Colin R.'s dashboard

Colin R. replied on November 12, 2009 22:19 to the problem "interesting plurkers gone" in Plurk:

Any word, Plurk, on if this feature will be returning?

Colin R. replied on November 12, 2009 22:18 to the question "where's "more interesting plurkers " ??" in Plurk:

A friend and I were just discussing today that it seems like there's no one on Plurk anymore.

Part of the reason for this is the community has been separated by removal of the public timeline. It's not easy to find people on the fly anymore, or fan people that are posting interesting stuff.

Plurk has said they MIGHT rectify this, but I wouldn't hold my breath. They've demonstrated in the past that their vision for Plurk is theirs alone, and user suggestions are rarely acknowledged in development.

Colin R. reported a problem in Ping.fm on September 13, 2009 18:03:

Plurk posts not making it through.

When posting through Ping.fm (via any medium), Plurk posts are often not making it through.

Weird thing is Plurk DOES know the message was sent, as attempts to re-post again in Plurk directly causes it to declare flooding.

Contacted Plurk, they said it's a Ping.fm problem (though I'm not quite convinced of that). So I'm posting this here in the hopes someone can help puzzle this out.

Thanks!

Colin R. replied on September 07, 2009 00:01 to the problem "Plurk on windows mobile is broken." in Plurk:

Hi Kalle!

I also use Win Mobile 6.1 and Opera, on an HTC Touch. But I haven't been experiencing any problems, and can access Plurk's mobile site through Opera and IE Mobile without any trouble.

Just to clarify, I assume you're trying through the Plurk mobile site (www.plurk.com/m)? And, when you say "both browsers", are you referring to IE and Opera?

Can you access other sites no problem?

Bear in mind that Plurk support doesn't really stop by here often, they don't consider this an official support venue. You might want to try sending them a message through the "Contact" link at the bottom of the Plurk page (though response from that also tend to be hit-and-miss).

Best of luck!

Colin R.

Colin R. replied on September 06, 2009 23:54 to the problem "Why do posts through Ping.fm sometimes make it to Plurk and sometimes not?" in Plurk:

Ping.fm messages still not making it to Plurk every so often...

Tried sending a message through the Contact form a couple weeks ago via the website, but no word...

Hope that new support system is up and running soon, Plurk!

Colin R. replied on August 31, 2009 21:31 to the question "Change Plurk Link on Facebook" in Plurk:

Hi again folks,

Amir, you should not be involved in customer relations. Your approach to "discussion" with your users is often condescending and sometimes downright rude.

You don't have to agree with what we say. But your responses indicate a "holier-than-thou" attitude that sours any dialogue that might be going on. You are damaging the reputation of your own platform, and Plurk will only suffer for it.

I believe the majority of users who choose to participate here think Plurk has a lot of potential. They believe in what it does and where it's going. They aren't here to berate, but stick around in the hopes Plurk will continue to improve so that more users might find it as exciting and useful as they do.

If you continue to approach these conversations in a manner that says "put up or shut up", well guess what? Users will respond with equal hostility. And then conversations like this degrade into finger-pointing and frustration, and users who WERE your loyal supporters will simply throw up their hands and abandon you.

I apologize to Charlie for going on this tangent in this topic. I simply felt it needed to be said.

Colin R.

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."

      ~ Bill Gates

Colin R. replied on August 30, 2009 21:06 to the question "Change Plurk Link on Facebook" in Plurk:

Hello again, gentlemen!

Amir, that link is somewhat eye-opening. First off, it does show that many people are using the application, which is a good indicator that it's existence is appreciated in some capacity.

However, looking at the reviews I'm not as convinced in regards to user opinion. Reading through them they seem to be about Plurk itself, not the Facebook application. And, there's only 116 reviews, which is less than 0.001 percent of the users using it. Statistically I would not consider that an accurate measure of opinion.

If you truly want users' opinions (and not even just on this issue, but anything related to Plurk), why not ask them outright? Use Plurkbuddy, which is severely underused as it is. Set up a poll online somewhere, fire the link through Plurkbuddy, and see what happens.

If the majority shows they're fine with the link, then this can be laid to rest. If not, then other avenues ought to be explored. Though not even necessarily removing the link outright, but simply giving users the option to do so.

Here's hoping!

Colin R.

Colin R. replied on August 30, 2009 17:33 to the question "Where's the support?" in Plurk:

Thanks for the responses, Katharine and Alvin.

I'm sure all users look forward to a better way of communicating with Plurk!

