Michael Krigsman tends to be critical all the time. Not that he’s mean, but what else can you do when your blog title is IT Project Failures ?

Today’s he’s getting his own dog food served up, in nice bite-sized portions . After poking fun at Bill Gate’s Byzantine Web Experience at Microsoft.com, one of the first comments he received by a fellow Enterprise Irregular was:

Michael
Good thing that Bill Gates hasn’t tried to comment on the ZDNET blogs.
Imagine that rant…!-)

Ouch… but he is so right. ZDNet has built a hard-to-penetrate comment wall that deters most from entering the conversation. Anyway, the story gets better. Michael received the following email from his own Mother:

I DECIDED TO BE BRAVE AND ENTER A COMMENT OF MY OWN, BUT I DID NOT GET VERY
FAR. HAVING TYPED MY THING, I FOUND MYSELF WITH A FORM TO FILL OUT, A
SEEMINGLY VERY SIMPLE TASK. LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT IN THE WORLD YOU
INHABIT, EVEN FORMS DON’T SPEAK MY KIND OF ENGLISH. I WAS REJECTED OUT OF
HAND BECAUSE I COULDN’T FIGURE OUT WHERE TO ENTER ZIP CODE!!! LIKE A DOG
CHEWING ON A BONE, THE FORM WOULDN’T LET ME GO, INSISTING ON THE ZIP CODE.
AFTER TRYING AND TRYING, I FINALLY GAVE UP…… THE FORM IS PROBABLY STILL
LAUGHING NOW.

FAILURE TO FIND A PLACE FOR THIS PIECE OF INFORMATION WAS NEW TO ME, ONE WHO
IS USED TO MEET WITH OTHER FAILURES REGULARLY. BUT TO FAIL TO COMPLETE MY
ADDRESS? WHAT GIVES?

Beware of a Mother’s wrath . Joke apart, Michael’s Mom must be quite frustrated, as shown by the all-CAPS.

Jeff Nolan’s more analytical opinion on the EI discussion group:

Actually that ZDNet comment wall is a legitimate example for a post on how complex systems that deviate from community norms discourage participation which in the end frustrate the objectives of the host.

We hear this left and right. Not only from readers, but from some ZDNet bloggers as well. And while at it, let me quickly admit I was guilty of building an obstacle course myself – although nothing as discouraging as ZDNet’s wall. And to be fair, today’s criticism isn’t directed at Michael, but ZDNet’s management.

I can’t resist (mis)quoting President Ronald Reagan’s famous words :

Mr. Gorbachev , [insert ZDNet Exec here] open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev , [ZDNet Exec] tear down this wall!

Read also: Please make it easy for people ZDNet….

Tags: Blogging, co.mments, comment wall, conversation, dogfod, zdnet