the lighthouse pub could be the Munich Festhaus. The Lighthouse Pub just wasn’t big enough… See this aerial view of The Festhaus is in red. You could fit three Lighthouse Pubs inside of that place.

So after a quick visit to the Sechelt Archives I was directed to check the newspaper archives of The Coast News via the historical newspaper database of community newspapers. To see if I could find news of the grand opening or an advertisement of the pub in the newspaper. I was foiled again because the two words Lighthouse and Pub were all too common in the long deceased community newspaper The Coast News and the fact that not all issues and editions of the paper have been digitized yet.

Not being able to find previously published evidence of how the Lighthouse Pub came from the Expo Lands to Sechelt. I finally gave  Nadina Van Egmond a phone call. She is still living on the Sunshine Coast and her husband Len Van Egmond was the original developer of the property.

She reported that Len purchased the buildings on a Rainy November Afternoon in 1986. The buildings that comprised the lighthouse were then deconstructed and moved piece by piece via BC Ferries to Sechelt and reconstructed on site.

A Gateway

She spoke about how Len saw the spaceship from the McDonalds and saw how to could be a Lighthouse if the wings were removed.

It was a two year process that Len Van Egmond never saw completed as he died before the official opening of the pub in 1988. But looking back Nadina suggest Len had a vision for what the Pub has now become:

“A gateway to Sechelt” ~ Nadina Van Egmond

I can’t disagree with her…

If you sit at the pub on any weekday afternoon and watch the traffic out on the water. It is a constant stream of boat traffic from up the inlet and float plane traffic from Vancouver, Richmond and Nanaimo. It’s one of the most unique combination of services I have found anywhere in the lower mainland.

Epilogue

China Gate Cafe

I told Dale about my investigation and how there was some Erroneous Information about the history of the pub. He found the some photos in an old box of files from the day the China Gate Cafe. He scanned and sent them to me for upload to Wikipedia. These photos clearly show the pub was originally the China Gate Cafe.

Why did you do this? What was so important about the history of a pub?

I would have never written a blog post if it was just the construction of a pub… But I felt this was more then just a search about a place where people get a little tipsy… It was a fun treasure hunt of trivia, something to do on my days off from web design. But also this has more to do with Expo 86 then the pub… See my parents had seasons passes to the fair and we saw every pavilion, road every ride and memorized the location of every washroom of that fair… I think fondly of those days and wanted to re-visted memories of my childhood.

Tags: expo 86, sechelt, wikipedia

A couple months back some photographer friends of mine on Facebook linked to a video called Silver & Light by Ian Ruhter. The video is masterfully crafted and leads you through a story of a photographer who lost his way and then found it again. I will let the video do most of the talking because it is truly one of the more inspiration videos I have seen in some time. (And I say that rarely). Here is the video… I’d would suggest you click full screen…  Trust me it will be worth it.

SILVER & LIGHT from Ian Ruhter : Alchemist on Vimeo.

So watch the video yet? Good keep reading… No? Watch it and will wait for you to finish…

Fast Forward a couple of months and I was sitting down with Mark Busse of Industrial Brand and we were talking about Creative Mornings Vancouver.

“I have never been…” I said to Mark.

“You being a photographer should go to the next one… Ian Ruhter is speaking” replied Mark

My Jaw dropped…And I was lucky enough to win tickets in the lottery system that is set up for Creative Mornings and arrived early…

Ian Ruhter speaking at Creative Morning Vancouver

It was really great getting to see another photographer speak… I use to go to photography conventions all the time back my photojournalism days. I felt such a kinship with him after hearing him talk and yet he left his normal photography for Wet Plate… I had moved from my normal photography to Web Design… But we both wanted to tell stories… Visual stories because writing was so hard to do when we both young…

2013/04 Ian Ruhter – Photography, Alchemy, and The Future from CreativeMornings/Vancouver.

