Apress Publishers Update: From D- to F

Update on Apress. Predictable: Apress marketers of some sort came to my post giving their book (Beginning PHP and MySQL 5, 2d Ed., by W. Jason Gilmore), forum, customer service, and company a D-. [Update: I assume this because the referral was a search on Tecnhorati for "Apress book" tags, and because the next paragraph happened on the same day.]

They went to the forum and deleted the spam that had accumulated down its first ten rows or so of entries. Nice cosmetic change, as easy as zipping up after someone points out your fly is down. At least they left the posts labeled, “If you’re not going to moderate these forums….” It must have been tempting to delete that too.

But what about the customer posts in those forums, most that I saw unanswered for months? How about the emails rejected as spam, after the Apress authors invite them in their expensive books?

Apress, come on. Don’t just window-dress. Problem-solve. Serve your customer. Or at least communicate with him.

If you can take the time to delete the spam from your forum, can you find a minute to answer your customers there too? Or at least explain?

If you can take the time to visit my blog – twice or three times, my Sitemeter told me – and read the post with the “D-” rating, can you take the time to respond to it as well? You’re a tech publishing house, so you probably know that on blogs, that “comment” thingy is a place to click and communicate. You’re invited.

If not, give me a refund on that $50, 1,000-page book that doesn’t live up to its promise. So I can reinvest it at Sitepoint, which does communicate with its customers, answer their forum posts, and does not make false “for novices” claims on their books.

So, Apress, for ruining my summer vacation, Your New Grade: F.

1. DIY Summer Geekdom: Rough Roads with Apress
2. Update: Bloglines is Listening and Seeking Solutions
3. 1001 Tales update: Messy, but moving; and ePals update: Walls coming down!
4. Resource: Teaching Students How NOT to Comment

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