Rude posts at Planetfeedback.com

Amen! Courtesy is old fashioned and potty mouths rule. Don't take it
personally, Nicole, I made a grammatical mistake in a legigitmate
complaint and the roof fell in! Too bad the web managers can't police
comments.

I saw the post you made about Home Depot needing longer hours on
Sunday. Your wrong and your just the type of customer who needs to be
put in her place. I'm glad people are coming down on you likea ton
bricks.

I'm very happy that you wrote this note, Nicole.

I just finished reading a very reasonable and subdued
complaint regarding poor service at a Macaroni Grill restaurant and
one of the responders suggested the writer eat at home in the future.

I've encountered too much useless rambling scolding and pointless
ventilation on the part of responders ...
to the point of being tempted to ask the site editor/moderator to step
in and try to work with the
repeat hothead scolders.

The scolder either craves attention or is associated
with the business being discussed.

Keep on posting, Nicole.

I work with the public. I find that PFB is very theraputic in
allowing me to vent what I would LOVE to say to people during my
working hours.

I've followed with interest the PFB debate below, and I find I'm left
with a couple major questions. First, for the letter writers, and I
KNOW you've heard this question before but I've yet to hear a
satisfactory answer: Why did you choose to share your letter? I wonder
if your intent wasn't to warn potential customers or damage the
company in question's bottom line with bad PR. Not reasons to be
ashamed of at all, don't get me wrong, but surely you knew not
everyone would agree with you? Surely you've visited message board
before, and you know the anonymity of the internet tends to create
more vocal (sometimes to the point of rudeness) responders - it's the
same phenomenon that creates road rage. Particularly for those letter
writers who attack particular individuals in their letters, or make
class, race, or gender generalizations. Surely you must have
considered the fact that your presumptions would themselves be
attacked?

For the responders, what is it, in your opinion, that we're supposed
to be doing here? Do we have a responsibility to the letter writers in
regards to the feedback we give, or are they here for our general
amusement, like You Tube without the videos? Maybe some clarification
from PFB is in order.

I experienced the same thing when I posted a complaint about Target in
Modesto,Ca. Very rude responses, but don't know if they came from
Target employes or the PlanetFeedBack readers.If readers don't like
the complaints they should post good experiences if they have every
had any at Target.

I have noticed that there are a handful of posters that make a point
of making a rude or snippy reply to every letter they read. They
could provide constructive criticism, but insted feel the need to
belitter the letter writer with every post they make. When they
aren't winning the battle, they resort to name calling and pointing
out typos. The leeters these people are writing are important to
them. They may be insignificant to you, but it is not fair to bash
someone who is sharing their feelings whether or not you disagree with
them or however insignificant to YOU their letter is.
If you can't say something nice, you shouldn't say it. Their is a
nice way to disagree with someone, and I have seen very little of that
happen here.

I don't mind reading the complaint letters. About the time I'm
looking for a new product or service, I'm going to be at places like
PlanetFeedback finding out what experiences other people have had. I
don't want just good reports. I wanna read the bad. I wanna read the
indifferent. I want all the details. I wanna read other people's
thoughts, and then make up my own mind. I like to consider myself
intelligent enough to weed out what's personal dramatic effect and
what's real.

Things I take exception to are listing an employee's full name or
contact information. Calling anyone stupid, retarded, or any form of
cuss word. Using racial slurs, or prejudiced stereotypes to try to
force a point. Threatening legal action where legal action is clearly
inappropriate.

I will be the first to admit that at times my comments have been rude,
cynical, snarky and/or sarcastic. In one instance, I called a site
user out on faking their complaint. I can understand that while I
considered myself justified in making these comments, the effect of
those words on someone who doesn't know me from Adam was probably
rather hurtful. And that, even if it didn't hurt the person they were
directed at, it didn't reflect very well on who I am for anyone else
reading the comments. In truth, if my goal had been more focused on
being constructive and guiding the letter writer and less focused on
being witty and amusing, I might have saved PFB a few permanently lost
site visitors.

So, Nicole, though you have left our community, please know that your
complaint didn't fall on deaf ears. Because while this letter was
written to PFB itself, it was meant as criticism of the community,
which I am a part of. I am sorry to have disappointed you, and I will
sincerely try to make my comments more accepting, friendly and
helpful, and less snarky and rude in the future.