I introduced myself briefly to Ian… a shake of a hand and a thank your story is really inspiring… I was able to ask a question during the Q&A thanks to Mark running around with the mike. Which you should be able to hear in the video. I hope to see some plates from his time in Vancouver.

Thanks again Ian you are truly an inspiration…

Tags: Creative Mornings Vancouver, inspiration, wet plate

But let me be clear I never used google reader. But what I did use every hour of every working day was iGoogle and its rss feeds.

It did a lot for me and served as my home page for years, yes years…

I made good use of the services offered to me via iGoogle and will be sad to see them go. RSS feeds on the left, weather in the centre. Translators on the right.

I had a very minimal apps / widget usage that included RSS feeds (in blue) from the global and mail and CBC along with weather widgets for Both Sechelt and Vancouver (red) and google translator and metric conversation tools (purple).

It was all the home page I ever needed for years and has remain unchanged throughout the launch of twitter, google wave, google +, etc….

First to go was the google weather API in late august of 2012. It was open but was unpublished so developers who used it did do at their own peril. The weather widgets of iGoogle still work but the API associated with them was closed long ago. Then word of the iGoogle shutdown. Now granted they did give us more than a year of warning. But this was a clear departure from the customize your own google experience to you’ll get what we give you.

So when I heard that google was shutting down their reader I was momentarily surprised but then I though “We’ll that figures…”

Gone are the days of the developer focused company, where customization of an open standard was common. Where don’t be evil was the unofficially company slogan. I still don’t think Google is evil. But it is certainly doing it’s own thing. I am not sure if I will ever be able to find a replacement to iGoogle. But my web habits will certainly change after it’s closure.

Also allow me a moment of pure speculation…

What is next to shut down from Google?

Will Google say…  Were not going to support jQuery libraries anymore… Or were not going to support google fonts anymore…

I am not saying any of this will actually happen… But why put your website in that position?

Which is why whenever I am asked. Yes, I embed all my font directly on the server when ever possible… Yes I use the embedded jQuery that comes with a WordPress install and yes I use an RSS reader that is based on my computer. And yes I used my own server to host all of email…

Why? Because I control the switch, And no external company has control over it and as were seeing once again… That is a very good idea…

Now if only I could find a decent replacement to my iGoogle home page.

Rebecca Coleman author of Social Media for Small Business

When I first met Rebecca Coleman at Northern Voice 2011 I though she was a quite intelligent about social media. I felt after her presentation that she totally got it and by “it” I mean the confusion world of internet, branding, marketing and social media.

After Northern Voice we followed each other on twitter and have since traded some business contacts and gotten to know each other pretty well.

I wrote a guest blog for her blog on how to find a good web developer. She has invited me to speak to her marketing class about the important difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org which has confused more than a few people.

But she has this amazing talent that not maybe people have to both completely understand social media and the ability to teach it as well.

Her enthusiasm for social media and blogging is infectious…

I also get asked a lot of questions from small business owners like:

• Why join Facebook
• What is Twitter
• What will all this social media do for me?
• Is it all a waste of time?

After reading Rebecca’s latest book. Getting Started With Social Media For Small Businesses She really answers all of the questions above and a whole lot more…

Getting Started With SOCIAL MEDIA For Small Businesses

I rarely use this blog to promote a business or a product. The last one was my Fuji X10 Camera which I still enjoy to this day.

But after reading this book everyone who asked me about social media I will refer them to her book. Yup it is that good.

Full disclosure: I am getting a small referral from each sale of Rebecca’s Book. But I would be promoting it regardless of any referral.

Tags: small businesses

When the Olympics were in Vancouver in 2010 I volunteered and enjoyed connecting with other volunteers during and after the Games, mainly via Facebook. People have called the 2010 Games the first social Olympics, and while I agree with that, I think the London 2012 Games were the first to really take hold of the technology and run with it. Pun intended.

I have two stellar examples that demonstrate this.

