Member Centre Shambles

Is anyone else getting page not found errors in most of the Member Centre lists (eg most read reviews of week)?

I just spotted a diamond for the newest Harry Potter book but on clicking New Diamonds just got 'page not found'. How annoying, I use these lists to navigate around the site.

Ciao is dying a death, slowly and protractedly.

Yep I've had the exact same message, and it's really annoying. Coming up with new comps e.t.c is all well and good, but if the site is forever having technical problems then what's the point? There time would be better spent sorting the site out first, and then add new things to it. Lisa x

I'd be happier with a site that had competent staff and had a few technical issues than a perfect site with incompetent staff.

Ciao's Favourite Member wrote:

I'd be happier with a site that had competent staff and had a few technical issues than a perfect site with incompetent staff.

BUT....do we even have the middle ground with Ciao???

No, which is why 99% of my review time is spent on Dooyoo.

It's all well and good complaining about it here, but Ciao don't visit here to the best of my knowledge (the people that count certainly don't know this place exists) and the staff in charge of the UK site are idiots at best, so trying to complain to them is a waste of time.

What you have to do is get around the UK staffers and present your feelings higher up the food chain to someone with the power to do something, just like Averilla did recently, though maybe in a wider capacity than requesting the reinstating of an account.

I'm not sure how much good that would do, to be perfectly honest, but if people do try to get in contact and they do nothing, then at least they tried and they'll know that Ciao don't care and they can leave the site to go somewhere they're happier that doesn't take the piss out of them. And if people do try and Ciao do make changes, then everyone benefits because it should be reflected in the site and they way it's run.

Maybe it's not enough that one person goes that extra mile, but that others would need to get in contact. Maybe a number of voices would tell Ciao that there's something intrinsically wrong with the site/staff/whatever, but you're relying on people coming together and I've already stated on this site that I think the so-called Ciao Community is essentially selfish, concerned only about the individual rather than the whole.

Ciao's Favourite Member wrote:

Maybe it's not enough that one person goes that extra mile, but that others would need to get in contact. Maybe a number of voices would tell Ciao that there's something intrinsically wrong with the site/staff/whatever, but you're relying on people coming together and I've already stated on this site that I think the so-called Ciao Community is essentially selfish, concerned only about the individual rather than the whole.

It's a vicious circle. As long as everyone earns £0.71 a month from surveys, they keep coming back for more and seem to just live with the place being a dump. In turn Ciao don't really give a tittie about the community because they can quote the number of hits and the amount of money given away in surveys each month as an indication that everyone's happy. Until people actually start to leave in droves and they have trouble filling survey quotas (which, frankly, will never happen) they'll just carry jogging along.

I have some contact details if anyone would like them ! Just PM me, but I have to say it would have to be a well versed and constructive E-mail rather than just a rant. The problem is if loads of people sent ranting E-ails about the state of the site, rather than a sensible well informed account of what is wrong with the site, Then Ciao would be less inclined to listen or indeed take any action.

It is like anything else really, if you fire off an angry tirade nobody really wants to know and you will be consigned to the bin. But if yout ackle it sensibly, fairly and encompass all the problems with the site rather than concentrating on one single issue, you are far more likely to get a response.

Averilla wrote:

It is like anything else really, if you fire off an angry tirade nobody really wants to know and you will be consigned to the bin. But if yout ackle it sensibly, fairly and encompass all the problems with the site rather than concentrating on one single issue, you are far more likely to get a response.

Ciao members are renowned for their common sense and fairness...

Well versed email, or a rant, makes no difference.

Ciao have no need to fix what to them, isn't broken. They get the hits and they get the income. If I was in charge, I would leave the rabble to it.

I would too, to be honest..!

It is un-policeable...!!!

I do beg to differ Drew, from experience (and not neccessarily Ciao experience) I have found that if you have a levelled conversation with someone rather than an angry discourse you are more likely to get results. From a personal point of view, if I have someone shouting and screaming angrily at me I will write them off and not even listen to the end of the rant, If someone approaches me in a calm and sensible way I am more inclined to listen, that's human nature isn't it....Oh, yeah Ciao aren't very human are they !!!


Actually the voice of the 'Ciao people' if done the correct way can't be a bad thing, if it didn't get a result then so be it, but at least we would know we had tried, sadly Caio being Ciao it probably wouldn't work, but is being defeatest simply giving in to them, we will never know what makes a difference until we try surely !

...And can I just say I have never though of myself as 'Rabble' !! LOL

But...ciao isnt actually about needs of members....! So to them it is probably petty squabbling...

helencbradshaw wrote:

But...ciao isnt actually about needs of members....! So to them it is probably petty squabbling...

But without members there wouldn't be a site at all, and if members complained in masses to Ciao regarding the deteriorating state of the site i.e. an issue that effects the smooth running of the site , then surely even the least intelligent amongst the staff could not fail to see that it would be an issue that needs addressing ?

