NoVA_CoxUser
Stand back from the cage -- The RF bites
Premium
join:2004-07-06
Alexandria, VA
 ·Cox HSI
4 edits | reply to coxengr
Re: Gulf Coast test info
said by coxengr  : ... our research definitely does indicate that most people find this helpful ... If by "this" you mean (from your OP):
quote:
... help the average user more quickly reach their web destinations ...
I think that "most people" in a market survey would agree to that goal.
However -- recognizing that this is still a "test" -- what does the current redirection to "paid product placement" have to do w/ that achieving the stated goal?
What on Earth does the redirect page posted here do to help "Joe Average User" find DSL Reports? |
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BillRoland
Premium
join:2001-01-21
Ocala, FL
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| reply to coxengr
I have to agree with what NoVA_CoxUser observed previous to my post, in that I'm sure "most people" would think its a great idea to have obvious errors in site entry pointed out to them for quick and easy correction. However, without knowing WHAT exactly those same people were being asked, its hard to know how much confidence you can have in that research. For example, if I ask the average Joe if they would like it if "Cox made the internet easier for you to use?" how many mom and pop Average Joe's are going to say "No, thanks." Not many. The problem with "market research" is that there is a tendency to get inside a bubble and convince yourself that you've got the next big thing, when in fact you don't have a clue about those people. "New Coke," anyone? Oh, yeah, the research definitely proved they had a winner in that one, except everybody hated it. Whoops, better luck next time.
I've got a list of things Cox can work on that doesn't involve messing up DNS and loading it down with ads that don't have a thing to do with what you were trying to get. Where is the SSL web mail that has been promised to be in development for a year (as someone who has done it, I can't fathom why its taken more than a day, much less a year), how about WebSpace that we can actually use (i.e. more than 10mb), and some kind of picture album system so I can upload photos easily and share them? Newsgroups that are actually usable would also be nice (I tried using them the other day after several months of giving up, and I find they STILL haven't fixed the "too many connections" bugs, really really poor showing on that one). New Cox.net portals would really be nice too, the current version of them looks primitive, not to mention the "news" content on the one for Central Florida comes from Jacksonville...which is two hours away from here.
Actually, I just had a great idea. Put an option in Internet Tools where you can toggle the DNS option on or off. If you want it, your modem gets DHCP info for those broken DNS servers, if you don't want it, you get DHCP info for the working DNS servers. I know, I'm dreaming, but it sounds nice.
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"Don't steal. The government hates competition." |
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round_toit
Premium
join:2005-02-01
Pensacola, FL
| reply to coxengr
Coxengr, I was employed by a large corporation for 37 years. I have seen my share of "study groups" "teams" and "surveys". I betcha I can write a survey and then interpret it so that whatever the question is the survey will reflect that people either like it or have no problem with it.
I have been there, seen it done, been involved with it, and then put up with the flack just because management wanted it that way.
Management was going to get their way, regardless of what anyone else said and no person should get in the way, unless that want a job somewhere else. I know you can't comment on issues such as this.
But, as someone who has been "involved in improvement roll-outs" I would not throw flack directly at you, but at the organizational culture.
Good luck guy, you are gonna need it. |
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fatness
subtle
Janitor
join:2000-11-17
fishing
 ·EarthLink
Host:
Earthlink DSL
TekSavvy
Forum Feature Requ..
Need Site Help?
Rants, Raves, and ..
| reply to coxengr
You're doing a difficult job here selling something that people don't like and are not going to like, and I don't envy you. The best you'll get from uninformed users is "I guess that's the way the internet works now".said by coxengr :And as much as it may seem counterintuitive to you, our research definitely does indicate that most people find this helpful. In all honesty I find that difficult to believe. I'd like to see the research. Questions like "If you typed a web address wrong, would you like to be given a choice of similar sites?" would certainly get favorable responses, while questions like "If you typed a web address wrong, would you like to be redirected to an advertising page?" would not. What exactly was the test audience asked?
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Sure, that'll work.. |
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NoVA_CoxUser
Stand back from the cage -- The RF bites
Premium
join:2004-07-06
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
2 edits | said by fatness : ... You're doing a difficult job here selling something that people don't like and are not going to like, and I don't envy you ... Agreed; and I think I'm safe in saying that none of our comments are directed at coxengr personally; but rather at "the system" of which he is only one part.
Along those lines ... a DO find it interesting that this was first posted here on BBR ... rather than as a "press release" ... or quietly implemented as a fait accompli ... which some knowledgeable user would eventually discover and post here.
It think it might signal a genuine effort by Cox management to incorporate feedback from "non-traditional" customer contact channels ... and that would be a good thing.  |
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cob_
1310nm Of Goodness
Premium
join:2003-07-08
Tulsa, OK
| reply to coxengr
Ad results are a blatant revenue grab. If Cox wants to genuinely assist their customers with relevant typo results, it would be best to offload typos to a reputable search engine. I'd really rather not have the less technically inclined in my house getting spam results and clicking away at possibly malignant links when they typo TLDs.
Hopefully the dslreports results are representative of a mistake or minority of bad results and not what everyone else is thinking.