My father and I were watching the men’s eight rowing from Eton Dorney and we kept seeing a large number of cyclists in the background following the rowers. Dad wondered who they were–members of the audience, judges, or crew members.

Meanwhile, I was wondering how the rowers at the front of the boats could hear the calls of the coxswains at the back of the boats.

Neither of  had participated in the sport, so I searched on Google for answers to our questions. I found more about the coxswains than I did about the cyclists, but not exactly what I wanted. During my search I came across the Twitter account for Rowing Canada and I sent my two queries in their direction.

The next day I found responses to both of the questions waiting for me.

@robertdall yes… mainly coaches

— Rowing Canada Aviron (@rowingcanada) August 3, 2012

@robertdall yes… mainly coaches

— Rowing Canada Aviron (@rowingcanada) August 3, 2012

Wow! Answers directed right to me. In the old days you had to rely on the TV announcer to provide everything and if he didn’t mention it you were left to ponder. (It certainly made for more lively conversation around our house about the amount of coaches every team has.)

The second example left me a little more starstruck.

I was watching the closing ceremonies live and I thought I would send out a thank you tweet to a number of Olympic athletes who were on Twitter and whom I had watched during the games.

Hey @jessicazelinka @rosiemaclennan @vankayak @cochraneryan @simonwhitfield @karen_cockburn @paulafindlayThanks for representing Canada!

— Robert Dall (@robertdall) August 12, 2012

Regardless of whether they won medals or not, I just wanted to say thanks for wearing the maple leaf. To my complete surprise, Simon Whitfield, triathlete and opening ceremonies flag bearer, replied back from the middle of the field during the closing ceremonies.

@robertdall thanks Robert!!!

— simon whitfield (@simonwhitfield) August 12, 2012

It was the first time I had ever watched a live event of this scale and communicated with a participant in this way. Although the Games were 7,578 km away, I felt a part of them. And even though it was only a small part, it was an exciting moment for me nonetheless.

These two examples show what kind of interaction, what kind of support we can show our athletes when they dedicate the vast majority of their lives to sport, hoping to represent their country in front of the world.

I look forward to the Sochi Games when I will be patriotically watching our athletes represent our home and native land. And knowing they are interacting directly with fans like me.

Tags: London 2012, Olympics, social media, sports

I have always been a visual guy. If I can visualize, I can usually make sense of it.

Which is why I really really love Google Maps and use it every day. I was recently in Vegas and didn’t have data for my phone or the ability to find locations in Google Maps on my phone and I kinda felt lost without it.  That and Vegas is just damn confusing.

Google has really done an amazing of job of organizing the world’s content so people can find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

But herein lies my main issue with Google Maps: It is now relied on heavily by the general public and regarded as correct 99% of the time – any incorrect information is forwarded to the map subject as it’s seen as their fault.

BUT IT’S NOT THE FAULT OF THE BUSINESS 99% OF THE TIME!

If you’ve read my previous blog post about this you’d know about how Google Maps lost the Town of Sechelt. Without the help of Rebecca Bollwitt (Mrs. 604) we’d still be off the map.

And yes, they corrected the problem after it was blogged and tweeted about extensively. But before going public it was reported by hundreds of people on the Sunshine Coast via Google’s internal ‘report a problem’ mechanism and for years nothing was done.

Get your business listed

Get your business listed!

Google is proactive about getting your business listed with their mapping service and extols the advantages in terms of search engine results and traffic to your website.

But my last three experiences with Google Places and their ’report a problem’ mechanism have meant hours of work and painful communication and left me wanting to run for the hills. I am not a GIS professional, nor am I a Cartographer. To quote that Dyson guy…”I just think things should work properly.”

Why we can’t verify

Google Places wants you to list your business and it uses a number of helpers to find your location properly. But it restricts you to your postal code. This is a huge issue in rural, non-delivery areas where Canada Post assigns post office boxes.

This became a problem for many businesses located at a physical address completely different from the assigned postal code.

It looked like we had one massive organization – Google – not communicating well with another – Canada Post.

