Adding a DB to Site

[Shelley A.]

We are a small catering business and I have been asked to add a DB to our
site where a visitor can leave feedback on our company which could then be
pulled up by other visitors to read.
I have only average Web design skills and used FP 2003 to design our site.
The site is hosted on a Windows 2000 Server which does allow DB's (Access
and others).
Is this something that can be done easily by me using the built-in Wizards
(which I know nothing about yet) or will it require an outside programmer?
I'm worried that if this function requires identification of some kind to be
given by a visitor they might not do it. Should our company require either a
password, Username, Log-In (or something else) before allowing a visitor to
leave feedback? If it does, I'm not sure anyone would go to the trouble.
What if someone "blasts" us? If they did what could we do? I'm sure it could
be edited or deleted but doubt the head of our company would even allow
that. He is a very honest man and would probably say, "Just take our lumps
with the good".We try very hard to satisfy all of our customers, but with
some it's impossible, and I don't want something negative left for the world
to see!
Now that I've written this out, I'm not sure this is a good idea at all. Has
anyone else ever done this for a very small business and if so, were the
results positive or negative? I would really appreciate any comments!

 

[Peter Aitken]

We are a small catering business and I have been asked to add a DB to our
site where a visitor can leave feedback on our company which could then be
pulled up by other visitors to read.
I have only average Web design skills and used FP 2003 to design our site.
The site is hosted on a Windows 2000 Server which does allow DB's (Access
and others).
Is this something that can be done easily by me using the built-in Wizards
(which I know nothing about yet) or will it require an outside programmer?
I'm worried that if this function requires identification of some kind to be
given by a visitor they might not do it. Should our company require either a
password, Username, Log-In (or something else) before allowing a visitor to
leave feedback? If it does, I'm not sure anyone would go to the trouble.
What if someone "blasts" us? If they did what could we do? I'm sure it could
be edited or deleted but doubt the head of our company would even allow
that. He is a very honest man and would probably say, "Just take our lumps
with the good".We try very hard to satisfy all of our customers, but with
some it's impossible, and I don't want something negative left for the world
to see!
Now that I've written this out, I'm not sure this is a good idea at all. Has
anyone else ever done this for a very small business and if so, were the
results positive or negative? I would really appreciate any comments!

I can't tell you whether it's a good business idea, but the web page design
is not that difficult. I believe you could do it all with the FP wizards.

 

[Shelley A.]

Thanks Peter,
Would some sort of visitor identification be required? What would be the
minimum visitor ID you'd recommend? Also, could the DB be set up so that we
could answer someone who blasted us?

 

[Peter Aitken]

Thanks Peter,
Would some sort of visitor identification be required? What would be the
minimum visitor ID you'd recommend? Also, could the DB be set up so that we
could answer someone who blasted us?

You would not have to require any identfication - that's up to you. Some
people are hesitatnt to give full names. Asking for foirst name and city
might work better. You can ask for an email address so you can reply, but
most people are *very* hesitant to leave a real email address for fear of
spam. If you do ask for email be sure to put a privacy notice "We will never
sell or give away your address.... etc."

 

[Shelley A.]

Thanks Peter.

You would not have to require any identfication - that's up to you. Some
people are hesitatnt to give full names. Asking for foirst name and city
might work better. You can ask for an email address so you can reply, but
most people are *very* hesitant to leave a real email address for fear of
spam. If you do ask for email be sure to put a privacy notice "We will never
sell or give away your address.... etc."