Dilbert wrote me a letter

[y-lee]

I sent the below letter to the Dilbert web Site April 20, 2008.


"Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP Media Center 2005, Mac OSX 10.3 or Mac OSX 10.4 is required to view this page" Why am I being excluded for using linux? I can change my User Agent Switcher to IE/windows and it works but I don't patronize web sites with such absurd requirements. This is all over the linux forums you are going to loose a lot of visitors over this

Today I got an obviously computer generated letter


Dear y-lee,

Yes, We know that you emailed us a long long time ago. Here at Dilbert.com we try to not let that be an excuse for not answering an email.

We are sorry for the trouble you have been having with the new launch. We hope all the work we will be doing in the coming weeks will make it easier for you to enjoy Dilbert in all his incarnations. Just so you know, we are thinning out the flash, streamlining the mashups, making the site easier to navigate as well as view the animations.

For those of you who are unhappy with the new site, this note from Scott Adams should answer some of your questions:

Recently we redesigned the Dilbert.com web site and added a ton of features, such as animation, deeper archives, mash ups, and more. The reaction from readers has been fascinating.

Let me get this out of the way: I realize the Beta version of the web site has lots of issues. It’s overloaded with Flash, slower than it needs to be, and the navigation is confusing. We’re fixing most of that over the next few weeks. I apologize for the inconvenience.

The fascinating thing about the responses is that it revealed three distinct types of Dilbert readers:

The first group is the ultra-techies who have an almost romantic relationship with technology. For them, the new site felt like getting dumped by a lover. Their high-end technology (generally Linux) and security settings made much of the site inconvenient. Moreover, the use of Flash offended them on some deep emotional level.

The second group objected to the new level of color and complexity, and the associated slowness. They like their Dilbert comics simple, fast, and in two colors. Anything more is like putting pants on a cat.

The third group uses technology as nothing more than a tool, and subscribes to the philosophy that more free stuff is better than less free stuff. That group has embraced the new features on the site and spiked the traffic stats.

For you first two groups, if you promise to keep it to yourselves, we created a stripped-down Dilbert page with just the comic, some text navigation, and the archive: www.dilbert.com/fast. This alternate site is a minor secret, mentioned only here and in the text footnote to the regular site as "Linux/Unix."

The main site will be getting a Flash diet that will make it speedier soon, so check back in a few weeks. That’s where all the fun will be.

Enjoy.

Thanks,

Jonathon

Dilbert.com Customer Service

Thought yall might be interested :)

[cardinals_fan]

I love the new "fast" site!

*bookmarks it*

[Tomosaur]

The fast site is so much better :O

All webcomics should function like this. Make the superfluous stuff secondary to the thing people actually go there for.

[LaRoza]

I got one too.

I wonder how he knew I used Linux? (First group) :-)

[y-lee]

Well I agree the fast site is better to use. I just wonder why it took them so long to respond to my letter. In the past when I wrote web sites complaining or otherwise they responded either that day or in a day or two. Sometimes even a personal response, not that I expected a personal response from dilbert, but honestly I had forgotten about even writing them by the time they responded.

Glad to see tho they care about linux users and or people on old computers or dial up.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

There's an RSS feed, too. (See RSS link at bottom of the site). I feel a little bit bad using it since it isn't ad supported or anything, but it is really great to use :)

My feed reader downloads the images ahead of time so I can read Dilbert while disconnected from the interwebs, and I get all of the ones from past days as well in case I missed them.

[y-lee]

I got one too.

I wonder how he knew I used Linux? (First group) :-)

What else would a Borg use but linux? Seriously tho LaRoza did you not write them? It would be odd getting a letter and having not wrote them. :confused:


There's an RSS feed, too. (See RSS link at bottom of the site). I feel a little bit bad using it since it isn't ad supported or anything, but it is really great to use :)

My feed reader downloads the images ahead of time so I can read Dilbert while disconnected from the interwebs, and I get all of the ones from past days as well in case I missed them.

Not a bad idea at all. Didn't notice the rss feed but somehow I am not surprised. :)

[lisati]

It would be odd getting a letter and having not wrote them. :confused:

I have that sort of thing happen quite regularly, along with notification that I've won lotteries that I've never entered, death notices for relatives that I don't know that I have, offers of a little blue pill, and other kinds of "exciting" offers.:)

[LaRoza]

What else would a Borg use but linux? Seriously tho LaRoza did you not write them? It would be odd getting a letter and having not wrote them. :confused:


I wrote them but I didn't say I used Linux.

[y-lee]

I have that sort of thing happen quite regularly, along with notification that I've won lotteries that I've never entered, death notices for relatives that I don't know that I have, offers of a little blue pill, and other kinds of "exciting" offers.:)



I didn't mean spam :lolflag:

[Giant Speck]

I really like how he personalized the e-mail.

I could not care less about the Dilbert or the Linux part.