When I needed to get a Google Places listing for Ridge Meadows Recycling we couldn’t use the postal code as a business locator. So I had to report the problem and then explain how the post office works in rural Canada. All of this took two or three emails once they acknowledged the problem. And then we had to get an employee with a company email address to reply to Google saying that yes this was the actual business location, etc. etc. etc.

Once we did all of this the business was actually listed properly and users could find the correct location of the recycling depot.

But it took a month and 4 hours of emailing, forum posting, issue reporting and checking for accuracy.

While the client was happy and people were now able to type in Ridge Meadows Recycling and find the correct location of the depot, the entire process felt like I was trying to give birth to an elephant.

Our business listings have been merged

My web design business is still a small operation with myself as the only employee,  along with a couple of contractors. It is growing, but for the time being I use the offices of The Network Hub in downtown Vancouver, along with a number of other similar businesses located in the same building.

On a Sunday morning in March I got a call from Britta Curkovic at aromawebdesign.com who also uses the services and office space of The Network Hub. She said our business listings were merged. These are two independent businesses, with different phone numbers, website addresses, and services offered, yet for weeks our listings were merged. I had an owner-verified listing and I was told by Google that my listing was going to change and I should check this for errors. All of this while we were frantically emailing Google Help trying to get things back to normal. Eventually the listings were split again and we were finally able to be located as independent from one another.

The total time it took to undo the mess was 14 business days and 6 full hours of un-billable time, emailing back and forth with Google and the other business owner, posting to the Google Places forums, and checking for quality assurance.

The problem was corrected but it had to be explained carefully to Google and we had to exhaust all other options before they would even look at the problem.

You are already trying to verify your business

My third issue, and the one that is currently causing a client a lot of pain, is the business listing for Uprising Breads Bakery. After 30 years, Uprising decided to open a new location. To coincide with this they updated their website with a new look and listed the location of the new café. Back in October 2011 I had sent in for verification on the new location. As the weeks and then months went by I sent and resent requests to Google staff to keep a lookout for this.

Finally, after reading about a page Google had recently set up to report problems, I was told by a human at Google Places Help that since there was already one listing that wasn’t verified the new listing was seen as duplication.

The representative was kind enough to verify the listing on the spot and Uprising Breads was very happy to have their two listings.

From start to finish it took 3 months to get the listing verified and at least 10 hours of work from everyone involved.

But wait, there’s more!

Uprising Breads Location Merge Issues

Six months later Google saw that both listings had the same website address and the same phone number; they surmised that it must be the same listing and combined them. So now (as of May 10th, 2012) Uprising Breads Bakery has photos of one location and the address of the other.

Well, you say, you must be old hat at this by now and know how to fix it.

In the Google Places forums (logged into via Uprising Breads Account) I am told by a top contributor:

This may be due to sharing a common phone number and name.

Seriously? This is why?

What about McDonald’s? What about Domino’s Pizza? What about Starbucks? Places that have dozens of locations in a given city that all have the same name and the same website, similar phone numbers but many different locations.

My best advice remains to give each listing its own phone number, thus reducing the likelihood of future mergers.

His best suggestion is to get a new phone  number? Automated phone systems are commonplace…they save businesses thousands of dollars in employee time and cost. I know that this is the opinion of a top contributor and not an actual Google employee, but my God this is odd. To get a proper website listing you need a new phone number?

Google also doesn’t have a field in Google Places for phone extensions; if we tried to put the extension in the phone field this would error out making his best advice completely useless and actually doing more harm then good.

Sigh…

I could cite even more examples of how I reported a business that closed yet had its Google Places listing for years after, even when Google Street View had replaced its imagery of the location. But, because it was an owner-verified business, it stayed there for three years after the business closed down.

People over those three years came looking for the business that wasn’t there anymore…they trusted that Google was 99% right. Why is the business listing still available (even though it does mention it is closed) after it has been closed for so many years? What purpose does a three year old listing serve the user?

