support ticket

this is for all the folks who dont want to click the pictures. better go make some popcorn now, this is a read...

Jeff--

Posted on :2005-09-03 22:06:42
Ok. I wanted to let this settle down for a couple of days before I took a look into it.

I have not looked at your blog entries on purpose yet because I wanted to be equal to both parties.

I asked Rachel about hacking-deleting the blog. She said no and I believe her there. I have to go on my instincts there and I do not believe she did that and that is not taking sides either.

Now that is one part of the problem and the second comes down to the actual incident itself.

I fault myself at times as well at be aggressive on BlogExchange at times because we have to keep sanity on the site. Making rules or deleting problem accounts is not fun .. We would much rather concentrate on the good things to make the service better.

Rachel helps on the site so she must be responsible for herself. Again myself included if one of us acts badly it reflects on us and I am not lost on that point. Being so busy does not make it easy.

I do not completely understand the motives behind any hostilities involved but I have to now look into it further. I don´t want to make judgement into a situation I just became aware of.

If you have any other information to help me understand what happened I would appreciate it.

I am sorry for your experience with us and we can only try harder and do better as a result. I take this situation seriously but I don´t want to fire somebody helping us nor do I want to delete accounts either. I am hoping this situation will improve and that you get answers back about the blog being deleted. That is just wrong.

(ask for an archive of the blog, I bet they have it)

Anyway any info again would be great.

Sincerely
Jeff
:-)

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Tickles Tapewor


Posted on :2005-09-04 04:19:05
I feel that these events started when I voiced my opinion in a comment on a blog that Rachel owns/hosts/is a member of. I never addressed anyone in this comment directly, and the things I did say were not insulting (I made a remark about women bragging about being b*tches, and Rachel's URL is bitchalicious.com). I'm guessing that she thinks I was referring directly to her. Within 5 minutes of leaving this comment, Rachel addressed me in the shoutbox over it, saying "TicklesTapeworm what the hell is your problem?". I said that the shoutbox was not the place to discuss whatever she thought was wrong, and suggested that I have an email and/or my own blog to handle it. I then asked for a link to BE's ToS. 30 minutes later, Rachel replied with the URL, and said "The main point is we can deny/delete anyone". Someone asked her what was going on, and she told them that "mr ticklesspamtheshotboxtapeworm" had asked for the link. I feel that name calling is unnecessary, epecially when I asked a valid question. The only reason I asked to see the ToS is to make sure that I didn't violate any rules (because I didn't understand why Rachel would be upset with me in a BlogExplosion venue). I also wanted to make sure that I could keep out of trouble in the future.

The next day, my girlfriend, Carrie, puts her blog up for a battle. Rachel took her on, and lost. When we looked to see who had voted, I saw that at least 2 of her business partners and 1 blog she hosts had voted in the battle. I find this to be somewhat suspicious, especially given the fact that those people had not voted in any previous battles, and in any battles afterwards.

Normally, I wouldn't have given that battle any second thought, had I not seen a comment Rachel had made earlier. She said that she would make sure that anyone who annoyed her would never win a blog battle again. I don't find it to be a coincidence that 4 people associated with Rachel voted in that battle. Yes, Carrie won the battle, but I feel only because one of Rachel's friends voted incorrectly. Member 'toomuch' voted for Carrie, but they insult her on their blog; I doubt they were rooting for her.

Shortly after this battle ended, Carrie's blog went down. Rachel's IP address was accessing Carrie's blog through 2 browsers over a period of at least 30 minutes, and was the last IP logged before it was deleted.

Minutes after Carrie's blog was deleted, Rachel came into the shoutbox, and told me that if I announced one more song, I would be suspended. Her exact words were "Do it again. I'll suspend the account." There was a period of at least 2 minutes in between my shouts.

I have been unable to find the BE Spam Policy, and after the response I got last time I asked for a link, I have been relucant to request this one.

Carrie used to have the same password for both blogexplosion and blogger. I think the reason Carrie's blog was chosen over mine was value. My blog is updated infrequently, and with mostly with fluff. Carrie, on the other hand, updates almost daily, and with posts of substance. It would be a bigger loss to have her blog deleted than mine.

On the blog "italk2much.com" (hosted on Rachel's servers), Carrie's name had needlessly been brought into this situation, which only further's my suspicion that there was aggression towards Carrie as well.

Since I made my post on Tuesday, I have neither said anything to or about Rachel. Thursday evening, her and BE member "biologisvensk" were 'pig calling' (Soueeeeeee!) Carrie in the shoutbox, for no apparent reason. Carrie has never spoken to either of them, ever.

I have tried as hard as I could to keep this situation contained to my blog, but Rachel has continually brought it up in the shoutbox. I feel that I cannot use the service when Rachel is online. I fear that she will harass me if I speak in the shoutbox, and I am afraid that my blog battles will not be fair.

I really enjoy the service you provide, and I'd like to continue my membership, but with recent events, it's becoming less appealing.

