# Some questions for Ed Zotti (re Barn House) **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 5, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165 "2008-09-05T12:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/21 "2008-09-06T17:39:48Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > **Mr. Zotti** , do you have any more improvements in the works for the upcoming months? We have all kinds of plans, which you’ll be hearing about in due course, but I’ve got a lot of ducks to get in a row first. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/22 "2008-09-06T17:41:33Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > So maximising profits is tempered by your desire for the Dope to be as you would like it to be? Right. If I may ask, are we going somewhere with this? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/23 "2008-09-06T17:45:13Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > You mean the forum you never post in yourself? What does that have to do with anything? I was asking how a vision of civility for the board squares with the board’s explicitly uncivil forum. Since I did not claim to have such a vision, why shouldn’t I ask the question? ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/24 "2008-09-06T17:47:36Z")
I noticed the IMG function is turned on in The Barn House, is this an experiment to see how a)we use it and b)how it affects performance or is this a long term feature relavant to the topic? ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/25 "2008-09-06T18:15:23Z")
> [@nd\_n8](#): > > I noticed the IMG function is turned on in The Barn House, is this an experiment to see how a)we use it and b)how it affects performance or is this a long term feature relavant to the topic? Oversight, supposed to be off now. Let me know if you discover to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/26 "2008-09-06T18:17:53Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > Right. If I may ask, are we going somewhere with this? Yes, I hope so. My original question was how you felt about the furore about your Barn House. You answered that by saying > [@](#): > > My relationship with the SD is I’m in charge of it…and my job is to make money on it as soon as possible. A perfunctory response, that didn’t really answer my question. (But of course, one of the problems with a message board is gauging tone, so I may have misread you.) So I then went on to ask what your vision is for the Dope, to which you answered > [@](#): > > My game plan for “tone and behavior” is that people should be civil. Again, not a complete answer - maybe because I didn’t make my question clear enough; if so. I apologise. I tried to address that in my next post. I then asked if a ‘flashy’ but very profitable board would be acceptable, to which you answered that it would not. I then inferred that profits are obviously not your be-all and end-all, to which you replied: ‘Right’. Again, not exactly effusive. I have not intended any of what I have said to be critical, but I get the feeling that you may have thought I have. Where I want to go with this is to discover what your vision, game plan, call it what you will, is for the Dope. I’m interested. Not an unreasonable request, surely? ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/27 "2008-09-06T18:18:52Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > Oversight, supposed to be off now. Let me know if you discover to the contrary. Crap, if unabused I could see that as an awesome feature to troubleshoot and convey information about a repair job. If unabused that is. Perhaps the double click feature and off site hosting currently in place is a better (safer) way to go. ::sigh:: ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/28 "2008-09-06T18:27:10Z")
> [@nd\_n8](#): > > Crap, if unabused I could see that as an awesome feature to troubleshoot and convey information about a repair job. It’s off because Jerry is still tweaking the upgrade, and after that he’s got a new search engine he wants to install. Once that’s working OK, and I make no predictions how soon that will be, we might try turning images on and see what happens. I agree it could be useful if used judiciously. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/29 "2008-09-06T18:31:15Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Where I want to go with this is to discover what your vision, game plan, call it what you will, is for the Dope. As I said in reply to another poster, we do have a lot of plans, but many preparations remain to be made before I tell you more. Don’t worry, most of what’s coming doesn’t have any direct bearing on the SDMB as such, no flashing fonts, etc. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/30 "2008-09-06T23:41:46Z")
Dudes- we have had for years a forum just to discuss Cecil Adams writings- we call it **Comments on Cecil’s Columns**. So, the Big Duderino wants another forum for a different kind of literary work. Fine by me…It’s his damn board. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/31 "2008-09-07T02:32:32Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > We will never, ever have avatars on the SDMB no matter how much money they make, because I don’t like them. Conceivably we might have them on some ancillary project, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Every time someone brings up the possibilities of avatars, I cringe. When I win the lottery/inherit big bucks/get a high-paying job the board will be rewarded for maintaining standards. The lack of avatars is one of the things I love about this place. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/32 "2008-09-07T07:02:24Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > As I said in reply to another poster, we do have a lot of plans, but many preparations remain to be made before I tell you more. Don’t worry, most of what’s coming doesn’t have any direct bearing on the SDMB as such, no flashing fonts, etc. I have found that I spend at least a few times a month talking to customers about the “vision” for our company (which, like yours, relies on a recurring customer commitment). I find it helps enormously with having happy, loyal customers - it provides them with information, assurances and most of all something to believe in and look forward to. (Hell, we even put out a company newsletter once a month - which is pretty standard for our industry and almost certainly would not apply here.) At the end of the day, IMHO the cost-benefit of spending a little time here and there sharing (or in your case writing) one’s thoughts on the future of the endeavour, even in broad strokes, can be quite compelling. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/33 "2008-09-07T09:41:28Z")