To Google’s credit

To their credit, Google has tried to improve this and made the user edit more viable through Google Map Maker tools. But, after making hundreds of edits to the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver, one day a number of them were deleted – not denied but completely vanished – and I felt all my time and effort volunteering to make Google Maps better in my neighborhood was lost – I haven’t returned since. Also, a lot of the edits that were made and approved by the community of editors were never made live on Google Maps, but  only showed up in the Google Map Maker ecosystem.

So, as an owner of a small business and as a contractor to dozens of medium businesses, most of my interactions with Google Maps / Places has been less than stellar.

Changes would I make to Google Places if I could

Easier verification for rural Canada

Run a seasonal kayaking company and changed your location after 20 years? You should be able to easily verify your business listing so that doesn’t require it to be in the same postal code as your business address.

(I understand the restrictions put in place for verified business listings to be associated with a postal code, but as I explained earlier, areas of Canada that do not have street delivery service must use a post office box that might not be in the same postal code.)

Easier reporting of issues

With Uprising Breads there was no easy way to report the issue we were coming up against. Even the top contributor suggested that our issue was an odd one.

And if your problem is “odd” there isn’t a response sequence that describes it.  So long as you get to a form where you can fill in some blanks and hit a Submit button, you will hear back from Google.  It’ll be a week or a little longer, but you will get an email from a person on the Places team. If that person’s answer doesn’t seem to fit your problem, you can email back and further explain what is happening. They will eventually understand that you have two listings merging and start the process to un-merge them. Unfortunately, that process takes 4-6 weeks.

Paid support

As a designer running a web design firm I have encountered these problems numerous times and yet each time is as laborious as the first, even though I know exactly what the problem is and what needs to get done.

I would pay a yearly or monthly fee to have some dedicated support – somewhere or someone I could contact who would be able to help resolve problems for me and my clients quickly and efficiently.

Right now the current system in Google Places costs me time and money it completely confuses clients. The results can change at a moment’s notice, without warning about problems that might arise.

Final thoughts

I do know one thing…the problem isn’t going to go away. It will only get bigger and more complex as more businesses, rural and urban, want to be listed with Google Maps.  Users will notice errors and business owners are held hostage by whatever information Google decides to allow into its ecosystem.

PS. For any commenters out their who suggest that I should report these issues using the tools provided… I can only say… I do, I have and I will…

Tags: Business Verification, Canada Post, GIS, Google maps, google places, Post Office Box

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed as a Featured Photographer for This is East Van – a community photography project that has its second book in production. As well, my web design company, 32spokes, was recently hired by Uprising Breads Bakery to provide some food photography. These things got me thinking about my camera equipment – and that it was high time for an upgrade. The last time I actually purchased professional gear was back in 2005 when I bagged a used Nikon D100.

I went to Mike Mander, the head of the digital department of Beau Photo in Vancouver, and spoke to him about my need for something with more going for it than my phone camera.

The new Fujifix X10

Mike told me about the Fuji X10, which he described as “The baby brother to the Fuji X100,” but with much better macro capabilities and the capacity to use the raw format. (Mike hasn’t lead me astray with any of his advice or suggestions in the past and it’s one of the reasons why my first stop is usually Beau Photo.) He piqued my interest and I asked if I could see one. Then he said it wasn’t going to be released for two months …

I put in a pre-order and waited, but not for long. In just shy of two weeks Mike called, saying my camera had arrived and it was one of only two in stock. I decided to take the X10 out for a test drive at the local Remembrance Day ceremonies in Sechelt.

The cenotaph and wreaths before the ceremony

My first impression was that it’s a small but solid body with a visual viewfinder that’s actually large enough to be usable, along with a shutter release and zoom dial that are in easy reach when the camera is brought up to your eye.

I find the twist on and off feature of the camera ingenious and problematic. I love it when I am using the camera but if I want to turn the camera on I can’t do that without exposing the lens. I just have to hold down the playback button for a few seconds. (and thanks to steve for the clarification in the comments.)

