Ask the Boss - Answers discussion thread

[#1]

This post is made as a personal opinion, not that of a moderator.

Quote from: taxiesofevil

Chemical Bro, are you writing this with your moderator hat on - or as a personal opinion of my prior expressions that the answers we have received are "insufficient"? I appreciate that having moderator appear next to your posts does make it difficult to express your own opinions. Just because a response is delayed it doesn't make it acceptable.

Bang on the money Jeremy    - my own opinion. if I made the statement as a moderator, I'd be expecting my backside to be in the sling.
I'm not trying to get at anyone here, however, all I'm trying to say is cut the guy a bit of slack. If it has been Lee Strafford still at the helm, I think he would have weilded his big stick as he did circa 2004, anyway, that's a different story entirely.
@ Wheel_nut, it was a post aimed at anyone who wished to turn the thread into a mud slinging contest
@ Midnight Caller - Gary, you seriously need to wind your neck in about phorm, Mr. Vollmer has stated already that there are no plans to implement phorm, however as aidiewoo and James_G have said, you can never say never in a ever evolving business such as that of a ISP. Personally speaking though, if phorm ever found its evil way into the PN network, I'd be out of here like a shot, and take my referrals with me too.
*takes a breath*
now.. can I get that cup of tea? 

[#2]

Well said Chemical Brother.  Some people seemed to want to see problems where none existed.  2 sugars in mine please

[#3]

[Chemical Bro] I think you quite wrong to think that anything said here - and it's all in accordance with the moderation guidelines - is going to seriously discomfort a senior manager.
If anything, the questions and comments here lack any real punch - simply because the answers we have received have been so nebulous.
It's the sort of thing that Plusnet could have crafted themselves as a FAQ.
BTW I'd seriously like to know about the outlook for Phorm and BT and especially Plusnet - see http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail/?display=news&code=cotn:PHRM.L&action=article&articleid=72431...

Quote

RNS Number : 6770P Phorm Inc 30 March 2009 Phorm, Inc. ('Phorm' or 'the Company') Korean Market Trial Phorm (AIM:PHRM and PHRX), the advertising technology company, today announces that it is beginning a market trial with leading Korean internet service provider (ISP) KT. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Korea has approximately 15 million broadband customers, making it the sixth largest broadband market in the world. Furthermore, with household penetration of around 90%, Korea has higher broadband take-up than markets including the UK, the US and Japan. Zenith Optimedia estimates that Korea's online advertising market was worth $1.6 billion (15.5% of total domestic marketing spend) in 2008, making it the seventh largest market globally. KT is the leading ISP in Korea with an estimated market share of 44%......

[#4]

Quote from: taxiesofevil

[Chemical Bro] I think you quite wrong ... If anything, the questions and comments here lack any real punch

I agree, I see no reason why Gary shouldn't press for a definitive answer and just let Mr V get away with a non-commital reply as it's a very important issue to certain people. He's not being rude, just persistent and there's nothing wrong with that.
I'd like to see John Humphries asking about Phorm - he wouldn't let go until there was an answer! 
FWIW I read the answer for what it is, a statement of the current position - but with an underlying presumption that any decision on Phorm will be pragmatic, i.e. it can't be ruled out absolutely.

[#5]

The reason i asked the question was to find if PN had any current discussions or plans to introduce a advertising revenue making technology to the network and i find the answer to be what i expected.
I find the answer to say there are no current discussions or plans to use such technology such as phorm.
how can you expect the man to say NO we will never use it. If 2-3 years from now to stay competitive and in line with other isp's that may use this business model to offer cheaper broadband. PN would need to follow suit.
You would be shouting at the top of you voice if this came true after being told PN would never use phrom.
I would like to think if this way of business model became the norm for isp's that PN would run a cheap monthly bill package for those that don't mind there privacy being lowered and a package that was a higher monthly bill for those that wish not to have there traffic any where near phrom or likes.

[#6]

I thought Anthony had answered the Phorm question as well as he could at this point in time.  Nothing is set in stone in business and if it is revisited then that is the time to take it up with him again.

[#7]

If Phorm becomes an issue there is already an add-on for Firefox to counteract it.

[#8]

Thanks for that ctech.  Hopefully it will help alleviate the worry for some people.

[#9]

The addon wouldn't stop your traffic being processed by the phorm box - it just sets cookies in accordance with Phorms opt-out rules.
Phorm will still process your web requests - it has to to check the cookie setting 

[#10]

And don't forget Phorm will be scraping websites with out a lisans, to resell the copyright material, and wen Phorm gets going I am going to soow them and the ISP for stealling my copyright material with out a lisans, so if I was you Anthony I would come clean on if you are going to get in to bed with Phorm.
So Anthony are you going to get in to bed with Phorm? YES or NO

[#11]

Er, yes... okay Gary.. Whatever you think.  How's your lawsuit against Google going?
B.

[#12]

I think we should trust Plusnet on this issue both Anthony and James have stated that there are currently no plans to implement Phorm or webwise
then that's good enough for me.
Let's face it Phorm is not getting good press at the moment so any ISP that takes it on would see their user base shrink big time.

[#13]

Quote from: ctech500

Let's face it Phorm is not getting good press at the moment so any ISP that takes it on would see their user base shrink big time.

But they don't have a user base at all!

[#14]

@taxiesofevil
Not quite sure what your getting at

[#15]

Just pointing out that their user base cannot shrink, as it is presently zero.