✧✦Catherine✦✧Mar 3

my housemate was coughing a lot for no clear reason so i figured i'd buy an air purifier. i found one with a true HEPA filter and good score by that one autistic person who is obsessed with comparing filters of vacuum cleaners, by Levoit

Levoit includes a "Test Report" in their marketing materials by SGS and including their trademarked logo, referring to a specific "SGS ID" of a test, but no details

so obviously i emailed SGS and asked them to confirm whether such a test has been conducted.

i got a response from a Senior Sales Executive in Filtration and he Cc'd three other people in the lab that did the certification asking them to search their archives.

i wonder if i'm the first consumer who bought this device to go and ask this question, and if yes, whether i made their day

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Mar 3

i have a skill that i developed during my many years working in open source, which is that instead of whining on irc on social media i go and file a bug report. this usually goes quite well and all of the parties are happier for it

a few years ago i started applying it to entities like "banks", "governments", and "certification labs", and i get the distinct impression that most of the people who complain about problems do not actually make any attempt to solve them by talking to those responsible

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧

RE: [EXTERNAL] Re: Cert Question Catherine

this email chain has now crossed several corporate boundaries

Mar 3 at 4:25pmWeb
Show threadKurt RaschkeMar 3

@whitequark i once emailed a publisher about a DOI in a publication of theirs not working and it was incredibly evident that they had no idea how to handle such inquiries from outside the industry because i ended up being added to multiple internal email threads about the issue...

(it was eventually resolved in spite of considerable confusion)

Show threadNicolás AlvarezMar 4

@kgr @whitequark I once bought an ebook on Apple Books and hit a bug, so I reported it to Apple. Then I read the book and found an error in the translation, so I reported it to the publisher.

The publisher replied a week later thanking me and confirming it was indeed a translation error. It has been 10 years and my Apple ticket is still open.

Show threadTrammell HudsonMar 4
@whitequark I had a FOIA that was passed between multiple agencies and one of them accidentally CC'd me on the "not for communication to the requester" hand over email. No juicy details, other than this wonderful cover image that "must be hand carried".
Show threadEmpterdoseMar 4
@th @whitequark 🤔 FOIA'ing the internal FOIA stationery