Sometimes when people are really ticked off about an issue, they are
so upset that they just aren't rational. People post letters here all
the time that are just so far off the wall that it's almost too hard
to believe they are for real!

And most people will only talk about their side of the story. Every
story has 2 sides to it and without knowing anything more than how YOU
recall the events, no one can tell for sure whether your complaint is
legitimate or full of it! Believe it or not, many complaints posted
here are just plain full of it.

No company cares squat about a ranting, raving maniac who makes
ridiculous threats and demands over issues that are just plain silly.
The people here who respond are pointing out what the CEO's of these
companies are probably thinking just before they toss your email into
the circular file.

Nicole, I did not have a chance to read your entry yet, but my guess
is that if the responses to what you wrote were overwhelmingly
negative, there was probably a reason for it.

As others have pointed out, you always have the option of NOT making
your letter public, but likewise, you have to understand that if you
CHOOSE to make it public, along with that comes the scrutiny of
others, thus, the concept of the term PUBLIC.

Besides, just as companies receive both good and bad feedback for what
they do, posters too will get good and bad feedback for what they
post. You can't get one without the other.

Some people are very rude.
I have posted one letter. I have not aske for freebies.

Many people made many assumptions about what happened and the refuse
to believe when I try to explain what is wrong with their
assumptions.

They have assumed that I treat my children poorly, I have a holier
than holier than thou attitude, I walk around and just randomly pick
fights with people because I enjoy it.

None of those things are actually true. People who know me know I am
not like that. I love how some people on the internet can be so sure
after reading a few paragrapohs of my writing what my entire
personality is. Perhaps they should stop spending their time on PFB
and become psychistrists since they can peg people so well with so
little information.

I think what we posted on her letters still doesnt top it when we told
Margaret to "drink the koolaid"...


Maybe you are just extremely sensitive, and again, this is a maybe,
you shouldn't publicly post anymore "complaints", er "rants".

In my opinion, alot of letters on here for complaints are pretty
pathetic. I'm not sure about yours, because I can't remember if any
were written by you. But like I said, alot of letters on here are
posted to try to scam companies out of free products, meals, etc.
which is NOT why this website is here. Those people should be banned.
Also, people who CONSTANTLY HARRASS others should be banned.. in which
case.. one was.. icon,brenny,erik,venice,etc. know who i'm talking
about. So theres my 2 cents. If i was rude to one of your letters, I'm
sorry but I put my opinion on here like everyone else. its just that
alot go a little too far.

I... can't...help...myself... So I'm just gonna say it.... WHAT?!?!?!
You've got to be kidding. The world doesn't follow your directions!
Get over your bad self! Ugh. People annoy me sometimes. Oops, was
that a rude PFB post?

"ts like they have nothing better to do but shoot you down because a
business doesn't meet the customers needs."

Doesn't it come down to the *reasonable* needs of *reasonable*
customers?

Nicole, most people here (99%, I think you said) disagree with what
you have posted. I suggest you stop sharing your letters if you'd
like to reduce the size of that throbbing vein in your forehead.

Y'know, I gotta say it does seem like a handful of the posters here do
go out of their way to pick on people who complain, regardless of how
well worded or justified the complaint.

Those particular people don't do much to encourage people to share
letters, and I don't personally feel they serve a useful purpose.

Now, that being said, there are also letter writers who write
rambling, poorly spelled letters where the complaint is petty and the
requested compensation is way too much. These letter writers don't do
much for Planet Feedback or the business they write to, in my
opinion.

My personal advice to newbies is to only share positive feedback. The
compliments rarely get commented on because they just aren't as juicy
to the nitpickers as the complaints. Also, you can get some practice
with formatting the feedback.

This is really funny, coming from the same person who thinks Home
Depot should stay open later on Sundays so she can get her screws and
plywood. Screw the people working there, they're just robots who have
no need to spend time witrh their families. No, the world revolves
around Nicole, who just can't find any other time to get to Home
Depot.

And her letter to Wal-Mart is a riot too. It doesn't take a whole lot
to get her wired I guess. If you hate Wal-Mart so much, why do you
keep shopping there?

Nicole, you really come off as having serious enititlement issues in
your letters. If you would re-write them and make it seem like you are
giving them constructive suggestions to improve their businesses,
instead of just ranting and raving, you would probably get a better
result.

It's not rude, it's critiscm. It's only rude is you can't take it.

