last.fm and the f word

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

There’s been a huge ruckus in the user forums over at last.fm after a member of staff used the f word. Many complaints (including mine) have been were lodged, to which the responses so far from staff for a while ranged from defensive to sarcastic to downright insulting.

Some people unsubscribed. I said that if they want to use that kind of language, they can write to let me know a full refund of my subscription is forthcoming. I’d be happy to take back my money if they want to keep on swearing.

If a bus driver or train conductor used the f word to me, or near me when on duty, I’d find it unacceptable; if I were to use that language myself to any service provider, I’d likely find myself on a charge. I don’t have any problem with the word itself, at least most of the time; it’s the context in which it was used, namely by a professional in a public forum when discussing technical issues with customers.

All this started because the last.fm scrobbling software, which was unfortunately never very impressive on OS X, stopped working for many people when they installed Leopard—an OS that has been out in the field for developers to work with for many, many months.

Update. 4.35PM, same day: I’ve substantially amended this entry to take account of the fact that the guy who made the gaff has now unequivocally apologised for any and all offence caused. The end!

categories: all wired up, choons