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The New Upromise Forums: A Postscript
Last week, I posted about my experience using the new user forums (still in private beta, hence no link) at Upromise, the loyalty program that helps you save for college.
While exchanging posts with one Upromise employee, where I requested an email address for an executive at a grocer that I hoped would join the program, Upromise’s president, David Rochon, chimed in. He helpfully posted the email address so I could lobby that person myself. (He didn’t know I was a reporter or blogger, according to a spokeswoman – he was just trying to be helpful).
Turns out both of us were breaking the rules.
I figured this out right after I wrote the FiLife post, when the email address for the executive disappeared from the forums. Upromise’s community rules specify that one should not disclose (Tsk Tsk, David!) or solicit (Bad Boy, Ron!) the private information of any other person.
To Upromise, email addresses count as private information. So the company yanked the email address from the post (the spokeswoman also notes that David meant the note to be a private message, person-to-person, which the forum allows). The vanished email address made it very difficult for me to follow up with the grocery executive (who ignored my first email), since I hadn’t saved the outgoing message.
All of this doesn’t change my view on why it’s a good idea to participate in any company forum early on – it’s obvious that the Upromise execs were and are watching it carefully and being extra-special helpful right now.
But I wish the company would be just a little more cheeky. We’re all in this together – I’m trying to help them by nudging a reluctant partner into the program, and Upromise wants more partners. To me, encouraging customers to send a little love note to the potential partner doesn’t go that far over the edge.
I’m curious what the Cluetrain guys, authors of one of the best books ever about business and the web (hell, about business period), would think about this, so I’ve asked one of them to weigh in. Hopefully, he’ll post a comment here soon.
And if he doesn’t? Email him! His address (which I promise not to take down) is self-at-evident-dot-com.
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(3) Comments
That is hilarious. I had no idea that it was against the rules to do that. I commend the CEO for chiming in on what many CEOs deem to be a relatively insignificant item. I always like to see CEOs answering customer questions no matter how trivial.
Insofar as I understand the events, I think I’d side with sticking by the community’s rules. Not a big deal, but I do think communities are allowed to set their own norms. E.g., if the site posts a “No swearing” sign, in general I’m fine with it bleeping swear words.
Of course we don’t want to be slaves to foolish rules. Sometimes rules should be ignored. Maybe this is one of those cases where everyone benefits, although the fact that the grocer didn’t respond perhaps indicates that s/he doesn’t agree, and the fact that the rules have to do with privacy issues give me pause.
I’d like not to be so wishy-washy, but deciding when to violate the rules for some greater good is always a highly determined by the precise nature of the wish and the wash.
Hello!
I hankering that chose the set segment of it for asking your inconceivable, if not, sorry.
I do not unundoubtedlyably many times go to the forums. And my, my inconceivable is what is:
How do you imagine how sincere the tough nut to crack of charge increases, and whether it is plausible far-reaching disaster,
the reality that already taking place, namely: Rising grub charges has transformed grub into an global gin excess ofnmental issue.
Riots make erupted in Egypt, Haiti and Bangladesh in excess of soaring grub guerdons.
People fought one another remaining bags of rice in West Africa.
The causes and the solutions to the stuffs calamity are complex.
Iif not tough and you pull someone’s leg your notion on this, cheer response, I am least interested to catch your notion.
Tthank you
P.S. Sorry for my english.
