As I wrote here and here a few weeks ago, I'm one of thousands running a business blog on TypePad. The service has been excruciatingly slow of late. (Just now I thought I'd tear my hair out while waiting for this post to Save.) Sometimes it's down altogether.
Don't get me wrong. This is not a "trash 6A" blog entry. It's a please please please listen to your customers before it's too late message. The buzz is building. There's talk of moving some high-profile blogs (including BusinessBlogConsulting to which I'm a contributor) to WordPress or another platform.
My advice? Post fast. Post fresh. Be transparent. The blogosphere is gonna bite if you don't. And get something up on your Status Blog (which, BTW, doesn't have an archive so it's conspicuously not quite a blog) or on Mena's Corner that acknowledges the problem.
C'mon guys. We love you! Don't disappoint.
(Apologies if this is "inside baseball" to those who don't follow discussions about blogging platforms.)
Technorati: sixapart + typepad
Debbie, thanks again for keeping us on the right track. I think what you're speaking to points out a tough area for any company to communicate about when something's going wrong.
We've got an idea of some of the problems that TypePad's been having, and some of the causes. But we'd been waiting to have a full understanding that we're confiden comprehensively covers all of the possible issues and solutions that might come up. This is based on the idea that complete transparency is our best bet.
The thing is, there's a tension between transparency and responsiveness here: Getting the whole story takes time, as anybody who's worked in journalism knows. Maybe what we need to do is figure out a way to give both our fastest, but less complete response as well as our more deliberate, but more comprehensive response.
Either way, our team is working diligently on fixing this issue, and we're going to make it right for all of our customers. We value you business, and appreciate you giving us the chance to get it right.
Posted by: Anil Dash | October 26, 2005 at 02:52 PM
Since this is the second time SA has had major issues with Typepad in the last few weeks, I'd say they need to take their lumps. Buy more servers!
Two phrases stick out in my mind ...
"Waiting on www.typepad.com" - which is what I'm used to seeing anytime I'm trying to make any changes with my TP blogs in the last 23 hours.
"A Disappointing Day" - If you're a TP user, you know that's the title of the sample message in the design section of the admin. Their failures have caused an abundance of disappointment for those of us using the platform. They may very well experience some themselves with the growing popularity of WordPress.
Oh, and it's odd to me that the company that put blogs on the map so to speak, has such a lame, almost nonexistent one themselves.
Ben, Mena, Anil & company, take Debbie's solid advice.
The old saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." If this continues you won't have me to worry with any longer. I'll port every blog I have - my own and clients - to another platform as fast as I can.
Posted by: Paul Chaney | October 26, 2005 at 03:28 PM
I would also like to add a comment on a tendency I have noticed lately on the part of Type Pad customer support....I ask a question about a problem (the latest one has been with trackbacks) where something was working fine and then became a problem. Then begins a series of emails with questions from TP that seem designed to avoid directly addressing solutions to the problem by requiring more detail from me...although the information provided never seems to get incoroporated in any of their replys...only more questions. Their overall intent seems to be to find an eventual explanation of the problem that will not require them to do anything or that will aggravate me enough to either give up, or stop asking them and find someone else to help with the problem.
Posted by: Marianne Richmond | October 26, 2005 at 05:33 PM
Unfortunately, I have to agree, I have been staring at a Gateway Timed Out for the last 3 days. Can I suggest 6A that you close to new accounts until your current customers are happy?
Posted by: James Cherkoff | October 26, 2005 at 06:20 PM
I agree with you all. Marianne, I've had the same thing too. They just don't get it!!! One more screw up and I'm moving off Typepad. I can't afford to pay full price for a blogging service that's this unreliable and difficult to work with.
Posted by: FMF | October 26, 2005 at 07:56 PM
Marianne, I work in technical support and without knowing the full situation, I would like to stick up for the Typepad guys and say sometimes its not as easy as it seems and what appear dumb questions, may in fact be ruling out things that might possibly going wrong.
Also it maybe that what your seeing is not happening to others in so meaning that the TS person at Typepad has to work out What is different? This may seem simple but often the problem lies in strange areas and ones that are not obvious in the first instant.
So when you are dealing with Tech Suppport, remember that they are trying to help you (mostly) and that if they could fix the problem straight away, they would. It definitely isn't in there best interest to keep calls one longer then they need to be.
HTH
Molly
Posted by: Phillip Molly Malone | October 27, 2005 at 12:33 AM
Hi, I only have the basic plan so this, along with my liking the styles and moblogging ability -- though Typepad doesn't hyperlink the links within emails, like Livejournal understands -- are why I'm trying to remain a client.
