I think this move is a reasonably smart way to try to spin some good press and user love out of a pretty big disaster. The potential downside is that for some people (like Rickey above) the maximum freebie will seem too small.

The upside of course is that they will probably get mostly good press for this move, and it implies they do care about their users’ opinions, and probably a lot of people will appreciate the gesture enough that they don’t take the maximum compensation.

How they handled the meltdown itself tells you a lot about their culture, attitude and competence. Good things as well as bad things. On the one hand it’s easy to come down on them for only getting into transparency when things were Really Bad; but on the other hand, I can say from experience that when you’re caught way out of your depth on a technical problem, you’re scrambling so hard trying to fix it that you can’t really think straight. On the one hand it’s easy to imagine how differently you might have handled it yourself given 6A’s resources; on the other hand, look at Sony.

An interesting alternative would be to ask your customers what they think you should do to make things right. Have ready options ranging from “Sincerely apologize” to “Pay me a zillion bucks” and let them select multiple options and have an “Other” option they can specify themselves. Then see what your customers really want from you, and consider how close you can come to giving them that. And tell them about the whole process – post all the “Others,” show the breakdown by percentage of users, that sort of thing.

6A has a business to run, so it can’t really pay everyone the zillion dollars no matter how much it would like to. But it’s also venture-backed, so not in an existential position money-wise (which is part of what made the meltdown so surprising). If most people wanted an apology and a few wanted their money back, 6A could quietly give everyone what they want. If most people wanted their money back, they could explain that they can’t afford to do that, and offer something like what they’ve just offered.

Real transparency is letting people know what’s going on when you’re making decisions, not just explaining your mistakes in retrospect. I think that’s what 6A wants to achieve, they’re just not quite getting there yet.

The real reason why I have not moved on is I have over 500 entries since 2003, and I’m freaked out at having to move all that stuff into a new CMS. What happens to all my Google juice when the structure changes, etc. etc. etc. I am sad TypePad user.

-Bryan

I was listening to John Buckman (is that his last name?) on The Linux Link Tech Show one day and he said that most people actually pay the $8 or higher. Apparently, very few pick the $5.

We’re not so bad :)

And I think this is a great way for them to compensate.

Sure there are gonna be people that takes advantage of this offer in ways they shouldn’t, but typepad is not letting the few liars ruin it for everyone else that will accept the compensation that is right for them.

Although you can be cynical about it, the truth is everyone would be throwing a fit if they either ignored the problem or just tried to throw their users some pitiful excuse for compensation.

Bravo to typepad and they deserve the WOM that comes with this.

It confuses the users, so they they are no longer focusing on how much headaches they had to go through, but now they glee with joy when they choose the 45 day free pass.

Makes me soooo happy I’m with WordPress. God bless Matt Mullenweg!