The New York Times (also printed in the International Herald Tribune) had a piece on 12/27 about the "Determined Detractor", or those people who just seem to have it in for the company, and who spare no cycles to do so.
This isn't new. This is really, really *not* new. This has been going on since someone has been able to apply some method of communication towards something they didn't like, felt slighted by, or was the focus of their psychotic break with reality of the moment. It's just that they're now as likely to use a blog as a mimeograph to express their displeasure.
And they aren't all amateurs. Over in Backup Brain Dori Smith is rightfully ripping the snot of out Dvorak's latest protracted whine about Apple. Dvorak has been at this for so long he likely lists it as his profession on his annual 1040-EZ. I don't know who at Apple pissed on his Wheaties, or whatever set him off, but it's so buried in antiquity that it's somewhere close to the Byzantine Schism on the historic timeline.
Back in a previous life, I used to have to deal with the "determined detractor" set, mostly to find out who they really were, and possibly get a way of contacting them. Of course, that was usually after they either wandered into libel, or threatened bodily harm to someone in the executive wing.
A word to those who might decide to partake in this--if you're going to post to Usenet, and you want to stay anonymous, using the same pseudonym and obfuscated email address, along with a .signature file with your real name over in the GI Joe reseller Usenet group just does nothing for your anonymity over in comp.sys.mac.* land. Especially if you're been using that reply to address previously *in* comp.sys.mac.*.
I found that most of the people I chased after fell into a few camps:
1. "God told me". Remember those people who keep trying to nail P&G over the "satanic symbols" in their logo? And how they traced back to someone in a trailer park in Florida who was obviously not operating on full wattage? Other than computers likely not destroying as many brain and liver cells as mimeo, it's the same thing. When you have this type, you get to be really good friends with the state attorney general's office where this is orginating from. And the SAG's office just *loves* adding your complaint to the file. They've been dealing with these people for years. And sometimes this bunch comes in "vexatious litigant" flavour, with the "in penurious" cherry on top.
You just deal with damage control with these people, and keep them in the tickler file. They pop up on schedule, just like the alewives on Chicago beaches.
2. "Jr Extortionist". They want something, prefereably a free copy of your product, to shut up and go away. This is where your friend, the private investigator, comes in handy, although these people will usually leave an electronic trail as well. But nothing beats a quick phone call to find out that little Johnny has been shaking down the industry for a good five years now. These people are expert at playing the press like a harp, even after you've called up the TV people who put little Johnny on the 11 o'clock news with his complaints, and pointed out that he has a history that would make an experienced grifter green with envy.
A flavour of this was little Johnny squatting on a couple dozen of close approximations of the corporate name (where the heck is he getting all the cash to register these names? Is he getting regular payoffs to keep his trap shut?), and going into the protracted "that big company is beating on me!" wail when he gets the first, usually quite polite, offer to buy him out. He may not even have bothered to put up a web page for the site--not that the media would go and check, the idiots--but he had all the local network affiliates on speed dial.
His parents are usually missing in action, either physically, or mentally.
3. "I love "splah" so much I had to rip it in the press!" crowd. We had a bunch of these, and they were also primo at contacting the media. In fact, a number of them reached quasi-professional status before the disappeared from the scene. No matter what you do, or what the laws of physics say you can do, they want the product cheaper, and with more features than it can hold.
(note--they never *ever* have an industry job. If they have a computer-based job at all, they're going to be the satellite lab manager at the local JC. A number of them didn't appear to have any other means of support other than being a professional student. If they were really good at the whinge and moan, they could make a few bucks by doing the convention circuit.)
Besides having an amazingly poor grip on the realities of cranking a product, they are usually absolutely abysmal at predicting the market. Time and again, they would rail against where the product line was headed, only to be proven wrong each time. Someone out there has a short memory. It sure as heck wasn't the company.
Also, when they were contacted by the company to have a chat--not with the lawyers--usually a "hey we'll be at splah, where you'll be speaking--want to get together?" deal--they either freak and run, or meet with you and lie like dogs about it to their audience afterwards. It only takes once to know what you're dealing with. Yeah, you've burnt an evening and $100 on someone with highly questionable table manners, but you know....
So, what should companies do, now that the technology keeps moving forward, even though the message and the messengers remain distressingly the same?
It's still the same--know who they are, where they are coming from, and are they more than random blasts of hot air. The actually clueful will appear from the morass, because they usually have some logic and knowledge behind their statements, and not just their personal opinion. They also won't be constantly on the attack--if they hate your stuff so much, why the heck do they keep buying it?
And who are they talking to? Is the their personal fan club and the local media? And what does that mean to your marketing and advertising? Likely not a lot, especially if the fan club won't be buying your product anyway. And unless you have a media person who's on an ill-informed crusade to win a prize, you can usually handle them by supplying the truth.
So, with the "determined detractors", it pays to know who they are, what's their history and motivators, and file accordingly.
You should always have an "oh shit" damage control, no matter what. You'll use it sooner or later.
And keep the usual legal people on speed dial--sooner or later, you'll be talking to them....
Posted by lsefton at December 29, 2004 04:23 PM