Getting things the wrong way round . . .

[Bill Marriott]

Richmond,

>>>
scrubbed Bill Marriott's message as sent to Richmond
Mathewson off-list.

Let us just say that the nub of the message was that
my initial posting under this heading was inflammatory.
<<<

Here's the text of the message:

===

Richmond,

>>>
A number of people, including myself, got a very bad
impression about the end-result of Beta testing.
<<<

I'm a little confused. You received your complimentary Rev Media license 
within a day of Rev Media being built and posted to the web site. The people 
who were entitled to a free copy of Studio or Enterprise were mailed their 
keys within a similar timeframe of those editions being ready. Your posts on 
this topic had no impact whatsoever on the timetable of the notifications... 
They were sent out as soon as logistics permitted.

>>>
May be we were ill-informed insofar as 2.9 was
announced as finished with great fanfare (which it
deserved) before the Beta testers were made aware that
they would be rewarded. [...] My motivation
was clear; help improve RR and get my hands on the
newer version.
<<<

Except that we had made the pledge about 2.9 being free for 2.7 purchasers 
several times in several different venues throughout the cycle.

I looked through all previous beta-related communications and could not find 
where we promised anything additional/special for beta testers. 
Nevertheless, we *will* be doing something for those who were active. We're 
going to announce it when it's ready, and it won't be much longer. Hopefully 
this attempt to recognize people and express appreciation won't become yet 
another opportunity for complaints.

>>>
Somebody round "here" is at fault; it could be me, or
it could be the people at RR, or it could be both of
us [...] So, I suppose that everybody should learn
something about this. [...] It is in your interests not
to alienate [loyal users] and the best way to avoid
this is to anticipate the sort of thing that happened
recently and, as a preventive measure, keep them
extremely well-informed and reassured.
<<<

When we post a version late in the day and then notify people about their 
free copy before noon the next day, I don't see where there is a case to be 
made about a lapse in communication. However, perhaps we should anticipate 
that some people won't be happy no matter what we do, that they will shout 
it from the mountain top instead of writing an inquiry to support, and that 
the tone of their comments will be needlessly inflammatory.

- Bill