> [@leander](#): > > I have found that I spend at least a few times a month talking to customers about the “vision” for our company (which, like yours, relies on a recurring customer commitment). I find it helps enormously with having happy, loyal customers - it provides them with information, assurances and most of all something to believe in and look forward to. (Hell, we even put out a company newsletter once a month - which is pretty standard for our industry and almost certainly would not apply here.) > > At the end of the day, IMHO the cost-benefit of spending a little time here and there sharing (or in your case writing) one’s thoughts on the future of the endeavour, even in broad strokes, can be quite compelling. And I would guess that when your company does that, there aren’t immediately one thousand fifty two written comments shared with the whole company and customer base asking why the word “the” was used instead of "a’ and how that clearly shows there’s a company conspiracy to take Diet Coke out of the soda machine, with an ensuing argument regarding Coke vs Pepsi, followed by the declaration that the company is in fact a neo-fascist organization misrepresenting migrant farm workers in Bolivia. The reaction to any announcement is so overinflated I’m surprised they bother at all. Doesn’t matter if it’s good news or bad, minor or major, delivered with honey or vinegar. There’s always some fly lurking around the corner waiting to post a diatribe of perceived slights and conspiracies and another horde waiting to critique every letter in every word. And of course it’s all put into writing so they can refer back to it every few weeks. “But you said…” even if something was presented as just a thought or a potential plan, someone’s going to see it as a broken promise to cry over. Those who try to give constructive feedback are drowned out by the din, so why should the management bother trying to explain or announce things when they’ll have to slog through seventy five posts of crap to find one kernel of corn. Can ya see it might be a bit discouraging and why they might be a little less forthcoming and hesitant to answer questions? It’s a message board. We’re not forced to work here; we choose to play here. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/34 "2008-09-07T09:45:46Z")
> [@leander](#): > > I have found that I spend at least a few times a month talking to customers about the “vision” for our company (which, like yours, relies on a recurring customer commitment). I find it helps enormously with having happy, loyal customers - **it provides them with information, assurances and most of all something to believe in and look forward to.** (Hell, we even put out a company newsletter once a month - which is pretty standard for our industry and almost certainly would not apply here.) > > At the end of the day, IMHO the cost-benefit of spending a little time here and there sharing (or in your case writing) one’s thoughts on the future of the endeavour, even in broad strokes, can be quite compelling. Thanks **leander** : that’s exactly what I was trying to prise from Ed Zotti. Either I didn’t word my request for information well enough, or he doesn’t want to participate. While advance knowledge of new features would be interesting, it isn’t really what I want to hear. What I have bolded in your statement is what I wanted from Mr Zotti. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/35 "2008-09-07T10:52:07Z")
> [@Salem](#): > > It’s a message board. We’re not forced to work here; we choose to play here. As a player I would like the currently nice playground to continue in the same vein, which is why I’m interested in how the management sees the Dope. Not necessarily the specifics, but more the “I like how it is”, or “I don’t like the tone of it, I want to steer the Dope in _x_ direction.” ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/36 "2008-09-07T11:30:56Z")
> [@Salem](#): > > And I would guess that when your company does that, there aren’t immediately one thousand fifty two written comments shared with the whole company and customer base asking why the word “the” was used instead of "a’ and how that clearly shows there’s a company conspiracy to take Diet Coke out of the soda machine, with an ensuing argument regarding Coke vs Pepsi, followed by the declaration that the company is in fact a neo-fascist organization misrepresenting migrant farm workers in Bolivia. > > The reaction to any announcement is so overinflated I’m surprised they bother at all. Doesn’t matter if it’s good news or bad, minor or major, delivered with honey or vinegar. There’s always some fly lurking around the corner waiting to post a diatribe of perceived slights and conspiracies and another horde waiting to critique every letter in every word. And of course it’s all put into writing so they can refer back to it every few weeks. “But you said…” even if something was presented as just a thought or a potential plan, someone’s going to see it as a broken promise to cry over. > > Those who try to give constructive feedback are drowned out by the din, so why should the management bother trying to explain or announce things when they’ll have to slog through seventy five posts of crap to find one kernel of corn. Can ya see it might be a bit discouraging and why they might be a little less forthcoming and hesitant to answer questions? > > It’s a message board. We’re not forced to work here; we choose to play here. On the one hand, you’re absolutely right - this medium (Internet message boards) lends itself to the most extreme nitpicking, not to mention a really shocking lack of civility and over-the-top insults. I think we all know people will behave very differently, right or wrong, on an anonymous MB than in a boardroom. On the other hand, I/we certainly get our fair share of criticism every time our company talks about our “vision” (amongst other things). Our customers will often say, “Why are you doing _this_, when _this_ would benefit me more?” Or, “Why can’t you sell more of _this_ and less of _this_? - If you don’t I’ll go to your competitor.” What ultimately prevails is that we believe in our business model and the products and services we are offering today, and the plan for the future tomorrow - and we try to convince our customers to have faith in us and our decisions. Frankly, we often fail, though it’s not too often that we get called a piece of shit scumbag just for trying to promote a product. I suppose my point is that it _may_ be worth trying to offer some sort of broad vision of the future of the SDMB, even if there will be some who will twist and turn that into _Mein Kampf_. (I think Ed has shown he can take it, and then some.) But for a lot of folks it might increase or reinforce their faith in this place, and for that it would be a worthwhile endeavour (IMHO). **NineToTheSky** , I thought that’s what you were getting at - I didn’t see anything in your request besides a genuine interest in the future direction of this board. So I’m glad to help (if I did). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/37 "2008-09-07T13:19:55Z")
I think Ed’s solution – a separate area for that kind of forum – is a reasonable one. Not unlike my suggestion of a sub-forum. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165/38 "2008-09-07T17:28:28Z")
> [@Salem](#): > > Those who try to give constructive feedback are drowned out by the din, so why should the management bother trying to explain or announce things when they’ll have to slog through seventy five posts of crap to find one kernel of corn. ::sigh:: 10 years of experience tells me that, regardless of industry or medium, this is exactly the job description of Customer Service. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-for-ed-zotti-re-barn-house/462165.md?page=1)