Haven't looked at Ciao from a non member perspective, has anyone else ? I would be interested to see if there are any problems and glitches from that side !

Averilla wrote:

helencbradshaw wrote:

But...ciao isnt actually about needs of members....! So to them it is probably petty squabbling...

But without members there wouldn't be a site at all, and if members complained in masses to Ciao regarding the deteriorating state of the site i.e. an issue that effects the smooth running of the site , then surely even the least intelligent amongst the staff could not fail to see that it would be an issue that needs addressing ?

Haven't looked at Ciao from a non member perspective, has anyone else ? I would be interested to see if there are any problems and glitches from that side !

I dissagree completely. The nature of the internet would mean that they would have a whole load of new members churning away almost instantly. They would still get the hits, which would still generate the revenue.

Seriously, its all a matter of perspective. From the members perspective, the whole world of ciao needs to be put right.

From ciao's, they just need members. Doesn't matter who they are.

well...ok.....the minority of members that actually visit every day/week etc....

a lot of other sites are much better specialists in their field, without a noticeable "membership" as it were..


For every member that leaves, comes back, leaves comes back, there are ten more..! There are far more professional sites out there and they do NOT need members.

I have used ciao from a non member side, many, many times...depends what you are looking for...ok for stuff like a quick synopsis of a film reviews etc...but otherwise content is too far spread to be of much use to the products I might typically research.

drewboy wrote:

Well versed email, or a rant, makes no difference.

Ciao have no need to fix what to them, isn't broken. They get the hits and they get the income. If I was in charge, I would leave the rabble to it.

From a purely personal point of view though, I'd probably still try and get in contact. They can do what they choose with my complaints/suggestions, but I would feel better having complained in the first place. That isn't even a Ciao-related thing with me... I do it all the time in the real world. Most of the time I get a fairly decent result out of it!

Even now, I have oa letter sitting here 90% complete telling my bank manager why I've switched accounts to another bank, even though it's far too late for him to retain my business.

I do realise that I am not a typical Ciao member!

Point taken f- (re: Drew's last comment),But there is no harm in taking action and complaining directly to them is there ? We spend a lot of time and energy directing our anger at the site on these forums but, it would appear noone complains to /ciao themselves. I do agree with what you say but it would be a means of getting it off our chest if nothing else and if it DID provoke a response from Ciao then that would be a bonus. At the end of the day there is nothing to lose.

Oh absolutely. Complain away. However, having it the back of your head that ciao's priorities are very different, and writing the letter/email with that in mind, would maybe get you better results.

I have more pressing priorities right now quite frankly.

Which might be tenuously linked to Aaron's point, in that most people walk away and dont complain.

I dont see the need to complain very often personally about Ciao (apart from the time they buckled under threat of lawsuit for one of my one star reviews). I post when I have a review and that's that. Might even make 9p or so but that's a bonus..

I have a life outside of ciao too, I run a business and if my staff or customers were unhappy I'd want to put that right straightaway. I do wonder if there are as many new members joining as there were , say, 1 yr ago. I have even recently seen complaints from new members around the site...."Why is my new review not showing", "why do my ratings not show", "why is the site so slow" etc. And there is the fact that Ciao are introducing more 'incentive' in the way of competitions, prizes for short surveys. Maybe they are beginning to realise that there are problems that need addressing and they need input from ourselves to highlight and confirm this.

But the members are NOT ciao's customers.

I'm in agreement in that I really doubt anything would be done, but my perception is that a subtle change in the attitude of the Ciao staff with regards the UK site could improve matters for all.

I think the community aspect is something that is fairly important to Ciao because it's one of their main selling points (and they make an attempt at pretending it's important with "newsletters" etc). I personally think it's rotten to the core and has been since the days when Trampus was widely regarded the the so-called "Queen of Ciao". If the community is that bad (and let's not forget that as recently as February, I was still being reported to Abuse by Ciao members too cowardly to address whatever issues they had directly to me), then it will, at the very least, limit the business. Improve the community and you not only improve the attractiveness to new members, but make the site stickier for those that are already here.

Obviously my beef is with Ciao staff who could make the site a much better place to be by a simple change in attitude... (actually that would apply to the community itself too). It shouldn't require extra work, extra technology or extra money. Just a little common sense and the backbone to tell people to naff off when they're being dicks (complaining about a rating, complaining about a bloody profile picture).

I certainly think that that is a far more efficient and cost-effective way of getting people (back) to the site again rather than these POW, Topic of the month, lists and video reviews, all of which are going down like a lead ballon.

Up to a point no Drew, but they do play a major part in attracting those customers :-)

I dont think the coloured dotted members do quite frankly...they are definitely not ciao customers...the white ones might be, however..!

I am anonymous when I click three stars or four stars for a film on my DVD company, but I am no more or less valuable than someone who writes a 3000 word thesis on HP17 (Or whatever HP film we are up to)