One thing that amazed me about the X10 was its frames per second capacity for a camera in its price range. I set it to capture both jpg and raw formats at medium speed, which the manual states to be about 3 fps and it wasn’t far off. My beloved FM2 with the motor drive was only 2.5 fps and my F90X topped out at 3.5 fps. The technology has certainly come a long way over last couple years.

The light and wind made for a beautiful ceremony

Once the Eye-Fi card was set up, I found the transfer process puzzling. It treats the raw and jpeg image types as different entities and wants to put them in different folders.

I ended up returning the Eye Fi card and just got a regular SD Card as it didn’t really work for me and it drained my battery quite quickly. I know Eye Fi works for other photographer I have talked with, but it just didn’t work for me.

A camera with very few minuses. But here are a few…

The NP-50 battery will last for an hour or two of shooting, but having a second battery on hand is certainly recommended.

The LH-X10 Lens hood does mount quite easily and accepts a standard 52mm filter. But once the lens hood is attached it does block the visual viewfinder a bit. Not a big miss, but worth a mention.

I also ended up returning the shoe mounted flash EF-42 and it was just far to large for the camera. I would say it is more like holding a feather and then putting a gorilla on top of. I felt it was completely unwieldy. I did some weight testing and the camera only weight 20mg more then the flash. I know a large flash can disrupt the balance of camera, but making a flash that weights almost as much camera is not well thought in my honest opinion by the folks at fuji.

I look forward to when Adobe and/or Apple add the X10 to their list of raw converters and to learning how to use the dynamic capture feature to its fullest potential. All in all, it feels great to have a new camera and I’m very pleased with the picture quality I’ve seen so far. I love the feeling of a real camera in my hands and I love the feeling of a shutter release with a hole in the middle. It is something that a phone just can’t deliver… the feel of a real camera in your hand.

PS: All the images displayed were captured on jpg and adjusted with Photoshop CS4.

Tags: digital camera, less we forget, Nov. 11, range finder, Remembrance Day, two thirds sensor

John Biehler's Thing-o-Matic TK-421 and a collection of objects he has made since he ordered the machine.

I was able to visit John Biehler and his  Thing-O-Matic by Maker Bot on Friday and I was pretty awestruck but the entire technology.

When I first saw John on Canada Day he only had a few samples with him from  his two weeks with the machine.

He is certainly the first and only person I know who owns on and, john correct me if I am wrong, but you ordered your bot he got his shortly after I saw it featured on the Colbert Report.

When I visited his home and saw the apply named TK-421 Thing-O-Matic he had a huge assortment of stuff he has tried and showed me a few amazing samples of what the technology is capable of.

John is also making a second more advanced 3D printer called a Prusa Mendel and most of the pieces are made from his original Thing-O-Matic.

This tech is not for the faint of heart as you have to assemble it yourself and John spent some considerable time learning how too maintain and operate the machine properly but if you have some computer tech hardware knowledge along with about $1200 cdn you can start 3D printing too…

The loaded question I had for John was could he print me something I was looking for?

I was looking for a cable holder for my office at home. I hadn’t needed one until recently, but a quick catalog check and I didn’t want to pay $10 for a piece of plastic I knew only cost at most a buck to produce.

With in seconds john had found a design on thingiverse, a vast catalog of designs that you can print. You can find everything from busts of Yoda and Steven Colbert to that cable holder you always wanted…

The change I joking left on the table for the actual cost of the cable clips.

The software even tells John what it will cost him to produce the product.

“That be a total of 37 cents Robert, will that be Visa, Mastercard or Amex?”

Search in my pockets for some change I found 40 cents and left it on the table. We both had a chuckle over that… 20 minutes later I had the piece in my fingers.

John also has complete control over the density of the product and the speed it would be printed.