At one time, I paid eleven dollars a month plus a yearly domain fee at LivingDot. I recommend them for those willing to pay as their servers were almost never down, and Pavel is a support machine; and they even accept Paypal as a method of payment; may have to ask, but they'll do it.
Mena Trott posted a message today and I hope they're now more serious about the servers. If they were before, they'd have those archives for the status blog. Typepad can be the overall experience, and I hope its popularity for the styles, moblog, ease of use, etc., can welcome the servers into the mix.
I'm not a tech guy, but I am a poor person with a cable modem who has refreshed the pages on Typepad, and other MT and Wordpress blogs that are hosted elsewhere. I've done this for a couple years, and Typepad has never ranked near the top. Typepad should maybe think about not letting new people in, and maybe only having the basic plan as the professionals can pay for reliable servers elsewhere, and several hosts even install MT and Wordpress for their clients.
(Last month, a couple professional bloggers using Typepad received some deals.)
Posted by: Aaron | October 27, 2005 at 01:28 PM
Thumbs up to 6A for providing a simple and easy to use product for newbies or those that don't need fancy stuff.
Thumbs down for not reading Technorati charts and recognising the danger of under-capacity much, much earlier. It ain't rocket science.
I know it's a tough call but that's what growing up is about - sorting out tough problems.
Like many correspondents, I didn't find Mena's words helpful. I just want a result.
Posted by: dahowlett | October 27, 2005 at 10:17 PM
TypePad's "teething problems" have been a consistent feature of the service, at least for the period I've been a customer (December 2003 to today). Since I'm a user of other hosted services as part of my job, I can make comparisons; TypePad has been always somewhere in the middle of the scale re. speed and dependability.
The fact that TP has a customer base many competitors envy is testimony to the fact the product has many advantages, despite the "teething problems." But now, I think we've reached the critical intersection: customer satisfaction vs reliability. Can 6A deal with the "teething problems" in a manner that would convince the majority of its paying customers the service has what it takes? If not, it will simply have to suffer the consequences.
Posted by: Ted Laskaris | October 28, 2005 at 01:23 AM
I signed on with TypePad because I was growing increasingly frustrated with my free blog-host and the absolute lack of legitimate communication regarding scheduled and unexpected downtime. I and others couldn't really complain too much though, as it is a *free* service. Still, it was frustrating enough to cause me and others to seek an alternative, which led me to TypePad.
I'm currently nearing the end of my TypePad "trial" period so while server problems at TypePad seem like more of the same I've experienced elsewhere, at least there was an effort (thank you for lighting the fire, Debbie) made by site management to assuage customer concerns. After all, until my trial period expires TypePad is also a *free* service so I don't feel I can complain too much. Deja vu; for now.
If I were paying $14.95 a month and experienced the same or similar problems that I have in the last three weeks, I would expect and be legally entitled to some sort of financial concession or consideration from SixApart which would be anything from pro-rating my monthly charge by the number of days offline (whether consecutive or or not)to crediting an entire month if the situation warrants it.
The manner in which SixApart handles any future problems and the expediency with which they provide information and account credits will be the sole factors in how long I'll be their customer. If I'm paying for a service or product and cannot use that service or product for any reason that's outside my control, the service/product provider is obligated legally and more importantly, ethically, to ensure that I'm not charged for something I couldn't use. To do otherwise constitutes fraud.
Time will tell.
Posted by: Scottitude | October 28, 2005 at 12:09 PM
As someone who has been with Typepad since their launch I have nothing but praise for their support people. They have answered everything I ahve asked of them and have suggesting things I never would have known about.
They definitely have to complete that move to the new data center though since the crash occured on the second of the launch of my new blog F1 Prospects.Com!
Posted by: Mark Boudreau | October 28, 2005 at 01:44 PM
Exactly!
I have been considering a move because they are unforgiveably slow.
Posted by: carpundit | October 28, 2005 at 03:45 PM
Marianne, you are right on in your observations on Typepad's tech support.
They seem to not read the support tickets at all and just come up with the first recommendation that doesn't have anything to do with one's problem that crosses their minds.
The only way to get a problem addressed is to send ten or twelve additional support tickets until they finally give up ignoring the request and try to do something about it.
This does have the effect of making one very loathe to use the tech support. Enough so that I am almost starting to consider it policy than obtuseness.
It has to be one or the other.
I was shocked to see that support is as clued out now as two years ago when I signed up.
Posted by: La Vie Viennoise | November 04, 2005 at 06:27 PM