A copy of this post is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marrowstone-island/message/1874 on the Island Net for the electronic version of the Marrowstone Island Hellow Pages (eMIHP) and is in the Personal Services section.

Subject: Career cybermentoring services; Pete Hubbard; hubbard@waypt.com; 385-0105

eMIHP Personal Services

This just a test message to start the process of setting up the electronic version of the Marrowstone Island Hellow Pages (eMIHP)

I'll provide more details about my service at a later date.

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Return to the Process for posting Hellow Pages entries to the Island Net, or the Marrowstone Island community weblog profile in LWPS.

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Click on one of the following nine (9) section descriptors

1. Organizations (10 entries)
   
2. Accommodations
   
3. Art and music (1 entry)
   
4. Building Supplies
   
5. Computers
   
6. Construction
   
7. Personal Services (1 entry)
   
8. Services
   
9. Stores/Restaurants/Delis
   
10. (If you can think of additional sections, just post them to the Island Net and I will add them here.)
    
11. All Island Net posts containing "eMIHP" (electronic MI Hellow Pages).
    

Sections above that are underlined are hyperlinks. If you click on them, they will give you a list of eMIHP entries for that section. I will make others hyerlinks as soon as an entry for that section has been posted. For this to work, everyone must remember to include the keyword "eMIHP" and the section name somewhere in their entry, probably at the top.

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Return to the the Process for posting Hellow Pages entries to the Island Net, or the Marrowstone Island community weblog profile in LWPS.

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Click on "Add ..." and use pwd=98358 to add your eMIHP entry.

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1. Recommendation: Compose your entry in a file on your computer and keep track of where you saved it so you can easily find it to edit and re-post it when a change occurs. Usually, the best place for this is on your desktop. For those that become members of LWPS, you could post your entry in your personal blog like this one of mine.
   
2. Make the Subject line of your post the name of your business, organization or service, followed by your name and phone number. See mine.
   
3. In the body of your entry (probably at or near the top), please include the keyword "eMIHP" and one of the following nine (9) section descriptors below that are listed in the current Marrowstone Island Hellow Pages booklet:
   
   1. Organizations
      
   2. Accommodations
      
   3. Art and music
      
   4. Building Supplies
      
   5. Computers
      
   6. Construction
      
   7. Personal Services
      
   8. Services
      
   9. Stores/Restaurants/Delis
      
   10. (If you can think of additional sections, just add them to your post and I will add them here.)
   
   
4. When you have completed your entry in your file on your desktop, just COPY it, and either click here to go to the Island Net to start your post or go to your email program to start an email to Marrowstone-Island@YahooGroups.com, then PASTE it into your post, create the Subject line and click SEND.
   
5. If you have previously posted a similar entry, please delete it from the Island Net Messages. If you can't delete it, send me an email with the message number and I will delete it for you.
   
6. If you have any questions, please ask on the Island Net, so all can see the discussion.
   
7. Click on this link to search for one or all sections in the eMIHP.
   

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Return to the Marrowstone Island community weblog profile in LWPS.

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Someone asked me if it would be OK to post a note to the Island Net identifying a business  where the work was OK but the bill was large and unexpected because “I feel my neighbors should be aware … (in case) ... they also hire this company”.
 
I considered the following three possible responses and 22 islanders sent me emails (see below) with their opinions.. 

1. No, you may not post a note that informs the Island Net members about a bad experience you have had with a business.

2. Yes, you may post a note that you have had a bad experience with a business without mentioning names or the situation, and if anyone is interested, they can contact you privately.

3. Yes, you may post a note that informs the Island Net members about a bad experience with a business and give details including the name of the business.

I asked the membership for their thoughts and based upon the following responses, a variant of #2 will govern the content of posts about a bad experience we wish to share with the islanders.

That rule will read:

If someone posts a note to the Island Net seeking a referral from you for information about someone or a business that performs a certain task/service, please:

1. Review the comments below.

2. If your experience was good, please "Reply to all" to share details including name, phone numbers, etc.

3. If your experience was bad, either

   1. "Reply" directly to the requestor with whatever details you wish to share, or

   2. "Reply to all" and describe the situation and problems, but do not include details like name, phone number, etc. If readers want more details, you can exchange private emails or discuss it over the phone.

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Four (4) islanders support posittion #1: Do not post a bad experience.

1. Every contractor of any kind has some happy clients and some unhappy clients, which occurs for a variety of reasons, some of them not in control of the contractor, some due to circumstances of the gig, some because of sloppiness or poor work performance.
   
   Criticizing someone in print and broadcasting it is in bad form.  It can't be taken back, it lacks context, doesn't hear the other side, etc.  As someone pointed out, your next door neighbor could have had a very unsatisfactory experience, the folks on the other side have nothing but glowing words.
   
   I think word of mouth works best, and disseminating negative accusations against someone to the universe, in print, on the internet, unless it is being tried in a court of law, should be avoided.
   
