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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Director of Customer Service & Support
@LiquidWeb
@GiveWP
#TeamGive Tweets about #TechSupport, #Management, #WordPress, #RemoteWork. #WCUS Speaker/Singer
Greenwood, SCbenandjacq.comJoined March 2008
828 Following
2,645 Followers

Ben Meredith’s Tweets

Ben Meredith
@benUNC
What are you doing this weekend? Only 192 more weekends (give or take) until my oldest is in college, so I'ma go watch him run some cross country.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Sometimes while trying to isolate an issue I have to repeat a mantra: "This machine is not magical. Computers only do what you tell them to do. This is not dark arts. There's a reason, and you are smarter than the stupid bit of silicon we tricked into doing math for us."
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Great great stuff, here.
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Jeff Matson 👾
@TheJeffMatson
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A great discussion came up in #WPFriday today: A few plugins will allow you to export your settings to set them as static code. I’d really love to see everyone start adopting this. Here’s why: (a 🧵)
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Two days in a row? Ok I said I liked it, but I didn't mean every day. Allow me to clarify: this was not an invitation to leave 1-star reviews, folks.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
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Nothing like replying to a 1-star review to start the morning. Actually, I really do like responding to those. It's a great chance to get valuable customer feedback, once you sift through the emotions (on both sides).
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
I have an entire handful of these Ben Meredith rookie cards that have almost entirely incorrect information on them. I definitely should have handed these out at events, back when the title was accurate.
The front and back of a business card. On the back is the Give logo, on the front is my name with the title senior support technician. My face is also on the front of the card.
GiveWP �
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Nothing like replying to a 1-star review to start the morning. Actually, I really do like responding to those. It's a great chance to get valuable customer feedback, once you sift through the emotions (on both sides).
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
I don't have any ideas that you haven't already tried. I keep coming back to educating users about responsible updating. The tradeoff for the power of distributed open source software is that users are ultimately responsible for compatibility, not us. twitter.com/benUNC/status/
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Joost de Valk
@jdevalk
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This is the sort of #WordPress plugin conflict situation that I literally don't know how to prevent from happening. 60,000+ plugins: how do you test your plugin against all of those. If someone has good ideas, I'm all ears 😅 twitter.com/yoast/status/1…
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Got an iPad for the first time last week mainly for music gigging (sound mixing and lead sheets from stage FTW) but now I'm using it as a third monitor for my Mac, and wow that was easy.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Breaking news: sources have confirmed that not only is it Friday, the clock nears 5 PM. Witnesses on the scene have reported closing of laptops, the familiar cracking sound of beverages, and early unconfirmed reports of a campfire being built in the back yard.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
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I'm at least 90% sure it's Friday. Will keep everyone updated.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
When a user closes a #TechSupport ticket with "and please don't tell me just to ______" they are giving you a window into a specific way to make their day better. "Don't tell me to…" "read the docs" �� screencast � "Add some PHP" �� hand-holding and education 🤘
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Pro tip: use a GIF as your profile photo in Google Workspace for added sparks of joy/terror in your emails.
Me making silly faces at the camera with a guitar hanging on the wall behind my head.
GIF
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Folks who attended #WCUS this is your daily reminder: today is Thursday, and yes, you're supposed to still be tired, unless you have no kids and could just go home and become vegetative for an entire 24 hour period.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Deal-breaker functionality or features of a platform should be *tested* well before the migration to the new platform. Don't dig yourself into a hole built by your untested assumptions. And once you are in the hole, don't lash out at tech support for the new platform.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Statement from Figma on being acquired: 659 encouraging words. Disclaimer at the bottom of the statement: 759 words from lawyers that make the statement have a lot less weight.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Me: always use a development environment for testing data migrations, and migrate the whole database from the live site. User: I'm just going to use these handy export tools on the live site! Me: definitely do not do that. User: My site is broken now. This is urgent. Me:
a man slams his head into a desk.
GIF
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Other payment gateways: we'll send that event over the webhook immediately! P a y P a l: We'll *say* we sent it immediately, but we're definitely not going to send it within the 10 minutes you need to satisfy your E2E test limits. Why would we do that?
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
I know this is not how timezones work, but it feels like 8 PM at 4:30 PM thanks to my #WCUS jet lag. Send coffee, but I'm not gonna drink it because then I'll be up all night.
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
I wave at literally everyone in the same physical room as me, on every video call.
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GiveWP �
@GiveWP
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Replying to @schutzsmith and @benUNC
and yet, he won’t wave at the end of calls
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Not to bother, but I'd like the final standings for the "all hands" trophy from #WCUS when you get a chance,
@schutzsmith
. I've got a spreadsheet with all my awards that needs updating.
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Daniel “almost spooky season� Schutzsmith
@schutzsmith
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Gotta tell ya, I’ve seen a lot of hand gestures from speakers today but I think @benUNC is in the lead. He’ll be hard to beat but only time will tell if someone else gets the “all hands� trophy. Kidding aside, EXCELLENT talk! #WCUS
Ben talking on stage with thumbs up
Ben talking on stage gesturing
Ben talking on stage pointing
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Ben Meredith
@benUNC
Story time: as I was setting up to present my #WCUS talk, I realized I needed some water. I looked up, found a familiar face, and pretty much demanded they go get me a cup of water. That face was
@joeoesterling
. I've not yet been fired. Will keep you updated.
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