By Cynthia Herbert :: 10:20 PM
Unless you’ve still been in the bubble of a non-broadband connected relatives’ home for the past day or so, you’re certainly aware of the storm of negative publicity surrounding Ocean Marketing, a company representing the producers of the Avenger gaming controller accessory. If not, read this.
All caught up? Good.
So now it appears that the recent poor treatment of customer “Dave” is not the first time Ocean Marketing’s Paul Christoforo has stepped out of line. Blogger Nathan Stansell of Nate’s Network has copies of e-mails between himself and Christoforo from earlier this year that show the same arrogance and lack of proper customer service.
Here are some excerpts from the genius at Ocean Marketing – these are from June, 2011, after Stansell inquired about shipping dates on a similar controller. Seems like the topic of shipping dates really sends this Christoforo character off the deep end!
From Christoforo:
Buddy your asking for free stuff and I am trying to help you , You have no idea what happened to our ordering system or our old customer service reps that told you they were going to send you a 100% COUPON AND FREE CONTROLLER but never did . So calm yourself down , be respectful and do as I say or ask to get your free controller. I DEAD SERIOUS ! Be a little more humble we can refuse the right to ship out anything to anyone we want , I’m trying to help you. Small claims court for 49 dollars haha … that’s cute . I’m the President of my company not The Avengers so keep your punk smite ignorant comments to yourself.
The full conversation, including many e-mails before and after the one above are available on Nate’s site.
As for Christoforo, he’s changed his Twitter handle to @OceanStratagy (his misspelling, not mine) and still seems to be trying to battle with his detractors, by saying witty things such as, “the more you say my name the bigger future paycheques get,” and making fratboy-esque “your mom” jokes. So grown up. Real professional.
His marketing work, at least in the connected world, is all but toast. So strange that he just seems to be enjoying the ride down to earth in the flaming fuselage of his career.
By Gilbert Falso :: 1:24 PM
Despite GoDaddy dropping support for SOPA late last week, many domain holders and other domain registrars are accusing the domain giant of standing in the way of domains being transferred out of their system.
Another registrar, NameCheap, minced no words in a blog post, saying that GoDaddy has been “thwarting efforts to transfer domains away from them.”
“GoDaddy appears to be returning incomplete WHOIS information to Namecheap, delaying the transfer process. This practice is against ICANN rules,” the company continued on their blog.
GoDaddy then released a statement saying that the delays were customary, and “part of normal rate limiting – in place to prevent abuse.”
Many former GoDaddy customers who transferred or attempted to transfer their domains away over the past few days have been reporting that GoDaddy representatives have been calling them to explain that their stance on SOPA has shifted, and are asking them to reconsider the transfer.
Meanwhile, registrars like NameCheap are taking advantage of the bad position that GoDaddy is in, by offering deals, sales and other incentives to capture the transfer traffic. NameCheap has designated December 29th as “Move Your Domain Day,” and is offering to donate $1 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation for every transfer it receives.
“We’re proud to have the Electronic Frontier Foundation supporting this important initiative, and are confident that our customers can help us raise a significant sum to help continue the fight against SOPA, PROTECT-IP, and other overbroad and ill-considered legislation,†Namecheap’s CEO Richard Kirkendall said on the company’s blog.
In addition to NameCheap’s deal, much of the internet community has embraced December 29th as the day to move domains, in a campaign started by Reddit user selfprodigy.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 2:23 PM
It’s that time of the year -Â thousands of volunteers throughout America will take to the fields, woods, backyards and parks to take part in an adventure that, for many, has become a yearly tradition – the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
Held from December 14 – January 5 this year, the count allows the Audubon Society and other conservation organizations to use data collected in this long-running wildlife census to assess the overall health of the U.S. wild bird populations – and to help guide conservation actions.
Though technology has been a boon to birders in recent years, with GPS devices, iPads with birding guides, reasonably-priced digital SLR cameras, etc., this annual bird count is a time for all of them to get together in person for the good of the wildlife they spend so much of their time watching.
“Their work,” says Audubon’s president, David Yarnold, “reveals how climate disruption is affecting birds and is helping Audubon to predict and address its future impacts.â€
Indeed, the data gathered during the Christmas census in 2009 showed a trend that found many species in North America shifting their ranges north on an average of one mile per year due to warming global temperatures.
Feel like getting off your regular social networks this season? Join a Christmas Bird Count in your area – Audubon’s website provides a list of Christmas Bird Counts.
By Gilbert Falso :: 12:52 PM
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt dropped hints that the search giant is getting ready to enter the tablet market with an Android offering, in a similar fashion to how the company launched their Nexus line of smartphones.
Schmidt’s timeline for the machine is sometime in the next six months.
A Google-made tablet could have a chilling affect on tablet sales for Google’s Android partners, such as Acer, Lenovo and Asus, as they would be forced to go to market with devices powered by an older Android 4.0 build, while Google’s tablet would have the 4.1 build. Android 4.1 will probable have features unavailable to Android 4.0 users, which could result in the Google tablet being more appealing to customers.
It is widely rumored that Google is partnering with technology company LG on the new offering.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 11:58 PM
It seems as if GoDaddy’s about-face on support for SOPA did them no good once the Internet lynch mob was released on them earlier this week. All accounts point to GoDaddy losing around 72,000 domains – and that’s only for this week.
“Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why GoDaddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation – but we can clearly do better. It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. GoDaddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it,” said Warren Adelman, GoDaddy’s CEO in a statement released on December 23rd.
According to a PC Magazine report, GoDaddy customer service representatives are now actively reaching out to former customers who transferred domains away before the company reversed their stance.
“I just got a call from GoDaddy. The rep said he noticed that I’d transferred my 60+ domains away […] and wanted to know if I’d tell them why. I got to tell them that it was because of their SOPA support, and that I couldn’t in good conscience give my money to a tech company that would support legislation like that,” Mashable’s chief architect Chris Heald told the publication.
A number of web communities, most notably Reddit, piled on the negative PR campaign after the CEO of I Can Has Cheezburger?, Ben Huh, tweeted that he would pull 1,000 domains from GoDaddy’s service if the company continued to support the legislative bill. Many in the community even put together instructions and FAQs for transferring domains away from GoDaddy.