DISQUS

I'm not kidding when I tell you that totally made my day. Completely unexpected. Gary, you rock. Thanks a million buddy. Looking forward to getting some hang time when you're in Chicago for SEED and TechCoctail.

Basecamp and Backpack are entirely different products for different purposes.

Basecamp is a web-based project management tool. You can use it to collaborate with clients on projects. Set deadlines, assign tasks, share project files, discuss project details, and manage multiple projects at the same time. You can think of Basecamp as a huge filing cabinet with different folders for each project you're working on. Each folder contains messages, tasks, files, and milestones for that specific project.

Backpack is an intranet and group calendar tool. It takes just 30 seconds to get started. Use Backpack to share information, knowledge, files, schedules, to-do lists and more inside your organization. Post company-wide announcements too. You can think of Backpack as a cork bulletin board where you'd share stuff with your team. Tack up notes, a calendar, internal forms, announcements, etc.

Douglas, our blog has been the same since 1999. Our blog carries the same voice that we use to talk amongst ourselves. We don’t invent a tie-wearing persona for our public communications. We are who we are -- both on and off stage. We don't make excuses. We're very proud of that. I wish more people and companies were like that.

We share our ideas without a filter. That's how we've always done things and will continue to do things. We believe it's better to be yourself than to be someone else -- no matter the circumstance. Sometimes we swear. Big deal. Sometimes you call us "ignorant." Big deal. Both are equally offensive if you're looking for an opportunity to be offended.

We've never tried to make everyone happy. We understand some people don't like how we talk or how we think or how we act. That's fine. There are plenty of people who don't like you either. That's fine. That's life.

Since you have feedback for us, I have feedback for you. You said: "A couple days ago, their blog introduced another chunk of ignorance." Regarding: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/357-people-d...

Are the people who agree with us in the comments ignorant too? Are you comfortable calling all these people ignorant as well? Is Richard Bird ignorant? Is Steven Bao ignorant? Is Ben Richardson ignorant? Is Amie Gillingham ignorant? Is Dave Rosen ignorant? Is Scott Meade from Concept Share ignorant? Is Anthony Casalena from SquareSpace ignorant too? Is Josh Williams from BlinkSale ignorant? Would you post a comment on your blog or ours saying all these folks are ignorant too? Or will you not stand behind your words? Do you mean what you say?

Is Ryan ignorant for posting this?
http://notrocketsurgery.com/articles/2007/04/02...

You may want to reserve "ignorant" for comments that deserve it like racism, bigotry, xenophobia -- not someone's opinion on the length of an email.

For the record we've never said "we’re right, everyone else is wrong" and we don't believe "we’re right, everyone else is wrong"

We simply share what's worked for us. If all of it works for you, great. If some of it works for you, great. If none of it works for you, great. Take whatever value you find and leave the rest behind.

You may want to review this chapter from our book:
http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch01_Caveats_d...

Specifically:

"You take too much of a black and white view."
If our tone seems too know-it-allish, bear with us. We think it's better to present ideas in bold strokes than to be wishy-washy about it. If that comes off as cocky or arrogant, so be it. We'd rather be provocative than water everything down with "it depends..." Of course there will be times when these rules need to be stretched or broken. And some of these tactics may not apply to your situation. Use your judgement and imagination.

Thanks for the kind words! We definitely appreciate it.

Thanks Mike, we appreciate that.

I'll also add that we include cancellation instructions at the top of every invoice we send you. We go out of our way to make cancellation obvious and easy should you want to move on.

Chris I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but you don't need us to cancel your account for you. Cancellation is self service. You can log into your account anytime, click the Account tab, then click the cancel link. Once you cancel you'll never be charged again. No questions asked, no forms to fill out, no numbers to call. Just log in, click account, and click cancel.

Beta hype cycle? There is no beta. We don't release betas. We release 1.0 release versions.

We're just previewing the app while we put the finishing touches on it. It's not ready to release otherwise we would have released it.

Thanks Scoble! We hope you'll be using some of our *new* products shortly ;)

Have a look at this forum post. We've also linked it up on your Basecamp Dashboard:

http://basecamphq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2329

Actually, all we said was that these emails raised eyebrows. We appreciate everyone's feedback -- good or bad, normalized or sensationalized -- we just wanted to share a few of the sensationalized ones.

90% of everything we add to our products originate as customer requests. We listen, learn, and act as we always have.