Everything I ever learned about working on computers I learned at techsupportforum.com. Make no mistake, I love that place and those people. Which is weird because they've banned me, under various aliases, no less than 30 times. I know this for a fact, because I just spent the better part of the day running down all the various gmail accounts I've created specifically for the purpose of getting around the 30 or so bans they've given me over the last 5 years.
It's a love/hate relationship. I love them, they hate me.
During the course of my time at techsupportforum.com, I've been (what they call) a "MS Tech" at least twice, so it's not like I'm some kind of rabid troll that serves no purpose while raising hell on a forum. I help people fix their computers in the computer fixin' part of the forum, and I speak my mind in their "Politics" section. That's why they ban me, for the most part. Retired government employees generally don't like to be called "fat and bloated parasites" to their face and on their own turf, which is why I was there, and telling it to them like it is.
I intend to repost some of the more notable essays from that site here, as time allows and my abilities using this blog software develop.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Hostgator Review, pt. 2
http://forums.hostgator.com/showpost.php?p=319531&postcount=3
I don't have time to respond to the corporate drivel, other than to mention that for all the "hard work" you've failed to provide a new customer with basic information in a place where they could find it at a time when they needed it.
Now it's too little, too late. You should know this. It's obvious. The fact that you've missed it indicates to me you are using the occasion of your failure to provide me with required information as an opportunity to create some illusion of Customer Service.
It's an illusion. The time for "all that" was yesterday.
Finally, do not call me. You aren't my friend. I never gave you permission to call me. Do you have any idea how offensive that is? You are supposed to be my web-hosting service. You do a basic job, you get paid a basic amount of money. Failing to perform your basic functions does not somehow empower you to become an even greater inconvenience to me by wasting my time on the phone. The phone is an income-generator for me, not a time-waster. I don't waste time on the phone with time-wasters. This whole "service" is an extremely minor, $8.00 a month service. I pay more than that to the garbage company, and they don't call me. They don't have to. Do your job, and don't presume to call me.
After 16 Hours of Hostgator "Service": A Review
1) I'm locked-out of most of the forum sections here. I have questions that need answered, Hostgator has already shown me that they fail to provide basic information (how to chage the DNS server to Hostgator), now they actively prevent me from posting in this forum. I've been on LOTS of forums, and almost none of them have this "activation" thing. And, I believe there is either no reason for it (implying incompetence), or Hostgator is, what? Doing some kind of "background check"? Reviewing their records, lol? I have a question about using Bing's WebMaster tools. I can't download that .XML file. Hostgator's forum is not an option. I guess I have no choice but to post my questions somewhere else, and I'll make a point of badmouthing Hostgator while I'm at it.
Can I have my money back?
2) Hostgator failed to inform me that cPanel does not work with Windows 7. It's not like they just invented Windows 7; it's been around for a while. I read the lame excuse posted somewhere blaming "not Hostgator", and so what? Hostgator could have let me know that right up front but they didn't. Instead, I wasted a full hour of my time so that I could read their lame excuse.
3) I did not appreciate "Attracta's" email spam. I didn't give permission to Hostgator to have Attracta spam me. It costs money to spam me. It takes time to read the spam, and then delete it, then find out how to prevent it in the future. Hostgator owes me money for this now. I expect $50.00 to compensate me for the loss of time and inconvenience.
4) Attracta's "SEO" is deceptive bordering on fraud. The first two steps of SEO look benign, but step #3 looks like they are getting you to give them a bunch of personal information not for SEO purposes, but so that Attracta can use that information to market products & services to you, and possibly sell the information to someone else for the same purposes.
Overall, Hostgator feels quite slimy. Sleazy marketing practices, hiding and failing to provide critical information, setting up "services" that aren't really available, but only look like they are.
What's next? An apology, lol? Where someone attempts at ameliorating and unacceptable business situation by making some sort of false emotional appeal, lol? Tell the electric company "I'm sorry" doesn't keep the lights on, and I'm not paying for apologies. I thought I was paying for service, and an apology is not an acceptable substitute so don't bother.
I'll be posting this on my blog, in case anyone is tempted to delete the post and hide the evidence.
Can I have my money back?
2) Hostgator failed to inform me that cPanel does not work with Windows 7. It's not like they just invented Windows 7; it's been around for a while. I read the lame excuse posted somewhere blaming "not Hostgator", and so what? Hostgator could have let me know that right up front but they didn't. Instead, I wasted a full hour of my time so that I could read their lame excuse.
3) I did not appreciate "Attracta's" email spam. I didn't give permission to Hostgator to have Attracta spam me. It costs money to spam me. It takes time to read the spam, and then delete it, then find out how to prevent it in the future. Hostgator owes me money for this now. I expect $50.00 to compensate me for the loss of time and inconvenience.
4) Attracta's "SEO" is deceptive bordering on fraud. The first two steps of SEO look benign, but step #3 looks like they are getting you to give them a bunch of personal information not for SEO purposes, but so that Attracta can use that information to market products & services to you, and possibly sell the information to someone else for the same purposes.
