the kompany's tkc e-mail support list is shutting down

Over at the kompany (http://www.thekompany.com/embedded/), they have (had)
an e-mail discussion list. Shawn Gordon, the president of the kompany, has
been trying to keep the levels of politeness up and complaining down and
recently he has taken to shutting the list down completely for a day or two
when too many posters began complaining. The kompany also runs a new
web-based forum to handle some of the discussion
(http://www.thekompany.com/support/forum/viewforum.php?f=8). The discussion
there is kept more civil -- Big Boss just deletes posts he feels are, um,
undesirable.

On Saturday the email list finally closed, this time apparently for good. In
the past, after each shut-down, it often felt like people were walking on
eggshells with a lot of self-censorship and off-line discussions trying to
figure out what was going on -- and why. Then, after a while of polite
discussion, the next "hot topic" would surface, and the cycle would repeat
itself. I understand that there may sometimes be a need to control some
posters, but the tkc list was actually fairly well-behaved. And I don't know
what shutting the whole list down actually accomplishes. I imagine that if
Shawn does "grant" the tkc customers the gift of opening up the list again,
many satisfied customers will begin to shout down the unsatisfied customers
when they begin to complain. It would become "self-censoring". That would be
an accomplishment -- with little ultimate value though. The free flow of
ideas, though not pretty, is needed for the development of quality software.

I was one of the dissatisfied customers of the kompany till a day or so
before the shutdown. Shawn removed me personally from the list, took me
totally out of the support system and then gave me a refund for all my
purchases. He made me out to be the bad guy in our relationship (rude and
abusive, he said). I actually would have preferred a refund for the two apps
I couldn't use (Calendar and Addressbook) and I had asked for such. My other
apps were working OK. I would have considered buying the two apps again when
they were finished. Shawn took away my ability to do this, however. Shawn's
reaction was, in my opinion, undeserved on any account. I shouldn't be
expected to change my personality (yes, I can be retentive at times, I know)
to one the president of a company approves of just to have a discussion on
software I purchased.

I think the whole community of Zaurus users ought to know this before
purchasing a suite of tkc applications. And if you think I am somehow
unreasonable, a trouble-maker clouding the issue, just look at my 36 or so
posts here (and elsewhere, especially on the USENET
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J12C34246). I think I ask decent questions, try
to learn from my mistakes, try to help others, and complain when I think I
should. Some of my motivation is personal, but I genuinely try to be a good
community member. Besides, Shawn has shut the list down plenty of times when
I wasn't involved at all. So, this issue is not just about me.

Buyer beware -- and if you still want to try the kompany's apps, my advice
would be buy the cheapest thing on your list, get into the customer support
system, and then judge for yourself what more purchases would entail. The
specific problems that exist now will all be fixed eventually; they're just
the details this time. I'm not trying to air those specific problems here.
The attitude toward customer support? Time alone can't fix that. This is the
issue I'm airing publicly here -- off the tkc list.

     ----- Greg Conquest -----
      http://gregconquest.com

BCC'ed to Shawn Gordon