Quote:
Originally Posted by mXb
Going off topic slightly;
"Declare a Interest" is a phrase used by lawyers I believe.
I would like to see people who are directly or indirectly employed by Kobo to "declare" that fact in their posts so that those of us who are just customers can gauge what those people have to say.
Similarly anyone posting who works directly or indirectly for Kobo's competitor should also declare that. (don't hold out much hope for the latter)
Sharkus has set a good example by "declaring", perhaps the others will follow ?
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Not a bad idea. The problem I see is that when it's known who we are, we may get threads directed to us, or PM's asking for help. It's quite possible we'll be unable to help, either due to the nature of the problem (for example it might not be specific to the app, or it might be for some reason that cannot be openly disclosed, even via a PM) or due to time constraints. I'm not sitting on the forum all the time, only occasionally check it, so may miss something.
If it's missed / ignored then this could be seen as Kobo not caring, when in fact it is simply that we didn't see the thread / PM or have time to respond to it.
The other point is that if you do declare who you are, you are, wether you like it or not, seen as acting for the company, and that a far reaching thing, what you say can be seen as being totally accurate, and that isn't always the case, and again that would paint Kobo in a poor light.
It also means that I do have to be very careful with replies, lots of tongue biting, whereas if I was "unknown" I could be very scathing, sarcastic, or downright rude when replying to another user. I'm not known for shying away from saying things, but when you're seen to represent your employer, disclaimer or no, you *do* have to be *very* careful in what you say.
I do like the point about those from other companies having to declare themselves as well.
Mods / Admin - curious to know what you may think about such a system (could be a new usergroup, specific color tag for the user name to indicate a 'known and verified employee of a company'). Perhaps a rule addition, required for acceptance at registration (or after - a modification can be added to do this if one is not in place) where you agree if you are affiliated with a company, you do need to declare this. A bit harsh perhaps though?