The ripping on Ning needs to stop

[Ningaholic]

This is in response to some of the thread posts going on regarding the ability to move conversations between forums and groups.  You've got people questioning whether Ning really cares about what users think and frankly, it's getting ridiculous.

I'm going to be blunt--you have no network without Ning developers.  In fact, you have no idea about even creating a social network without Ning as a whole.  Have some respect for what they've done and request enhancements without trying to rip them as a company.  Frankly, they likely were losing money off of most of you for years when they were offering free options.

So that being said, I'm taking a second to stop and say to those developers that have made it what it is--thank you.  I'm close to being able to make my idea a full time career and it wouldn't have happened without you.  Just do me a favor and keep listening to user ideas and expanding on your already amazing product.  This company is going to change the way social networks are viewed in our society...

[Sylvia Hysen]

Thanks, Dave for confirming what I could only imagine to be the case since I am not an IT guy. I was referred to NING by a genius web developer. After a consultation with him where I listed all the great things that I wanted my new digital magazine/video network/social platform to do...he told me it was going to cost in the half a million range. Honestly, I was expecting in the 50k area. About an hour after our meeting ended, he called me from a grocery store with a brilliant suggestion. NING. He explained that what I was really looking for was an "out of the box" solution. Sounded good to me. An "out of the box" solution for the bargain basement price of 60 bucks a month. Sounded even better to me! He also provided the names of NING's competitors which I checked out too, but the competition didn't even come close to the "look" of NING sites.

Bottom line...when IT guys or web developers speak, you listen.

Thanks again, Dave, for confirming what I already suspected.

-Sylvia

[Andrew Aker]

NING is an IT PRODUCT & SERVICE company.   As such we easily mixup issues that are probably best handled separately.   

Ning's original vision was to create a groundbreaking product that would allow NON-Developers and NON - SuperGeeks ( I have only graduated to IT Padawan Geek Level 3 ) to have the power to setup and run an awesome network in less than a minute, and at a fraction of the cost ( to the NC) of independent web development.  That Ning has done supremely well.   ( underlining and bold are great not only for emphasis but also are lots of FUN )

I think that we all share the expectation of the products and services we pay for should consistently function well, and for the stewards of the products and services to take full responsibility when things go wrong, and work as fast as possible to get it back online when there are anomalies.  ( Ning is not the worst by far, but could be doing alot better in this department, I feel. )

I think the negative responses to this thread are not about NING's developers, support staff, technology, ease of use, etc.  It is undeniable how awesome all of Ning's features and development are.  

I think the majority of those of us who are not happy with Ning are unhappy because of NING's arbitrary way of handling certain types of complaints or issues.  Unless you personally have experienced one of those types of issues and stuck to your guns with Ning, you probably have no idea the exact negative Ning brand experience I am referring to.   

I believe the complaints all grow from the same fundamental flaw with Ning;  Ning listens to what it wants to, and blocks out or drowns out what it doesn't want to hear.  When the higher-ups decide to drop a double surprise price hike, change policy or take away key features, this is what we get  frustrated with.  That isn't the biggest issue though really.  It's when we just get ignored or our problems trivialized when trying to communicate with Ning this compounds the issue.  All of these issues over years of Ning subscription result in some very irate NCs.

 

The great Ning support people like Eric Suez and others just have to carry out orders from the top, whether they agree or not.  You can be sure that if they don't agree with any of Ning's Politburo decisions, you won't hear about it here or anywhere.   

As for Dave and Sylvia it's great that ya'll have enough cashflow that 60usd a month is so inexpensive compared to 50k or half million or having to sell one of your Ferraris to pay for a website.  

I am not privy to the personal demographic details of the 90k plus NING network owners but I think it would be safe to say that you are the 1% and we are the 99%.   

That kind of talk really makes Ning look like the rich man's hobby, and I think that you only serve to undermine Ning's brand by talking this way here.    

This is a far cry from what attracted me and so many other NCs ( especially education NCs ) to Ning in the first place.  I use Ning to provide free education ( free now and free always ) because our ideals are that knowledge and quality education should be free.  Some of the most remarkable people come from the poorest places.  Sometimes I wonder if Ning's execs ever think back to the days when Ning was all just an idea waiting to be made into reality.   

@Dave You can downplay people's malcontent by calling it whining but there are real issues here that affect real people's lives.  It might seem small to NING to have 1000 out of 90,000 NCs wanting to migrate away but to many NCs our network is our whole world and we are really caught between a rock and a hard place, and NING KNOWS THIS.

I love Ning like I love China.  It is the greatest thing to ever happen to me and the biggest source of excitement, challenge and frustration in my professional and personal life.  