Overall, Hostgator feels quite slimy. Sleazy marketing practices, hiding and failing to provide critical information, setting up "services" that aren't really available, but only look like they are.
What's next? An apology, lol? Where someone attempts at ameliorating and unacceptable business situation by making some sort of false emotional appeal, lol? Tell the electric company "I'm sorry" doesn't keep the lights on, and I'm not paying for apologies. I thought I was paying for service, and an apology is not an acceptable substitute so don't bother.
I'll be posting this on my blog, in case anyone is tempted to delete the post and hide the evidence.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Steve Jobs and the iMac G5
I have an iMac G5 in for repair. What a piece of shit! From the research that I've done, the whole G5 series had heat issues to the point that they made 3 separate revisions. They are all called "G5", but internally they are all very different.
Apparantly, some company "stole" the recipe for good-quality capacitors and sold them cheap to Apple, but when they stole the recipe they failed to get the secret ingredient "X" that makes the capacitors work without leaking, bulging and blowing-up.
So, 2 years later, all the G5's in addition to all the pre-engineered heat issues, these G5's also start failing due to leaking, bulging and exploding capacitors. And, despite all this bullshit about "Apple Quality" etc... Apple not only fails to issue a recall, they offer some half-assed, limited-repair option so that if your G5 manages to work for 3 years, you are outside the window of what Apple will repair.
This G5 (this one, right here) is a piece of shit. So, against all the backdrop of all these post-mortem, electronic blow-jobs, let me be someone that tells the truth. Apple is just as capable of producing a piece of shit as any other company. The only difference is that Apple Users are too fucking retarded to know it. I've met some of these overly-contented Apple/Mac Users, and one reason why they are so happy is that they are too stupid to know any better. "It just works", my ass. It works just good enough to keep the retards happy. Anyone with half a brain can see that, at least in this case, this thing is a piece of shit.
So. Enough with the "Steve Jobs is a God" sycophancy. He's dead, Jim. He tried to cure pancreatic cancer with herbal remedies, the dumbass, and now he's dead. Most people won't be able to lean anything from Steve Job's business career, because they aren't going to run a major corporation like Apple. However, most people CAN learn from his stupid attempt at prolonging his life by using non-western, non-traditional and non-proven methods.
And that's not genius, that's stupid. And this G5 isn't "art", it's a overheating, blown-capacitor, sub-standard peice of shit made by a company whose reputation is as undeserved as it's founder's.
Here's a better idea, Mr. Jobs. Instead of using stolen, 3rd world, sub-standard capacitors that you get for cheap, how about using good-quality hardware instead. And, instead of consulting with some touchie-feelie, swami-fucking-guru "medicine man", how about instead (in your next life) you go to a real doctor, and get some real medical treatment instead.
You might live longer, and your hardware might not fail in 3 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycophancy
Apparantly, some company "stole" the recipe for good-quality capacitors and sold them cheap to Apple, but when they stole the recipe they failed to get the secret ingredient "X" that makes the capacitors work without leaking, bulging and blowing-up.
So, 2 years later, all the G5's in addition to all the pre-engineered heat issues, these G5's also start failing due to leaking, bulging and exploding capacitors. And, despite all this bullshit about "Apple Quality" etc... Apple not only fails to issue a recall, they offer some half-assed, limited-repair option so that if your G5 manages to work for 3 years, you are outside the window of what Apple will repair.
This G5 (this one, right here) is a piece of shit. So, against all the backdrop of all these post-mortem, electronic blow-jobs, let me be someone that tells the truth. Apple is just as capable of producing a piece of shit as any other company. The only difference is that Apple Users are too fucking retarded to know it. I've met some of these overly-contented Apple/Mac Users, and one reason why they are so happy is that they are too stupid to know any better. "It just works", my ass. It works just good enough to keep the retards happy. Anyone with half a brain can see that, at least in this case, this thing is a piece of shit.
So. Enough with the "Steve Jobs is a God" sycophancy. He's dead, Jim. He tried to cure pancreatic cancer with herbal remedies, the dumbass, and now he's dead. Most people won't be able to lean anything from Steve Job's business career, because they aren't going to run a major corporation like Apple. However, most people CAN learn from his stupid attempt at prolonging his life by using non-western, non-traditional and non-proven methods.
And that's not genius, that's stupid. And this G5 isn't "art", it's a overheating, blown-capacitor, sub-standard peice of shit made by a company whose reputation is as undeserved as it's founder's.
Here's a better idea, Mr. Jobs. Instead of using stolen, 3rd world, sub-standard capacitors that you get for cheap, how about using good-quality hardware instead. And, instead of consulting with some touchie-feelie, swami-fucking-guru "medicine man", how about instead (in your next life) you go to a real doctor, and get some real medical treatment instead.
You might live longer, and your hardware might not fail in 3 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycophancy
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