--- title: "I like it when services treat me like I treat my pets" date: 2013-04-12T12:00:00-07:00 url: https://blog.lmorchard.com/2013/04/12/services-and-pets/ author: Les Orchard tags: [disqus, dropbox, evernote, pets, services, web] --- # I like it when services treat me like I treat my pets I like animals, and I’ve been told that I’m good with them. I’d like to think that’s due to a mix of empathy and respect that I’ve developed over the years. It occurred to me the other day that my favorite online services treat me like I imagine my pets like to be treated. It might be worth noting we have cats and rabbits, which are both rather independent kinds of critters. That said, being treated like a pet might sound demeaning. But, consider these pointers for being nice to animals: * Give them a reason to come to you. Don’t chase after and grab. * If they want to leave, let them. Don’t hold on and squeeze tight. * If you are allowed to pick them up, hold them gently yet offer enough support to make them feel safe. * Pay attention to their reactions, learn what kind of attention they like. This gives them a reason to come back when you let them leave. Consider the above with respect to [Dropbox][1], a service I use more every day: * They give me a place to put my files, like a thumb drive installed all the time on all my computers regardless of vendor or OS. * I can quit Dropbox whenever I want – all my files are safe on multiple hard drives, and won’t disappear if Dropbox goes away. * Dropbox has never lost a file, never spammed me, never done anything that suggested they’re spying on me. I mean, they could, but they haven’t. I also asked a support question once – they answered it. * The people at Dropbox keep doing more of the above, and releasing things like [the JavaScript API][2] that makes them useful for web apps I like building. I can tell a similar story about [Disqus][3], the service I use for comments here: * Disqus takes care of my comments and keep spam away. They were easy to set up with a WordPress plugin. * The [official WordPress plugin][4] mirrors every comment into my site’s database. I can turn off the service at any moment without a problem. * Disqus [does run some advertising and off-site recommendations alongside my content][5]. But, even though I could turn it off, I haven’t because it seems like a genuinely interesting aspect of the service. They’re also quick to answer questions. * Disqus continues to work well, add features I like, and have yet to disappoint me. Now, how about [Evernote][6]? They’re neck-and-neck with Dropbox for me: * They store all my random thoughts & notes, make them available on all my computers regardless of vendor or OS. * I can backup or export my notes and quit whenever I want, and they’re stored on all my computers. * Evernote hasn’t done anything nasty with my notes, and have only ever made gentle suggestions that I pay or use other services. * The Evernote team just keep improving things – and every time I switch to something like [Notational Velocity on Dropbox][7], I find myself coming back. So, that’s it: Just a quick handful of thoughts that occurred to me when I was on a walk. I’m not entirely sure how this translates into execution and a successful business, but I know I like it when it works out this way. Might be interesting to muse on this further: Sometimes being treated like a pet is a trap. Sometimes it’s demeaning. I’m not entirely sure it’s a good thing all the time, mostly my point in this post is to describe the feeling. [1]: http://dropbox.com [2]: https://tech.dropbox.com/2012/08/some-love-for-javascript-applications-2/ [3]: http://disqus.com [4]: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/disqus-comment-system/ [5]: http://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/666278-introducing-promoted-discovery-and-f-a-q- [6]: http://evernote.com [7]: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/02/19/notational-velocity-simplenote-and-dropbox-bring-child-like-wo/