Comments on: Scripting News for 3/23/2007

By: Doofuse City

Doofuse City — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 19:48:59 +0000

Just so you know, Dave Winer censors comments on this blog that he disagrees with.

This isn’t so much as a place to discuss the day’s blog entries as it is a circle-jerk with Dave.

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 17:36:01 +0000

Surely it would be interesting to do it from a different city every week (different country? Global brands?) Great idea.

By: PXLated

PXLated — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:02:31 +0000

I disagree. But I suppose your idea is just like the evening news, nothin but bad. And the badder gets the ratings/attention I suppose.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:50:40 +0000

GREAT idea.

One our most talked about stories at the Business Times a few years ago was one with some architects complaining about what buildings they hated most. It gave me the idea for a magazine, Negative Press. Each issue would be similar — musicians on what songs they hate, authors on overrated books, etc. I registered negativepress.org but it has since lapsed.

With the Internet and video it’s even more powerful. Hmm, maybe Union Square in sf? And the great thing about consumers is they don’t clam up as readily as businesspeople. It got hard for us to find dishy architects after that story ;->

By: Dave Winer

Dave Winer — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:27:25 +0000

PX, because if you ask for products they love, it sounds like an ad. If they tell you about products that drive them crazy, it sounds real, and it’s new.

By: PXLated

PXLated — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:25:24 +0000

But why be totally negative…ask each for a company/product they hate AND one they love.

By: Mike D

Mike D — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:50:52 +0000

JetBlue is a good recent example of a company that took a pretty awful customer satisfaction situation (all of those the delayed / canceled flights back in February) and turned it to their advantage by addressing the issues in a genuine way and introducing the customer bill of rights. I think this idea has legs.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:31:03 +0000

Sounds like an excellent idea to me.

It’s already got me thinking about variations for a once a month special edition(to go with the weeklies) and who I know who might be right for a project like this. And since I live in NYC, Times Square is just a short subway ride away

I’m going to have to give this some serious thought.

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:21:11 +0000

Excellent idea!

But why does it have to be Times Square? Are New Yorkers the only ones opinionated enough?

Why not buy yourself a camera and start shooting in Berkley?

By: nakedjen

nakedjen — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 19:02:35 +0000

Interesting idea. It’s not so far off, really, from what the networks do with their “7 on your side” or whatever stations call it where they take horrific consumer complaints and broadcast them and then go directly to the manufacturer or service provider and say, “What are you going to do about this?” and to avoid embarrassment, the service provider or manufacturer bends over backwards to make it all right for the person who complained.

Channel 7 in the metropolitan DC area has been doing that for years. I think a channel in San Francisco does that as well. Or used to do that. I don’t have television anymore, so I can’t be sure.

I will share that when I complained vehemently about United Airlines on my blog I got a phone call from them and they made everything all better.

Companies do listen. Most really do want to know what the consumers really want from their products and most really do care when their products are not up to par.

I’m curious who’ve you’ve pitched this to in the video world, because I think perhaps you’ve just not spoken to the right person yet.