The post on my blog tells the same story more or less, but has pictures to back up some of my claims. I assure you that nothing has been altered, except in the case where I cropped the chat window pictures to save space.

I appreciate your time and consideration in resolving this matter. I look forward to hearing your reply.

Thank you,

Tickles Tapeworm

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Jeff


Posted on :2005-09-06 16:01:54
Tickles Tapeworm.. I have not forgotten about you.

I have had a long conversation with Rachel about this situation... I am still at odds with motivations involved here to why this happened in the first place...

We hired Rachel to help out and her actions reflect on us. I am not about to place blame on who is responsible for what or take any definitive actions beyond that these types of incidents should not be taking place...

If these incidents continue to take place then we have to take serious action.

I am not the type of person that enjoys reprimanding people nor firing people and taking away their ability to support themselves but again we cannot have people representing BE fighting with members .

I apologize for this incident and I hope we can make it up to you in the future. I hate being caught in the middle here and I hope we can improve on our customer relations moving forward.

Sincerely
Jeff
:-)

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Tickles Tapewor


Posted on :2005-09-07 03:12:12
Well, my intent was not to have anyone fired. I'm not trying to get Rachel in trouble. I want the name-calling and insults stopped, and I want to make sure that I have the same freedoms as other BE users. I understand that you have no control over what is being said on personal blogs, but you do have control over the SB, and much it is originating from there.

I feel Rachel used very poor customer service skills in dealing with me. I left a comment on a blog known for mud-slinging, on a post that was slinging mud. And the comment I left really didn't say anything that can be disputed. I did not mention Rachel specifically. Even if I did, I don't see why the title of bitch can really offend her, consindering she owns the "bitch club" web ring, and calls her site "bitchalicious".

Within 5 minutes of making that comment, Rachel addresses me with "TicklesTapeworm what the hell is your problem?". in the Shoutbox. First, I don't see how what I say on a blog has anything to do with the shoutbox. Second, I feel her method of addressing me was highly inappropriate. And even then, I didn't respond with a hurtful comment; I asked that she contact via email or blog to handle the situation. She chose to ignore that, and went on to try to intimidate me and add a smiley to make it ok.

The following evening, she did not tell me that announcing song titles is spamming. She just went forth and told me that if I did it again, I would be suspended. I have seen her deal with people doing far worse with more respect. I've seen quite a few cases where she ASKED them NICELY to stop.

As far as motive, I have no clue. Rachel seems to think we have something against her. Monday evening (09/05/05), Carrie addressed the name-calling and insults and attempted to work towards a resolution, and was met with a denial of there being any problem. It's hard to try to resolve a situation when one party will not acknowledge the problem exists. Rachel says that the screenshot of her claiming to fix battles is a month old (but in reality, was taken 3 days before she came after me in the SB). I thought what she said was extremely out of place, and should be documented.

It has been a week since I have made any commentary on this situation, but it is perpetuated every night by the same individuals in the shoutbox. I understand that a few people have come into the shoutbox to stir up trouble, and my girlfriend and I are catching the brunt of it. We did not send anyone in on our behalf to start trouble. I find it unprofessional that Rachel is laughing with others in the Shoutbox about us "trying to get her fired". Rachel and other members watch the blogexplosion.com/profile.php page and wait for my girlfriend and I to log in, and then start trying to call us out in the shoutbox. How am I expected to enjoy this service when this is going on? If I were to stay out of the shoutbox and the battles, BlogExplosion would be no different than the other blog traffic services.

I don't feel that the battle between Rachel and my girlfriend should be overlooked. As I mentioned before, a good number of the voters are business associates of Rachel's, and they did not vote in any other battles that day. Pairing this incident with the screenshot I took of Rachel saying that she would fix battles, I have a hard time believing that the circumstances were coincidental.

While I do not have absolute proof of who deleted Carrie's blog, we are still working with blogger to identify the responsible party. All I know is that Rachel is the only person Carrie had any altercations with, her blog was deleted 20 minutes after the battle, and Rachel may have had access to the password (she used the same for blogger as blogexplosion). I understand your position and I don't expect you to take action over this matter; I am just informing you of where I am in this situation.

I am eager to end this, as I am sure you are, and hope to hear back from you soon.

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Jeff


Posted on :2005-09-08 15:40:11
Hey..

Ok.. In terms of Carrie´s blog I support you 100% in finding out who dit it .. I am 100% against anyone who would do that respecting the amount of work it takes to maintain anything on the net..

I talked to Rachel today at length about this situation. My actions included sometimes we need to do a lot better and not jump on people. We unfortunately are shutting down so many spam blogs and keeping the quality of blogs as best as it can be on BlogExplosion and that does not help in terms of being patient some times.

I have asked Rachel to extend professional courtesy to you and to look at what went wrong here. As the owner of the site we need to set stricter guidelines to how to handle situations better (again myself included).

Want you to know this is not lip service in terms of providing you a satisfactory answer and that learned from the experience.

I extend my apologies and I hope we can do better for you moving forward.