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to my site down and walk away.  ( We all know that migrating would be starting from ZERO again... )  Then I remember all of the countless hours of work and pure force of will to get the site running and people trained in how to use it, and then people trained in how to train people on how to use it.   I remember all of the people that are benefiting from its use.  I work now mostly on focusing on the good points and try to help Ning to improve in whatever way I think will yield results.  

If you don't want to read people's complaints about Ning either control your mouse-finger better or sign up for a different platform.  :D   We are not inciting a riot.  We have our freedom of speech. You don't have to read what we write.   

Most of us that complain here do it because we feel that we have exhausted every other option for getting Ning to care about our networks.

To end on a good note though, I still love Ning and have high hopes that someone higher up in the company will take these concerns to heart and bring Ning back to focus more on the individual NC quality experience awareness more than just seeing us as the faceless masses.    

   

[Sylvia Hysen]

I am not privy to the personal demographic details of the 90k plus NING network owners but I think it would be safe to say that you are the 1% and we are the 99%. 

You're wrong in your assessment, Andrew, and you shouldn't make assumptions like that. But when cell phone service is sixty bucks a month, you simply have to weigh the value. My site is only 4 months old, so I've been fortunate to have good features to choose from. 

Bottom line, young Andrew, I'm not privileged...just very grateful. And you can't flaw me for that.

Peace & Love,

-Sylvia 

[Andrew Aker]

Sylvia,  

I am not flawing you Sylvia.  I want to make this site and Ning itself not just better for you but the rest of us too.

Thank you for making the monthly subscription cost more relative and quantifiable by comparing it to your phone bill.  I don't pay anything close to that for my own phone bill.   

I don't know how old you are outside of NCs, but you are still a 4 month old here.  

I hope you will hold Ning as accountable for your network as you hold Sprint for your phone service.   

About the 1% or 99%;  There is nothing wrong with working hard for what you earn, or just being lucky.  I am a huge fan of thankfulness, too.  The point I was making is that there seems to be an unnecessary, antagonistic and condescending tone on this website from certain individuals in regards to the difference in opinion on price, experience level, time subscribed to Ning, belief in Ning, love of Ning, etc.  

You are living proof of how awesome Ning's brand power really is.  You've only been here four months but you love it like an old veteran.  I hope I can learn from Ning how to apply the same principles to bring my own brand to such cult-like following.  Guy Kawasaki said he learned from Steve Jobs how to really polarize people around the brand.  It seems Ning is doing the same here.  

Also I should note that unless you work for Ning ( ...do you work for Ning??  ) in upper management you are not privy to personal demographic information on other NCs either.  Your assumption is as good as mine though. ;)  Furthermore, Ning probably does not have direct data on the income levels on most of its NCs, the only quantifiable data it would have is the number of premium members vs. mini plans or freemiums ( oops, no more freemiums these days ) which is not necessarily a true indicator of how privileged the average NC is anyhow.  

This kind of debate detracts from the real issues at hand;  

- Ning is not perfect, and never will be.  ( Stoicism helps with this )

- Some members are pretty dissatisfied, and may never be.  ( Zen helps with this; Happiness is our own choice )

- We are all here discussing these issues because we are on the SAME TEAM, trying to help each other.     ( Being a Creator helps with this )

 

[Sylvia Hysen]

I hope you will hold Ning as accountable for your network as you hold Sprint for your phone service.   

I hate my telephone carrier. They rip me off, but they have a monopoly. I hope that is not NING's plan. In the meantime, I'm just happy there is a community to help me with my site. That is the long and short of it.

[Andrew Aker]

@Dave it seems your network is down.  I can't load it.

[Ted @ CareGiving Live!]

"LEAVE NING ALONE!,   NOW!"

(Sorry, couldn't resist. I've been looking at this post for a while and had to get this outta my sysytem. Ya know I love Ning.)

[Writer Chick {Diane}]

Hahahahaha!  Love it!

[Writer Chick {Diane}]

The bottom line is that some people are polite and some aren't. 

Some handle disappointment like adults and some don't. 

It would seem that by the time a person reaches a certain age that they would realize they can't have everything they want, when they want it and in perfect working order.  I learned that a LONG time ago!  I think it was back when I still believed in Santa Claus and then found out he wasn't real.  I accepted it, got over it and carried on with the rest of my life. LOL

[dex meaans]

Diane, I read your post to my wife she was rolling on the floor thanks for belly laugh, this whole thread  is why I dont have a forum section on my site.

[Sylvia Hysen]

Ditto...but I still kind of believe in Santa Claus...you almost have to when you play him every year!