OK I am about to start work on this
OK, I announced my intention for an EC clone, well I am about to start work on it again. My other project is not completed but I feel that this has the momentum and is worth prioritising.
I have looked at the code I started some while ago and much of it may need redoing, I only started php a few months ago and have learned some better technics since the first time I looked at this.
I do think I should let people know about me a bit, as I do not have an about me page and people may think I am doing this just to upset Graham, but that is definately not the case.
I am disabled so working on computers was really my only option and had a few minor data entry jobs when I left school, I had some knowlege of programming in ‘basic’ but that was it. In 1997 I became an affiliate of a Web hosting company, and about 3 months later they made me their first remote Senior reseller, not based on sales but based on the help I gave other resellers on the forums. This role soon turned into a paid position, and within about 4 months I was Support Administrator and had about 8 others working for me doing customer and affiliate support.
During that time I learned to program in Perl, one of the company owners recommended some books and helped me out now and again. I left the company around 2000 as it had been sold to a big national telecoms co and I wasn’t enjoying the work or the direction the company was heading. Since then I have mostly worked for myself, with the odd period of employment in between.
I now code for a living, but the thing that sticks with me from the Hosting days is Customer Service/Support should always be a priority. Unhappy users/clients eventually leads to no users/clients. If you have problems with the service you’re providing then as long as the users are kept in the loop etc most will stick by you.
This is why I have made this decision, I do not believe we as EC users have seen the Customer Service/Support nor been considered when decisions have been made and there appear to by high numbers of ‘unhappy’ users around because of it.
OK back to the coding now:)
12 Responses to “OK I am about to start work on this”
Comment from Paul Baines
Time April 23, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I’m glad you’re going ahead with this – I am sure many will join your system if you can offer a fairer way of running things. Just no paid ads! Totally agree with the customer service opinion, essentially bad service can be the downfall of any company.
Comment from chilly
Time April 26, 2009 at 12:37 am
Very interested in trying it out. Looking forward to seeing more about it as time goes on.
Thanks!
Comment from sixmats
Time April 27, 2009 at 9:04 pm
What will distinguish your site from EC? And what will prevent some scripter from building up massive credits?
I’m in favor of another traffic exchange, but if you are looking to advertise, CMF is the way to go.
Comment from Greg
Time April 28, 2009 at 8:53 am
Sixmats
1. The site itself may not be as full featured as EC, especially at the beginning but I intend to listen to the users, take polls on opinions etc and move the site forward that way.
2. We have to be realistic, I have and will continue to put checks in place to fight the scripters but as with anything there will be those that script new methods and these will need to be monitored.
This site is going to take time, like EC the aim is to be a community as well as an exchange but it will not happen over night.
Comment from sixmats
Time April 28, 2009 at 10:34 am
My suggestion would be to do what you think you should do at first with minimal input.
One problem is that they listen to users too much and it causes a lot of confusion and flip-flopping.
Comment from Greg
Time April 28, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Sixmats
Thanks for your input, I think EC listen to users after the event when most of the time it’s too late, ie they implemented a new rule about where the widget should be located, a hand full complained so they ‘relaxed’ that rule.
Comment from Mamaflo
Time April 23, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I’m very excited and anxious to experience your endeavor and you are absolutely one hundred percent correct about Customer Service.