As the others have said, you can leave or you can use PFB without the
share option. If most people do not agree with you, it doesn't
necessarily mean that "they" are right, but I would hope that you
would at least entertain that you may be wrong.

In your case, your "wrong" (in my opinion), was simply your lack of
tact in making your complaint.
If you took each of your letters, the Home Depot letter should
probably be written in a Suggestion matter, not a complaint. The
grocery store one could be either. Furthermore, it would serve you
better to re-read your letters for grammar, punctuation, spelling,
etc. Also, it is not normally good to type like you speak. I read in
one of your letters where you started a sentence with "Hello ...", as
you were trying to make a point.

Lastly, keep in mind that the internet lacks the ability in the pure
text format of adequately showing emotions. It is often very easy to
misinterpret the "tone" of a comment, which makes the points above
that I made even more critical.

Good luck in the future. I am sure you will have some mean comment
for me, but I was trying to be constructive for you!

Don't think of it as RUDE, think of it as "constructive criticism" you
DO have the option NOT to or TO share your letters, so you kind of
have to expect SOME negative responses.
Your letter is very well written, to the point, and convey's your
displeasure very well. Your grammar and writing skills are excellent
and I do think your point is valid. Good, Bad, or indifferent, PFB is
a great site to get things off your chest when companies ignore your
feedback while depositing your money into their accounts.

It;s like the New Jersey Casino's complaining that they've lost
millions because the government shut down for three days...but we
never see them saying "hold off people, we're raking in so much money
we can't count it fast enough so please slow down a bit" We always
see the winners but never see the ones with their pockets inside out
with nothing but a credit card to get home with.

If you don't want comments left on your letter, then don't make it
public.

BTW.... I read your 'lovely' letter to Home Depot, it's a mystery to
me why people were being 'rude' & 'acting like there is a problem with
your complaint'. /sarcasm

When I was two years old, I am told I used to bite people (in the leg
generally because they existed at the same level as my teeth). Thanks
to the greater community of adults responsible for my guided
participation in the world, I learned that this was generally not in
my best interest.

Then there was that cookie jar . . .

...but I just can't. It's a small point, but did anyone else notice
that she also posted the complaint with a smiley face instead of a
frown?

This just tickles me, for some reason. Hee.

A certain percentage of the people here are rude, just as a
certain percentage of the general population is. Just do your best to
ignore those who bother you.

I DO believe, however, that those who feel it's necessary to use
cursing either in a letter or in a reply need to stop. Not everyone
uses that language or wants to read it. I wish PFB had a filter to
immediately remove comments containing "4 letter words".

WOW! How did I miss this? I came on here a couple of times yesterday.
I only slept three hours so I had lots of time! LOL! But I didnt see
this until just now.

Since everything has already been said I will just say this...

I agree with everything Anita_New_Name, Tickeytak, Evil Erik, VC, and
Mr. Mafia had to say.

And lastly....Courtdog....you need to let it go and get over it. I am
sure you know to what I am referring to.

OK, so I found the Walmart letter in question. I read it, and I read
the first response (Quinny's). I think the response was very good,
especially since it was acknowledged that Nicole had a valid complaint
but should re-write the letter. I often give the same advice, and I
think it's the best advice that can be given on this site.
Then, Nicole attacks Quinny for responding to her letter. Any
comments/responses after that go right out the window. If you are
going to respond to good advice in that way, no one is going to take
you seriously.

ha if you don't like it then leave!

How did I end up here......... oh yeah Jet Blue Airlines is financed
by a socialists liberal named George Soros.

I understand what you're saying. A lot of people do overeact when they
comment. Some people post saying, "That is the stupidest thing I've
ever heard.", when really it wasn't that inane. Just about every
letter has its really bad feedback. Then again, if you don't like the
website, you shouldn't go on it. I don't think one person can change
every single person who logs onto planetfeedback.

Well, maybe they are right. If you are unreasonable, you will not
understand when someone is pointing out that you are.
Example:
Reasonable complaint-
You were overcharged on a bill from a company, and it took 2 months to
resolve and you were completely right and no one would help resolve
the issue.
Unreasonable-
You went to a store and they were out of a product you wanted so you
demand an apology and gas money and the product free.
Now compare your request to both and see which it is closer to.

I have not read any of your letters, but I do agree with you somewhat.
Sure, I 100% agree that some (NOT ALL) people are rude and VERY quick
to judge on this site, as well as call people "troll" over what some
may consider petty (i.e., not being greeted when you walk into an
establishment).

