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Things People are Talking About…

Well at last enough people are fed-up over the inane voice mail hell machines that some are taking action.

• Press 1 to report an alien abduction
• Press 2 to find out why your checks are bouncing
• Press 3 to report your neighbor to Homeland Insecurity
• …
• Press 9 to hear this list over, and over, and over

Little wonder that people are exasperated, these things never have the option you need, and when you do choose something the next list is even less relevant. By the time you get to the 32nd level of choice selection you are either told that you called the wrong number to begin with, and they provide that number again and say you should have used it; or you are graced with a half hour of elevator music before the line goes dead (the latter, of course, is always the case if you call long-distance).

So in protest the GetHuman people have posted a list of tricks that will cause many of the voice mail systems to turn you over to a real operator. Of course, they won’t work if there are no real operators, as is often the case.

In case you need them, here are two of the most reliable options: 1) simply do nothing — make believe you have a dial-tone phone and can’t press a button ’cause you got a dial. If that doesn’t work — the initial choices keep repeating indefinitely — 2) try pressing zero for every response. Write those on the back of your Get Out of Jail Free card. Good Luck.

Over on SiteProNews Peter Lenkefi has published on article about RSS, and what it needs to push it out of obscurity and into the lime-light. Only about 70% of valid email makes it through the spam filters and white-lists and other techno-traps out there. I no longer will send a long response to an email query, without first sending a short message to be sure further effort will be worth-while. I don’t know how many times I’ve sent a long, well-thought response, just to get an automated email telling me I had to jump some hoops or follow their damn procedure before the intended recipient would be bothered with reading my email. B.S. I NEVER respond to those.

RSS is better in many ways, but only 20% of web users have any RSS feeds. Lenkefi explains why it has taken so long for RSS to make so little progress, and what needs to change. In large measure I agree, but there is one area where RSS just can’t replace email, and email needs to be fixed. Those are one-time contacts. If I have a problem with a product, I want an email telling me how to fix it. I don’t want to establish a long-term relationship with tech support, or add them to some permanent white-list. I want my problem solved, then adios! But if I can’t be sure they will get my email, or that any response will get through to me, email is more obstacle than help and I’ll just use the phone — if they don’t answer it with a damn machine…