“Everyone thinks that something couldn’t be done. And then there comes the one who doesn’t know about that, and he actually do it” ;) [Albert Einstein]

“I hadn’t failed 200 times. I’ve invented 200 ways of making not working light-bulb” [Thomas A. Edison about his trying to make a light-bulb ;) ]

P.S. Sorry for my English…

> “The post isn’t about the truth in a product’s claims, it’s about most people (like yourself) not believing while others are actually doing it.”

I didn’t say there couldn’t be 99.99% spam free solution. I simply stated why your product sounds fishy. (because of they way you present it and because of lack of customer testimonials – I have seen lots of customer reviews for other spam products).

> “Basically, you’re asking me to PROVE there is a rainbow in the sky to a person refusing (or unable) to come outside and look – and believes rainbows can’t exist – light is WHITE, not made of a bunch of colors, right? “I” don’t think so.”

Now… where I said person would refuse to take a look? As far as I remember, I said “why try to convince? Why don’t you let users test the program for 30 days and let them see yourself. I don’t think it’s matter of arguments. It’s matter of very simple MATH.”

you also missed what I wrote about FAQ file “research”, customer testimonials/sites where *customers* say something, and about the company employer names etc…

At work, the customers I support take near perfect anti-spam for GRANTED.

I deal with companies that receive over 250,000 spams a day (not in total, but for each company). When 1 in 10,000 get through, that’s 25 a day, and they let us know – their staff expects zero, and that’s what most have been seeing for years.

You’re on the pre-sales side of the fence (they try to help people with pre-formed negative opinions, support is post-sale, where anything less than 100% is investigated). I’ve actually received a few complaints over the years when people don’t get spam anymore. Generally they think something is broken, because “some” spam should get through, right? Until they check – and 100% of the spam is in the spam folder, while 100% of the real main is in their inbox. Regardless, you’re not alone.

Feel free to remove the company name & stuff – the post isn’t about the product, it’s about EXTREME transition.

MOVING ON…
It is amazing to see people transform from utter disbelief to taking something completely for granted.

I’m just trying to expand on an oddity of the proverb, but not sure how to phrase it, so I use real-life examples (as unbelievable as they are to many).

I get the basic meaning is to learn from those who actually achieve, rather allowing one’s own unawareness/misunderstanding impede another’s success/progress.

…and that you feel results are enough to speak for themselves.

My point is that on the rare occasion a real breakthrough occurs, that people quickly raise it from suspicion to taking it for granted. The second thing I notice is that until the “general population” realizes the breakthrough, those few who realize its benefits are heckled by the rest.

YOU HELPED PROVED MY POINT – you focused on “it can’t be done”, then picked apart the company’s website, and made incorrect assumptions to prove your preconceived disbelief. Rather than learning why it actually works, and who it works for.

I could go down the list, and address every point, yes, we have undisputable proof for the claims, but to what end? You can call every customer a liar, say they’re all paid off, even after reviewing everyone’s bank account. Until you see it working for yourself….

I’ll prove my point, without requiring you to work for a large company protected by this product, or me going over to marketing to get all data and contacts (who you’ll most likely feel were just all paid-off anyway), instead—

If I told you, I could REMOVE the guard on a 3HP, 10” table saw, fire it up, and run my bare hand into the blade at normal speed, and only got a minor scratch, you’d say NO WAY. What if I added that the blade will actually stop turning (from about 3,600 RPM) and drop below the table-top before I could even flinch back from the blade? What if my had was on top of a board, cutting the board, when I did it? What if I said this feature only increased the cost of a saw by about $100, for a normal professional table saw? And that it looks and operates like a NORMAL professional table saw? And, it’s been commercially available for several years. That about $40 will be spent in replacing an expendable component that makes this possible? I’m miss-informed? Someone’s pulling my leg? My brother works for them?

Unless you know the product, it sounds like just another wild story, right?

***I’ll post the answer in a couple days, unless someone beats me to it.***

The post isn’t about the truth in a product’s claims, it’s about most people (like yourself) not believing while others are actually doing it.

