Expectations

Why should customers have to pussyfoot around designers? Why are customers not allowed to state how disappointed they are in a designer's work? Why should they not ask questions in public?

I simply do not get the trend to shame someone who chooses to make something public. I've seen it at SBB, I've seen it at 2peas. Designers should have thick skins. They should be able to handle the criticism politely, with class, and without the snide remarks (the 'that's totally untrue and unfair' type comments). Did we all of a sudden forget that the people that we chat with on message boards aren't just people? They are potential customers! Everything that we say and do is going to be critiqued by the general population of a message board. And when it comes time to shop- no matter how good a kit looks, or how much you advertise that kit, someone, somewhere is going to think 'Well, that designer was flat out rude when a customer had a problem and asked a question in public.' Guess who won't be getting my money is I see this?

I know that I've ranted about this before- but it seems that it needs to be brought up, again. Once a person chooses to become a designer, s/he loses the freedom to post what you want when you want on a message board or mailing list (or, heck, how about a blog?). Oh, a designer can still post whatever they want- but not without consequences, whether they realize it or not. It stands to reason that if I won't give my money to a company that hires rude employees, then why should I give it to a rude designer?

But back to expectations. I do not expect any customer to ignore a problem. I also don't think that we should expect them to only handle problems through private email. Not every problem that is posted in public is done so in a malicious manner- as some would have people assume. Private emails are appreciated- but asking in public is wrong? I understand that we don't want to have an bad advertising- but when designers post on those threads that people should have kept it private, it shouldn't be posted on a public board, and basically shame the living hell out of a person simply because they chose to ask a question about a problem with a popular designer's kits, it doesn't exactly make that designer look good. I don't think that it's fair to our customers if we limit how they can contact us. Let them vent in public. Let them question in public.

Maybe what we need to do is step back and look at the problem in a new light. We need to start thinking 'is this really a malicious post? is the customer only asking an innocent question? how can I answer without making me look bad?' Let the other customers do all the shaming. The designers should take the high road and be polite and cordial- exactly what we expect from brick and mortar stores when we walk in and complain about something. Oh- can you imagine what would happen if this was face to face stuff? A customer walks into a digital designer's store, and asks if the problem that she's having is on her end, because it's happening with each kit from that designer that the customer has purchased. The designer's response? 'That's untrue and unfair, but I'm working on it.' Somehow, I don't think that would fly...