Colin R. replied on August 30, 2009 17:30 to the question "Change Plurk Link on Facebook" in Plurk:

This dialogue has taken off fairly spectacularly, hasn't it?

Amir, I fully recognize your frustration. As the developer of a product, you want to create your vision as you see it, and hope that the end-users are happy with it too.

But, as the developer of a NEW product, you also need to be extra sensitive to their thoughts and feelings. Especially when you are up against heavy, heavy competition like Facebook and Twitter.

Do you want Plurk to just be an elite group of users who are willing to put up with things that might be frustrating or irritating? Simply because that's the way you want it to be, and they just have to deal with it?

Or do you want it to be a group of users who can feel free to express their opinion, without being told, "If you don't like it, go elsewhere"? Because, we all know, there are LOTS of other options out there when it comes to social networking...

Most people who stick with Plurk stick with it because it is unique. But unique is not the same as perfect, and you need to start being more flexible as a developer and recognize that the users are the ones who drive Plurk.

Bottom line is, we all want to see Plurk succeed. Let the users be part of that, and stop trying to build its success all on your own.

My two cents. (Kay, maybe more like five cents...)

Colin R.

Colin R. replied on August 29, 2009 23:41 to the question "Where's the support?" in Plurk:

Hi Katherine,

Thanks very much for the response, but it doesn't really tackle the original problem. Users who are using this venue have an expectation that employees will be participating in the topics and answering their questions. That's what "Get Satisfaction" is for, customer relations and support.

If Plurk isn't intending to use it for that, then it shouldn't really be here. Otherwise you just have people getting angry that they're not getting the response they're expecting.

Either Plurk should take an active interest in Get Satsifaction as a method of working with their users (even if the response is "Please send us a message through the contact form with your username, browser, error message, etc..."), or it shouldn't be used at all and user issues should simply be pointed to the contact form 100% of the time.

Again, I do appreciate your responding to this. But Plurk seriously needs to look at how they interact with their users, lest they lose them altogether.

Cheers!

Colin R.

Colin R. asked a question in Plurk on August 29, 2009 21:59:

Where's the support?

Get Satisfaction, as a method of allowing companies to communicate with their customers/users, is awesome.

But only if the company actually uses it.

Are the Plurk employees no longer hanging out here? I've noticed the majority of recent topics are simply going unanswered.

If they don't intend to make use of this service (as I know they weren't the ones who originally set Plurk up on it), then they should shut it down. It's not fair to leave users hanging...

Colin R. replied on August 28, 2009 18:51 to the question "Change Plurk Link on Facebook" in Plurk:

That's the catch-22 with all these social networks linking up with one another. They want to give users more options to post in different places all at once, but then also want to draw users to their platform via the posts...

I can understand the reasoning, but I'll never post to other platforms from within Plurk. The added gunk at the end just isn't worth it.

Colin R. replied on August 24, 2009 15:15 to the idea "Replurk Button" in Plurk:

I've been thinking this the last little while myself! There ought to be a quick and easy method to repost stuff, that automatically gives credit to the original poster.

Would be awesome!

Colin R. started following the idea "Replurk Button" in Plurk.

Colin R. replied on August 24, 2009 15:14 to the idea "Please add an API for application developers" in Plurk:

I still don't understand why this is indicated as being "implemented", when it's clearly not...

Colin R. replied on August 17, 2009 22:33 to the problem "Why do posts through Ping.fm sometimes make it to Plurk and sometimes not?" in Plurk:

And, I've now realized, posts sent through Ping.fm that DON'T appear cannot be posted again in Plurk directly. It declares that I'm "flooding", even though the post isn't visible in my timeline...

How bizarre!

Colin R. reported a problem in Plurk on August 17, 2009 22:02:

Why do posts through Ping.fm sometimes make it to Plurk and sometimes not?

Posts to Plurk through Ping.fm have been spotty lately. Sometimes they make it through correctly, and sometimes they just get lost in cyberspace.

Posts going to Facebook and Twitter have worked 100% of the time. Plurk has been working about 50 to 60% of the time. What's going on? And has anyone else experience this problem?

Thanks!

Colin R. started following the idea "Option for Mark all as Read confirmation message to turn off/on." in Plurk.

Colin R. started following the question "How can I also block a user who has blocked me?" in Plurk.

Colin R. replied on June 30, 2009 18:45 to the question "What's happened? Is Plurk down?" in Plurk:

I'm accessing Plurk no problem at the moment. Perhaps it's a regional issue? Is anyone else having trouble?