BrianKrebsDec 8

via Hackernews. It really is comical the lengths to which companies will go to avoid being contacted by their customers.

What the fuck is a ‘fuck off contact page?’

"A “fuck off contact page” is what a company throws together when they actually don’t want anyone to contact them at all. They are usually found on the websites of million or billion dollar companies, likely Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies that are trying to reduce the amount of money they spend on support by carefully hiding the real support channels behind login walls. These companies tend to offer multiple tiers of support, with enterprise customers having a customer success manager who they can call on this ancient device we call phones, whereas the lower-paying customers may have to wrangle various in-app ticket mechanisms. If you solve your own problem by reading the knowledge base, then this is a win for the company. They don’t want to hear from you, they want you to fuck off."

https://www.nicchan.me/blog/the-f-off-contact-page/

The f*** off contact page - Nic Chan

How to get people to NOT contact you

Show threadKevin Karhan 
@briankrebs the problem is that companies outside of well-regulated places like #Germany are not obligated to even provide means of contact or even list their legal address!
Dec 8 at 2:12pmWeb
Show threadBrianKrebsDec 8
@kkarhan spot on! Is it only Germany that requires this, though? Aren't there other EU nations that do as well?
Show threadKevin Karhan Dec 8
@briankrebs problemvis #Germany requires it for everyone and everything regulating all #media equal, thus those that comply are legally mandated to "Self-d0x" and there's rarely any punishment or enforcement, empowering abusers!
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKDec 8

@kkarhan @briankrebs it appears in UK on commercial websites using German software (and does even seem to get correctly completed!) - its not a legal requirement here but our consumer protection organisations such as Trading Standards encourage customers to look for the actual business address details.

A lot of businesses still try to hide them and whats worse is many of the small/independent businesses make it difficult to contact them directly (often because they are just someones side hustle with only a handful of people actually working and half the stuff is drop shipped from China anyway)

Show thread波鉄 (Hatetsu)Dec 8
@briankrebs @kkarhan The Impressum is a DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) thing from what I recall… And yeah, as @kkarhan notes, it's messed up that it formally applies to personal websites, too. Nothing quite like centuries-old legal traditions intended for censorship…
Show threadKevin Karhan Dec 8
@HaTetsu @briankrebs yes, and whilst the general idea is good, cuz #authorship = #copyright & #FreeSpeech ≠ #ConsequenceFreeSpeech, it only disadvantages those that abide the laws and empowers those that act disingeniously and maliciously!
Show threadPatrick SchmitzDec 8

@briankrebs @kkarhan I though it was EU wide, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

At least here in the Netherlands it is required for a company to have contact information listed on their website.

Show threadKevin Karhan Dec 8

@schmitzel76 @briankrebs in #Germany it's kinda mandatory and even #B2B-only companies do it to ease #DueDiligence by potential business partners (thus ain't subject to "consumer protection" laws)…

  • It is considered unprofessional to not have a legal address + 2 independent, non-proprietary means of direct communication reachable lited on site.

What is mandatory across the #EU is listing the #importer / compliance guarantor as per #WEEE…