Ravi’s Rants

At my MyWebmasterInABox.com site, I used to run a forum powered by phpBB. But phpBB turned out to be one of the most poorly designed, least secure, web-based applications I have ever used.

So, for the longest time, I had no forum software, and no official support system.

But recently, after a number of my customers had issues with sending/receiving emails to/from me, I embarked on a (rather brief) quest to find a good PHP application, and stumbled upon a brilliant, free, ticketing and customer support application called Maian Support.

I’ve installed it on my own site now at http://www.MyWebmasterInABox.com/support/.

Going forward, if you need support for any of my scripts, go here to enter a ticket.

And to download a copy of the application that powers this, go to Maian Support.

If you drink coffee at Starbucks, you’ll surely appreciate this: 54 cents Refills For Starbucks Coffee .

Going by the PageRank (PR 6), you can guess how many sites are linking to this post on JoelOnSoftware. The content is that powerful.

Here’s the summary:

1. Fix everything two ways
2. Suggest blowing out the dust
3. Make customers into fans
4. Take the blame
5. Memorize awkward phrases
6. Practice puppetry
7. Greed will get you nowhere

Post: 7 Steps To Remarkable Customer Service

The iPhone launched at $599 (8GB) and $499 (4GB).

About two months later, Apple deprecates the latter, and slashes $200 off the former.

The early adopters get mad.

Should Apple care? They didn’t have to. But they did (Steve Jobs letter).

Great strategy (in-store credit). Great PR. Gotta love Apple.