Subject: RE: [USR-TC] I'm back and I have some ideas.

From: Joel - Fox Computers <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 04:36:35 +0000

Steve,

Do you have a place to host it?  I can provide a site with FrontPage access and although I'm no web designer, I can set up a page to collect info into a database.  (I do web and database programming, I just don't do the graphics/design)

Lemme know if you'd like any help.

Joel

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Rivera [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2002 9:42 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [USR-TC] I'm back and I have some ideas.

So I see we have that list moving again. Thats great...And I was able to
make some good contacts when I was out there. So from here I want to put
together a link on my home page for people to sign up for this non-profit,
no-fee associationasically a compalint group that I can use to open the
doors a little more at 3com. I think this can  do it. THey can handle the
big accounts that seem to be their concern and I will combine the rest into
a single voice.

do you have any scripts or ideas for a page that can collect standard info?
company name, address, phone, fax, tC1000 ports, specified in quad, hiper
and the other cards.

Letstalk to today. I'd like your input. I have some other ideas for service
that I would like to run past you. Afterall you are the main tech I would
want to use. If thats ok with you.

_______________________________________________
USR-TC mailing list
[email-masked]
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usr-tc

---

From: Scott Trautman <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 06:40:05 +0000

Well, there you go!

Take something negative and irritating, but surely with some merit (catchall
"whining" to this list), and turn it into something good, a collective with
some clout, that is, if all the "whining" is digested into something clear,
concise, and presented in a professional way, you-betchya, could actually
get some things done.

An idea I had thought of, in conjunction with this coop/union/web site idea
was to survey the list members: What versions of things ARE you running, and
how happy are you with that version. Better info perhaps, instead of just
one or two comments, that say, 80% are saying TCS 4.5 is working well. 95%
of people using TCS 4.3 (x thousand ports) say that works well for them.
Etc....some collective data and bug reporting that Commworks isn't going to
publish. Lends itself to a website/database kind of thing.

Also: time is money, real interest in spending useful time takes some money.
I would (as others should indicate) pay an annual fee to a someone,
organization to lobby Commworks on my behalf. An "ombudsman" "liason"
"lobbyist" between Commworks and the small ISP community. Yeah, we use your
stuff, yeah we basically like it (vs. a sharp stick in the eye?), but here
are the things you need to work on. As put in a firm professional way,
backed by X thousands of ports. One could not expect, shall we suggest, a
Steve Rivera to do this on his own time for free, unless he has a lot of
free time, and is independently wealthy and quite altruistic. None of which
I would guess applies to ANY of the people on this list (hey, this isn't the
Rose Colored Glasses list). I also wouldn't expect much of anything really
to get done with nothing but "free" "volunteer" labor, either. Set out a
charter, this is what's expected (time-wise, access-wise, function-wise),
this is the formula to be a part of it, write out a check for $x and drive
on. And if you're too cheap to join, but are happy to reap the rewards,
"Guido" will make a personal visit to you and see what can be arranged. :^).
Most especially if you are an "all bitch all the time" type person!

My buck and a quarter's worth. I probably get some change back.

Other ideas to ponder as a part/separate/what are you smoking Scott

- "vacation" support: Who can my semi-knowledgeable tech call on for help
when I'm in Amsterdam trying to unwind? Not Commworks, that's a big huge
support contract, and not the same helpful attitude of someone else in the
business-Commworks: "check your configuration" as the answer to pretty much
all questions. 99% sure the call isn't going to happen, anyway, but if it
does, I'd be willing to pay X as an "availability" and
Y/hour/minute/incident for actual use.

- Now you really wonder what I'm smoking: A business where you arrange for
trips for busy network support people that need to stay somewhat available
even while on vacation; the "Amsterdam office" has a nice (net) intelligent
person in a nice apartment where you rent for X, he/she front ends calls,
Internet and all your pre-arranged tools are available (or bring your
laptop), you get handed a Euro-pager and/or Euro cellphone to reach you
while you're tooling around Europe, but you're contacted <only> in a
qualified emergency. Now how much would you pay TO get away? Cake and eat it
too. Thoughts I've had post screaming into the phone at $8/minute from
CanCun when the Router That Always Works locks up 10 minutes into the
vacation, and the person with my pager ignores the pages for the entire time
I'm gone.

SMT

Scott Trautman
President/Owner              www.gdinet.com
Global Dialog Internet      608-240-4638,7fax
2049 Skaalen Road         
Stoughton WI 53589       Internet Service across Southern Wisconsin