Sincerely
Jeff
:-)

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Tickles Tapewor


Posted on :2005-09-13 22:36:11
I feel a lot of my major concerns have not been addressed. I understand that you cannot act on the blog deletion until I have proof, but I think that some of the other events documented deserve a little more attention.

She attacked me on your service more than once, and without provocation.

She used minimum of two accounts to vote against Carrie in their battle. I have a screenshot showing her same IP in Firefox and Internet Explorer. This is when she had "only logged in to approve blogs".

On one of her alternate blogs, italk2much.com, she refers to me being a homosexual ("Generally when one guy is so far up another guys ass we’d call that mega gay"). I'm quite comfortable in my preferences, but this comment was meant to offend.

BlogExplosion Shoutbox rules of conduct state:

2) Be nice! Any member posting nasty comments or making personal attacks will see their BlogExplosion account suspended or deleted!

Rachel and member biologisvensk have clearly violated this rule on more than one occasion.

In light of all this, I'd like to request that Rachel and biologisvensk have their user accounts removed, and blogs taken off of the traffic service. I would also like to request that they both be removed from the Shoutbox.

Thank you,
Tickles


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Jeff


Posted on :2005-09-13 23:19:28
Sorry. Not able to do that.

I have addressed this with Rachel at length and I expressed that is not acceptable.

She represents our company and she needs to remember that and hence a long talk with her.

She has also been addressed in how to use the shoutbox in future.

We need her help and I will not address situation further beyond the direct conversation I had with Rachel.

I will not fire anyone. Again the conduct is not acceptable but we have addressed the situation here again AT LENGTH. We do not want a repeat instance of this issue again.

This situation and the bad feelings around it have gone on far enough and now it it time to put some closure to this issue.

Thanks
Jeff

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Tickles Tapewor


Posted on :2005-09-13 23:29:54
Again, I didn't ask you to fire anyone. The message you're conveying to me is that the rules only apply to some.

The only reason this situation has gone on this long is that you have chosen not to resolve it. Apparently my patronage is of little concern to you.

You have done nothing to satisfy any of my complaints, and refused to acknowledge any of the evidence presented on my blog. I have been patient, but the tone of your last response to me is unacceptable. I also find it suspicious that all notifications I receive about the support ticket arrive via rachel@blogexplosion.

I would like an explanation of why you are unable to fulfill my request.


-------------------------------

Jeff


Posted on :2005-09-14 00:54:24
What is it that you want me to do for your request?

This is not via Rachel -- unless I am missing something.

I am not firing her or deleting their accounts. So with that in mind I am not sure what your next steps are. If you want to post this entire thread like everyone else does I understand but our decision is final.

Your patronage is important to us and we have now spent considerable time trying to fix it.

This conversation is not seeming to go anywhere and that saddens me but I again have made my position clear and does NOT show a lack of respect.

If people were fired everytime they made a mistake nobody would have a job. I will not be forced to make a decision because you pressure me to.

Jeff

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Jeff


Posted on :2005-09-14 01:11:47
I just looked at your blog. You have it in battles and your last post is still this issue.

This is now over. If you want to run a smear job by doing battle with not changing your post then it is time to make a decision about your membership on BlogExplosion.

Sorry to get to this point but you leave me no alternatives. I expected more from you than the others on BA ---

Good luck
Jeff



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Tickles Tapewor


Posted on :2005-09-14 01:12:02
Did you even read my response? The first line says I didn't ask you to fire anyone. Any issues concerning Rachel's employment with your service are between you and her. I am referring to member account status only.

A mistake? Their actions were deliberate. I don't see how this can be construed as a mistake.

"If you want to post this entire thread like everyone else does...". That sounds like some misplaced anger to me. I have not made one negative comment about your service. I urge you to re-read our correspondence.

I can forward you the email notifications sent via rachel@blogexplosion.com if you'd like to provide me with a contact email address.

This conversation isn't going anywhere because you refuse to provide any solution at all, let alone a satisfactory one. I asked for an explanation of why you are unable to comply with my request to have Rachel and biologisvensk's user accounts removed or blogs suspended in compliance with the Shoutbox rules of conduct they are in violation of. Also, I have proven that Rachel logged in with (at least) 2 accounts to vote in the battle, which again, is a violation of your TOS.

How am I pressuring you? I simply made a request, and asked you to explain why you've denied it.



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Jeff


Posted on :2005-09-14 01:20:47
You have made your point. To smear it as your latest post on your blog -- does it make you feel better ?

Does one person hurting another make it right to hurt back?

I am tired for one of people posting on their blogs email conversations. I am tired of BA and the crap there..

I will not let you ruin the reputation of BE by not changing your post -- Point made.

Your account is suspended. The BA crowd will be cheering I am sure..

I have talked to Rachel about it and that is it. I cannot afford to train a new person right now or fire someone without giving them the chance to improve first.

Sorry again it got to here, but this has gone far enough and if you want to ruin the reputation of BE by making that post the focus of your blog and your life -- not going to happen here.

Sorry really - Account suspended
Jeff

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