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"No matter how hard you push and no matter what the priority, you can't increase the speed of light."
- RFC 1925 |
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krod
meh
join:2007-04-08
| reply to coxengr
said by coxengr :Again - for those that don't personally like this, there's an opt out option that's "RFC compliant". It will go away and you don't have to see any of it. This is just to appease the objectors while its in testing... then mgmt will decide its to cost prohibitive to have two dns systems, and cut the other one that doesn't generate revenue. or not enough of the masses of idiots use it so we dont need it. (hell cox didnt have a working single system for awhile there)
IE has this functionally already, it goes to MSN doesnt it?
FF has it too, most are off by default. whyy not change this setting with the cox install software?... that way only the true people needing handholding get this functionality. |
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bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus | reply to coxengr
Any word on if this will be affecting CBS users ?
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Prove it... |
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robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL | Doubtful.
This is just for us residential customers only. I'm still trying to block this with my netgear router and still no avail... GURR.
Rob |
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robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL
 ·Cox VOIP
| Here is an another example of pay per clicks - note the address on the cox homepage. This should be clearly marked SPONSORED This isn't as sleazy as the finder.cox.net thing is but it's up there.
Rob |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| reply to coxengr
said by coxengr :our research definitely does indicate that most people find this helpful. And who are those "most people"? the people that work in the bean counting department?
From what i'm seeing on ANY provider that tries this "most people"s posts are gripes about it.
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth |
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gjgfjfgj
join:2006-04-07
Tucson, AZ
2 edits | reply to krod
said by krod :IE has this functionally already, it goes to MSN doesnt it? FF has it too, most are off by default. whyy not change this setting with the cox install software?... that way only the true people needing handholding get this functionality. That's an excellent idea, but Cox probably won't like it because they won't get their ad revenue.
If Cox really does want to do this right, then the way to do it is have the client handle the fact that the domain doesn't exist in whatever easy, friendly way they want. The thing NOT to do is go and break DNS by having it lie to the client about the domain. |
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robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL | How about just showing a 404 page instead? Hopefully, that will return.
I miss the firefox 404 page 
Rob |
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NoVA_CoxUser
Stand back from the cage -- The RF bites
Premium
join:2004-07-06
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
4 edits | reply to dvd536
said by dvd536 : ... And who are those "most people"? ... LOL
The same survey group who say that "SSL for Webmail UID/Password security isn't important" ... and not that long ago were saying that "3000/512 speeds are all we'll ever need".
To reemphasize what round_toit clearly pointed-out in his earlier post ... Any "research plan" can always be (and too often is) crafted to achieve the "desired" outcome. |
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wierdo
join:2001-02-16
Tulsa, OK
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Teliax VOIP
| reply to coxengr
said by coxengr :Again - for those that don't personally like this, there's an opt out option that's "RFC compliant". It will go away and you don't have to see any of it. When will your DHCP servers be providing the RFC compliant servers in their responses, or will you be pushing the costs of working around your "scheme" onto your users? What am I to do for my clients whose infrastructure I cannot access from a thousand miles away to make this change, since I (apparently stupidly) relied on your providing correct DNS when I set up their networks?
Why not just make the software that the users you are targeting with this "feature" will almost inevitably install, simply because they don't know they don't have to, do this instead? A proxy server (whether run on their computer directly, or just configured by the Cox installer) would be far more useful (and "correct") than this misfeature. |
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robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL
·Cox VOIP
| How do you "opt out" of this? By default, this should be OFF until the customer wants it ON.
I did another test and typed qvc.inn and got "HSN" Talk about stupidity.
Thank you for reading our comments. You guys should just provide a portal to the world with no BS attached to it.
If were paying an obscene amount of money for this, we shouldn't need "sponsored" searches. (Especially since our bill went up $2.00 for "enhancements")
/me waits for the other telcos to provide fiber to the home..
Rob |
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Graycode
join:2006-04-17
·net2phone
1 edit |  reply to coxengr
This is a really bad idea. People didn't like it when Verislime tried to pull the same hoax crap.
At time of DNS resolution there's no way for you to know if the name is being used in a browser or some other applications. All networking software & equipment already knows how to handle requests for a non-existing name.
DNS should not be broken! »More on VeriSign |
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Graycode
join:2006-04-17
·net2phone
| reply to fatness
It's not just something similar, it's exactly that.
Currently 'finder.cox.net' name resolves to IP 209.86.66.97 . That IP belongs to Earthlink.
Cox seems to enjoy hoaxing people, or maybe just their own customers. One of the links they put in customer email is for 'updates.cox.com' which resolves to an IP belonging to DoubleClick. |
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needforspeed59
Cruise Ship Just Passing Through
join:2001-05-02
Glendale, AZ | reply to coxengr
You know, for all the complaining and concerns about this test, at least Cox is putting out there for feedback.
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Of all the people I know... you're one of them. |
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bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
| said by needforspeed59 :You know, for all the complaining and concerns about this test, at least Cox is putting out there for feedback. Which they get a big thumbs up for...
However, still no answer from them on if this is going to affect the CBS users. I would like to know before I have to field calls about things breaking.
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Prove it... |
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