   So I would be in favor of 1.  I guess 2 is ok, but I am concerned. And never option 3.

2. I  think that it should be necessary to inform the business directly of your satifsaction or dissatisfaction, too.

3. I don't think I'm saying anything you don't already know, but putting accusations, e.g. "John ___ is a dishonest contractor, in print for the public--the island net might be considered public for "publication" purposes) could lead to some nasty legal stuff for the one who posts it and the one who runs the net. it's a shame that such a great communications device as this might not be a good place to trade such info, but a contractor or whoever who could prove that he lost business because of what was communicated on the net might have a good case for damages.

4. I would rather reply in an email than to post on this.

   Do you intend to allow the vendor to respond to the complaints? What if the actual situation is some problem with the complainant/customer's behavior? What if they wanted more work done than originally discussed, yet did not want to pay for it or they wanted a discount and did not get one? Is it possible that by allowing all to post complaints in this forum is that this group may become nothing more than a pi??ing contest between neighbors. Would it then be possible to post about issues and disputes with neighbors having nothing to do with business?

   The original question said the work was o.k. but the bill was larger than expected. Did the the complainant/customer ever talk to the vendor?

Sixteen (16) islanders support posittion #2: Post a bad experience without identifying the person or business name.

1. I have mixed feelings on this. I'm inclined toward choice #2. I have a situation with a local contractor that still hasn't been resolved though I know he has done good work elsewhere. There's another contractor who has done great work for me, multiple times, who has done unsatisfactory work for my neighbor.
   
   I suppose if people posted good experiences as well as bad, that could balance things out. Everyone makes mistakes, but how they resolve them, how attentive they are to "making it right," is important.
   
   Maybe what is needed is some education about contracts for work in which everything is spelled out. We often do business with our local contractors who are neighbors by casual verbal agreement and I think that written contracts would help some of these problems.

2. We have had several experiences where we would kind of like to broadcast to the world what a poor experience it was. BUT some of those it was really our fault for not doing more research ahead of time: Caveat emptor.  I think number two would be appropriate, but we would need to know something about the situation, or at least the type of business that's being complained about. The problem with letting people just post their complaints is maybe there's some underlying reason they have a grudge against someone.

   We would love to post a list of all the businesses around here where they haven't returned phone calls! Good luck with your chimney cleaning -- sounds familiar with other types of service people we have tried.

3. I would like to hear about anything from anyone who had a bad experience with a business, or person who hired out to do something and did not do a good job.  The situation can be stated but the name of the person or business should not be mentioned unless the complainant is contacted privately.I have had bad experiences and would have liked to have warned people about the business/person but hesitated.  If I were looking for recommendations I would very much like to know what the situation was and the name of the b/p just to be aware.

4. Your #2 response seems reasonable.  However, in this case it appears that the customer did not get an estimate prior to having the work done and the business doing the work did not bother to inform the customer.  Two mistakes appear to have been made here so who is to blame?

   As a small business owner myself, I made that mistake once because I didn’t have any idea how much time it would take me to accomplish the task.  The customer was shocked at the final price so we negotiated a more reasonable price that the customer could accept.  Now, I always give an estimate (or final price) before doing the work.

5. I would think that the type of business could be identified, but not the identity of the business. Then if someone else is interested in having that type of work done, they could contact the originator privately for details.

6. I agree that option # 2 is the best but also agree that the type of service could be added to narrow down the field.   ie   if someone had a bad roofing experience--then they could list it as "roofing"   that would narrow the inquires to them also

7. I vote for #2. Business transactions often go south because of communication breakdowns or personality conflicts .

8. I could happily go with choice 2 – or 3 (as long as we could talk to both parties and decide for ourselves if there was a once only mistake or a pattern of problems.

9. I would be extremely cautious if I were in your place to offer number 3. Could be considered libelous although I have no legal background.  Recommendations for a job well done is very helpful however.

10. Maybe number 2. With enough information to describe the service involved so that the situation is clear.

11. I would lean toward response 2, unless the experience was so bad it was necessary to contact the authorities, in which case I would opt for response #3.

12. I would like to hear 'ratings' on businesses island people use.  If negative reviews, it would be good to have complete details so a person could evaluate the review.  What one person is unhappy about might not be a concern to another person.  At least then the person could evaluate the info as how it would apply to their needs.

13. I think #2 is an excellent idea. That way, no bad remarks about what might just be an individual's particular gripes, yet they can be called to identify the business and situation. And if it is a legitimate situation, I sure would want to know about it.

14. As for your vote on business experience. I'd opt for choice # 2

15. Response #2 make the most sense.

16. I feel that the best option is number 2.

Two (2) islanders support posittion #3: Post a bad experience and identify the person or business.

1. Number 3 - include your name (i.e. not anonymous) and some description of the bad experience.

2. 3

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• Built by Pete (first major construction project) from trees milled on our property

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