If your company was evaluating the product right now (as most all freely do – for MORE than 30 days), in a couple months, you’d be telling others “unbelievable stories”, and getting questioned yourself – most all won’t believe you until their company gets it too.

Basically, you’re asking me to PROVE there is a rainbow in the sky to a person refusing (or unable) to come outside and look – and believes rainbows can’t exist – light is WHITE, not made of a bunch of colors, right? “I” don’t think so.

Until you’ve seen it for yourself, you won’t believe it, and all data/testimony will be suspect – that’s the perspective of the person saying “It Can’t be Done” – that’s the point of the proverb.

***
I was simply using a real-world example that hundreds of thousands of people are familiar with and know works better than advertised (for most, as nothing is 100% for everyone).

Has ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE ever seen or experienced going from complete disbelief of an obvious fictional claim to realization that pre-conceived notions, ignorance, misinformation, or other propaganda kept them from utilizing a better way? Better product? Better life?

I swear, I’m getting me one of those saws! Just for the cool factor, if nothing else.

First of all – if you say that your product blocks 99.99% spam then it’s quite easy to test the system: if one gets more than 1 spam email for every 10000 emails then you are lying.

You said: “Trying to convince someone their pre-conceptions are wrong is like arguing religion.”

I’m saying: why try to convince? Why don’t you let users test the program for 30 days and let them see yourself. I don’t think it’s matter of arguments. It’s matter of very simple MATH.

> “when I’m not defending myself from being called a liar”
As I said, it’s very simple: if you claim only 1 spam out of 10000 gets trough and client receives 2, then you are liar.

> “How could the common public believe it can’t work, while those currently do it expect perfection?”
I don’t think that’s really the case.

Secondly – using numbers like 99.99% and using words like “UNBELIEVABLE” aren’t good without proofs or customer reviews. I tried searching over the net for customer reviews and found none. It makes me think: if this product is the best spam product in the world, why nobody is talking about it?

You also have in your FAQ file:
> “Research has shown that approximately 95% of spam can’t even be replied to due to forged “reply to” addresses. ”
What “research”? These type of comments that faintly address “some research” should NOT be used as argument.

I think there’s much convincing to be done to get me to buy your product. You don’t list any names of your company, and there was announcement “patent pending” dated back 2002 – did you get the patent? How can I even tell if your product is reading my emails (the fact you mentioned “it doesn’t read emails” made me really suspicious…) and also the fact that I couldn’t find any people talking about your product feels bit odd. Where are customer testimonials (or links to external & independent forums)?

Now – you can continue this talk about this, but I don’t want to hear any sales speech any more (you got your slot :), and I will be removing any comments that even smell like advertisement for this post.

It’s hard not to be defensive all the time when a process generally done poorly by others is finally done well by an unknown few.

People’s first impressions are based on the opposing opinions they’ve already formed – from other’s failures.

Trying to convince someone their pre-conceptions are wrong is like arguing religion.

Every day I deal with people saying what we have done can’t be true – it’s just too good to be true – it just won’t work (you’re a liar).

…and that’s balanced by something even MORE unbelieveable – those who use our process, believe the polar opposite – that what we do should be 100% flawless, with no exceptions.

How could the common public believe it can’t work, while those currently do it expect perfection?

What am I talking about?
A business-class (NOT for personal use) anti-spam product that blocks over 99.99% of automated spam, while letting 100% of the real mail through – UNBELIEVABLE.
…so what’s the bi-polar problem? Current customers saying when just 1 in 20,000 spams gets through – it must be broken! Fix it!

Yeah, whe I’m not defending myself from being called a liar, I’m chasing down the 1 in 20,000 spams that got through because that’s supposedly a bigger problem than what they had before (90% effective means 2,000 get through a day, not just one!

Today, I was getting betten up by a non-believer and a perfectionist – I wanted to patch the two in on a conference call!

Some days I swear I want to run from the office SCREAMING!