In closing 3-D printing is quite the technology and I Look forward to this technology advancing in the coming years. We’re along way away from having a Star Trek Replicator in our homes, but for the first time I seen something that can make a product upon request with in minutes…

The Cable Catcher s3 in both Green and Orange

Close up photo of cable holder Photo by John Biehler using his new iPhone 4s

Tags: 3d Printing, Maker Bot, open source, Thing-o-matic

Thank you… We have verified your cold call hard sell tactics and will never be using your services… Have a nice day

On Sunday October 9th my service provider site5. Was dealing with a Denial of service attack (DoS) attack on their Vancouver hosting location. As always they were on top of it.  So I tweeted that my website would be down and so would the website of the home based business I run 32spokes web design. Being that it was the Canadian Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend, it just gave me more of an excuse to watch the Winnipeg Jets in their first NHL game in 15 years. I wasn’t really doing any work, I was just fiddling around with something.

Once we were back up I tweeted that it was a DoS and we were back up and running. Hey great job site5! I like the hosting plan I have and it works for what I need at the moment. No more no less.

Monday rolled around and I got a phone call in the morning from California of which I didn’t answer (it is a holiday after all). In the afternoon they called again. The number was the same. I answered it just to keep the phone from ringing all bloody day.

Versign: Hi it’s Salesman from Verisign I see you had some problems with your website over the weekend can we talk about how we can help?

Me: Nope I am very happy with my hosting provider and don’t need any other services at the moment. You do know it is a holiday in Canada?

Versign: Oh I am sorry about that. Can I set up a call to talk later?

Me: Nope

Versign: Can I just give you my contact information.

Me: I know who you are your a big company, I’ll call you if I need anything. (patients wearing thin)

Versign: Just let me give you my contact information and maybe…

Me: Your really not getting this… No thank you good bye. Maybe you should check your calendar before cold calling next time.

Versign: No reason to get rude I am just asking…

An hour later…

Cell phone rings. I don’t answer I am doing the lunch dishes.

Answering machine message:

“Hi this is Salesman#2 from Verisign, I see you had a DoS attack on your website this weekend. Maybe we can set aside 10 minutes to talk about how we can provide a solution so your website is protected…”

Twenty minutes after the cell phone call:

Business line rings again: (now I am just pissed)

Versign: “Hi this is Salesman#2 from Verisign I see you had some issues with your website and I was wondering if we could set aside some time to talk about how…”

Me: Seriously? I am not interested stop calling me on a holiday weekend! Goodbye!

Versign: Oh umm…

Me: ‘click’

Seriously this is not how to do a effective marketing campaign. I understand that the hard sell works with some people. But I have never liked it and walk away from any company who employes it as fast as possible. I’d rather to figure whether I want to work with the other company  myself and it is usually comes down to excellent customer service and a good long track record. I had heard of VeriSign before they are a large SSL certificate company. But not taking no for an answer and calling multiple times a day makes me question your intention. They noticed my tweet, but didn’t reply to my tweet. They found my number on my website, but didn’t send a email. Both methods of contact would have got me just as quickly. But they wanted to do a cold call because it’s then harder to say no to.

The calling on the holiday monday was just more an annoyance then anything. But gave me in the impression that the company hadn’t done it’s homework before trying to sell me something…

The things I like about the companies I deal with is that they prove I should be their customer through the service they provide. Not because they told me they are great at what they do or I had to deal with them or I was going to be in trouble if I didn’t use them.

Did this interaction ruin my day? No, but this type of sell is happening far more often. This post is just to show what impression a company like verisign leaves me with after they try contact me. They did more pushing me away then attracting me any service they were offering.  When I switched hosting providers more then a year ago. I went looking for a company that had a good track record and didn’t try to sell me something I didn’t need or want. This is process of which I choose all the companies I choose to deal with.

Postscript >> All of this from one tweet on a sunday afternoon? Ya got me as to why I was targeted as a customer…

Tags: Fail, hard sell, how not to do, marketing, sales, Verisign