Private Question Shutdown
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Hi Keri,
short feedback to explain a little bit my dilemma:
When I payed my $1000 for SEOmoz and the Pro membership the service was 100% for me! Since some month the problems started.
The Rank Tracking and Keyword Tool went down, two of the most important reseach tools for me here on SEOmoz. The "adding of tools on a regular basis" sounds there a little funny ... because the only SEO tool which is relevant for me and was added recently is Followerwonk.
You understand my dilemma? The development of SEOmoz goes probably into a direction in which I don't follow. The webinars + the few but very helpful tools and the crawls are the only things which let me come back to SEOmoz at the moment.
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You can read the forums and blogs with a free account (or even with no account), but you do need a PRO account to be able to respond in the Q&A forum.
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Evidently it hasn't finished yet! What a hornets nest you've stirred up.
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I'm Interested in keeping in the loop on the possibility of another "2nd Opinion" private service
Europe will be useful but not essential
Maybe we should be looking to create it
- Neil
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To those folks getting a little upset by this, do remember that SEOmoz aren't removing the staff from helping, just that the private function won't be available any more. They will still be monitoring and joining in with the public Q&A.
Saying that, you really do need to have a read through some of the answers in the public Q&A as there is a wealth of knowledge and quite often, it is good to get various answers so you can get ideas.
I think I have used Private once on all my time on SEOmoz - I tend to live in Public
Andy
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Not sure about sour economists... Your post sounds a little like sour grapes!
Do remember that the staff at SEOmoz are still going to be answering questions in the Public section - just that you don't get the private 1-to-1 now, that's all.
You still have access to a wealth of information.
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..........
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At what point have I suggested it was a useless feature or anything approaching that? I also never said it wasn't useful, just that the staff are still going to be on hand, but in public, rather than private. It's not all doom and gloom and there is still a silver lining.
I really suggest you calm down and read things properly next time. No amount of caps or rants are going to change the fact that they are removing it.
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Currently most answers are done by staff at SEOMoz, distilled and affiliates. I agree with you it would be nice if we could opt to pay more and have that option still. Maybe distilled will open up a Q&A in their current paid membership program. However I think because of the tightknit nature of these companies that the business model is that stated just is not effective and can no longer be sustained. I think that's extremely unfortunate and would love to see a win-win for everyone keep up the good thinking man. I would love to see more thinking and ideas like this you never know if one might actually work until they hear it.
Sincerely,
Tom
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A quick note to everyone: it's our SEOmoz staff and associates that answer questions, not our affiliate members.
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I will certainly miss the feeling that most of my competition is missing out on some great SEO secrets. I have been on both forums and I feel that some of the Q&A's that are asked in the private forum won't be asked in the public forum. I can certainly see why people are upset. I know Rand has his reasons for shutting this down and it probably comes down to time and money. But like others i love the private Q&A and it was a major park of my reasoning for joining the MOZ community. I hope you guys reconsider your decision. Please.
Thanks James G
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From my point of view, private is very useful when you're tangling with a little yet specific issue and you want to ping across a website URL privately. Perhaps you could simply specify the nature of private (so users expect a quick 'steer' on a specific issue rather than consultancy-level responses to broad questions) instead of doing away with the service.
The 'private' offering was the main reason I joined SEOMoz in the first place.
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I understand this is a business decision but couldn't you guys figure out a different way to manage the Q&A. Make it easier to manage (less man hours), you guys are smart I am sure you could figure something out without getting extreme and just shutting down a really cool blog. Hey this community is smart I'll bet some of these Oracle's and Guru's would be willing to give you a hand. Think outside the box. That is what SEO's do.
respectfully
jjgonza
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For all of the reasons cited by Keri I can understand. I can also see the impracticalities of keeping a private Q&A going. However, the downside to closing the private Q&A would be - for example if I was to provide to show a client’s site we were working on I would be more comfortable doing this in private – it may transpire that I have to show the site as an example to the question I am asking. I am only ever going to use the private Q&A for complex questions which may involve a client’s project directly.
I would not discuss a client’s project in public, it would be unprofessional and expose the client to their competitors. What an agency does not want/should not want - is having their client’s website dissected on a public forum.
To recap – I understand why you are closing down your Q&A – and I also believe it is a loss to the community.
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"I'm not attacking your stance on not wanting to lose private it is a special thing however we can't ask everyone associated with this company to spend their extra time answering our questions without compensating them more than we compensate them now."
He agreed to pay a certain amount for a particular level of service. SEOMoz set the price and level of service, not him. He is not asking for anything in addition to what was originally promised.
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Chad, as Jamie Steven mentioned, individuals in his situation can contact us and we will happily work out a refund.
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I just asked a question because key features in my Pro subscription simply don't work.
Now that you no longer have to pay for those experts AND are growing your revenues, are you going to have a customer care desk?
Do you really think that tickets should be of puclic concern?
Do you believe other members should be exposed to this post?
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Hello ResourceLab,
Our hep desk, and numerous help desk resources, are located at http://www.seomoz.org/help. We've had a help desk for years, and using it has always been (and remains) free. When people ask a private question that should have been asked at the help desk, we refund their private question credit.
This post you have made is public, and has had about 65 comments on it, and has been viewed over 4,000 times. Yes, we do believe other members should be exposed to your comment. Most of them are subscribed by email to comments, and have already been notified of your comment.
I'm so sorry for your frustration. Do let me know if there is anything I can do to be of assistance.
Keri Morgret
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Too bad I've been confronted with helpdesk issues several times, used the questions as I didn't find anything else, received replies from your people (for instance about re-establishing the adwords data in keywords analysis) and just found out today about this url.
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Hello Yves,
In Q&A, be sure to check out the My Q&A section, especially if several people use the account. You can review questions you've asked and answers you've received. You may have missed it, but I actually responded to a question of yours in November with this same URL. In any case, I'm glad you've found it now!
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