Reddit: Hating What You Love
I have written about my waffling between different email providers here and here. Just when I think I finally have it figured out, something in the tech world spooks me and I get around to waffling again. :)
The above observations have their merit, life happens, time passes, tech nerd (me) wants to try something new. You know how it works. Throughout the process one of the sources I used to get user opinions, experience, reviews and feedback is Reddit.
Flame me. I know. It's a terrible ideal. But I wanted recent user feedback.
Postale, iCloud Mail, Proton, Fastmail, Proton, Tuta, Fastmail (maybe Proton again). It's a fascinating read. Really. Go read it if you're in the market for an email provider. During the process I consulted Reddit a lot. But here's the thing:
While many posts are informative, few are positive. Most appear to be edge-case tech users bitching and whining about how Proton Drive is not the perfect instant Google Photos replacement, and any dev could whip that out in about 5 minutes.
I ask you, think about your job (assuming you have one in tech) - do you drop all your priorities and processes because one customer is whining about how XYZ feature should be implemented immediately, and should just take a few minutes to do, so why not just get it done?
It isn't always the case, but it seems in many types of customer support, the customer that is extra extra nice, or super super bitchy are the ones who get the priority attention.
Where am I going with this? As I switch back and forth between email (and other) providers, I find myself disliking the service I have (or discarding the one I'm considering) due to the whining and complaining, and not so much because of the technical merits of the testimonial.
To be honest, I think Fastmail, Tuta and Proton (and the other ones I listed before) all have their merits. To be honest, I have really enjoyed every single one, and when I have moved on from each (or returned to one again) it is because my needs and interests have changed, and not because the program / company itself is bad.
In other words, I really like those companies and tools, unless I deep dive into Reddit. Because too much Reddit can leave you hating what you would otherwise really enjoy.