HOWEVER, you have to take peoples' comments with a grain of salt.
Really, my ONLY letter on here I was called a racist and bigot more
than I care to imagine. You just can't let rude and untrue comments
get to you.

????????????? Why the smiley face if all you want to do is complain?

I just popped diet coke out of my nose laughing...

let me get this straight, catch me if I fall off the chair laughing
will ya?

You are complaining, about others complaining, about your complaints
about others complaints to your original complaint about SuperDuper
WalMart not staying open late on the Sabbath.

AM I right? or did I burn my nostrils out for nothing?

Seriously. There's no way someone with her temper could listen to all
this abuse without responding. Beating up on her in her absence just
seems...sad.

So let us wish her a fond farewell. She gave us not only a few laughs
and a few tears (well maybe not tears), but she also gave us a few
precious moments of entertainment in the midst of our otherwise boring
work days. So feel free to post any final thoughts or good-byes, and
then may I propose we let this dead horse rest in peace?

Basically what you want is for everyone to say, Nicat's you are right.
Basically you want everyone to agree with you. That is not what PFB
is for. True we can help people solve problems that they have with
complaints, and give advice however we will not always agree with you.
No one was rude to you. You are not demanding something that you do
not deserve such as a gift certificate, but you have to realise that
not all people will agree with you, and if you can't accept that then
just send the letters to companies privately. I really hope you did
not come here and expect everyone to agree with you.

Perhaps I can enlighten you.

From you letters:
"I know it was sunday but with all this talk about taking God out of
everyday dont feed me this line of crap about Sunday time with
family."
You're writing a letter to a company and this type of statement is
inflammatory and will put people off from the get go.

"Stay open until at least 8."
Not a request, but a demand.

"Get your act together."
A demand and rather rude at that.

"Open other registers"
Another demand.

"Teach your cashiers how to bag food seperatly from other items."
Another demand. I'm seeing a pattern here. While I agree that the
groceries need to be bagged properly, I could've made the point much
more professionally.

Do you see where I'm going? The overall attitude and tone of your
letters opens up the flood gates. A good portion of the folks that
post here are in retail and you aren't making any friends with your
lack of tact.

I'm not replying to bash you, just to maybe show you why things are
the way they are. I mean, I'm good people, but I'm not above givin' a
good bashin'. Just not right now.

hey if you dont like the comments people leave on your letter than
dont make the letter shared.

I saw this and went uh oh this one is going to make it to #1 and be
the Jerry Springer one of all times!

I can't help but wonder if the screeners are going to let this one go
through! LOL

http://www.wxpnews.com/archives.cfm
Vol. 6, #28 - Jul 11, 2006 - Issue #235
Whatever happened to the "customer is king" philosophy?
There are plenty of drawbacks to being older in our youth-obsessed
society, but one of the good things, to me, is that I'm able to
remember a time when most businesses actually cared about pleasing and
keeping their customers - or at least they made a good stab at
pretending to. Now many of them don't even try to pretend. Oh, they're
falling all over themselves to get your business, but once they have
it, you find yourself feeling completely taken for granted.

To read more go to the site.

I won't say "if you don't like it, don't come here", because I'd hate
to see anyone miss out on this great a tool. But I think if you don't
want other users to be allowed to critique and discuss your letter,
you could easily resolve the issue by not sharing the letter. You
still get all the goodness that is PFB sending the letter to the
company for you, without any of the headache of other people's
opinions.

I think, however, if you look around you'll find that for the most
part, no one here means to be personally attacking. They are just
reading your letter and analyzing it from their personal views.
Sometimes they respond quickly, off the top of their heads, and it
might seem rude. More likely, I think, one or two people actually
*are* rude and after you read their comments, you see the same tone in
everyone elses' comments, even if they're trying to offer constructive
criticism.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - stick it out, hang around,
become a part of the community. It's not as bad as you may think.

If you don't want to listen to what anyone else has to say but
yourself then don't share the letter.

There is no need to get "furious" over comments other people made.

None of the complaints I saw "shot you down". When you share your
letters you are welcoming comments from others.

You are really being rude with your "whatever"s and calling people
stupid.

For instance, Quinny made a very nice post, wasn't rude at all but you
just wouldn't have it!

You are the one that is rude, you are the one calling other people
names. They are just stating facts. You don't like it then dont come
here.