Why you suck.

Know what I love about the Web? How well it takes the piss out of anyone.

Today's example is Basecamp, the free online project-management service that is the current IT service among the efficienistae. I created an account a couple of weeks ago to work with a client that uses it as more of an online whiteboard than anything else.

But I forgot the name of the damn thing, so I had to google it. Right under Basecamphq.com -- the proper site -- was WhyBasecampSux.com -- an intelligently reasoned, resource-rich excoriation of the original site.

Which shows why you don't ever want to start a service online -- especially a relatively effective one aimed at technically proficient perfectionists -- that's going to disappoint them because you keep making decisions about upgrades, costs or features that benefit you and not them.

Usually that just gets you a couple tens of thousands of screed and diatribe, which you can ignore as griefer background radiation.

But when you piss people off in their functional specialties, you get special consideration.

In this case you get the objections, unhelpful responses from Basecamp customer service, and a ton of alternatives.

And I've got to tell you, it's a pretty good list.

I've spend enough time checking out new products and services online that I'm fairly decent at searching.

I put a lot of time into it, especially when researching ways to get organized helps me procrastinate on the stuff I'm trying to get done in the first place (it's a kind of anti-productivity; if it ever comes into direct contact with actual productivity there would be a catastrophic explosion, which explains a lot about my personal workstyle and the kinds of people who avoid me).

So turning up a long, long list of sites that offer the same kinds of project management stuff I've been googling recently was a big surprise, but more entertaining because it came at the bottom of a page with a list of complaints about the online project-management service Basecamp, and appeared directly below the main Basecamp listing in a Google search. www.WhyBasecampSux.org. Brilliant.

I love people who get pissed off about poor service or poor quality and DON'T go rant and rave about how horrible and unfair everything is and how important it is for that company to satisfy them personally. They realize that if they were treated badly by customer service it's because the company doesn’t care if you get mad; so getting mad doesn’t help.

Speaking loudly at a dealer's customer-service desk isn't going to make your voice heard at GM headquarters.

Finding a way to get what you want while completely avoiding the offending company, then telling everyone else how to do the same thing, and why? That's a response with some elegance to it. You get what you want, help other people, instead of making them witness your tantrum, and the people you're pissed off at get a little lonelier.

WhyBasecampSux is a really good example of why you shouldn't try to attract customers who are perfectionist, workaholic and tech savvy and then disappoint them. Repeatedly. They remember why you suck, save the evidence, and publish it, with links and quotes that show your customer service people at their most idiotic.

These particular complaints aren't entertaining enough to actually read, but the list of project management sites was a good reward for wading through the I-said-then-they-said stuff.

Usually I hate object lessons; they come in awkward chunks and have sharp corners.

Not this one. Big Businesses can care as little about the concerns of individual customers as Dick Cheney does about opinion polls telling him Iraq is a mistake and that the Darth Vader outfit makes him look chunky.

But when your main product is either information or a service that is available online, so are all your competitors, and your disgruntled customers and a well-researched, well organized site explaining in detail why you suck and what alternatives to you exist.

Intervene in time and these guys will be your wildest advocates; leave them to steam and all they'll do is entertain me.