Merchants who charge for support

You mean the Exchange Server author is still gainfully employed? Oh wait, you never said whether you received a response to your demand.

/me chuckles

It's actually a good philosophy and one I employ in RL. Some customers are not always right and prove to be far more trouble than any potential word of mouth advertising or profits.

But returning to the discussion, I think we also need to remember that there are many creators in SL who are not "business people". In other words, they create items, sell them, but really do not wish to do much beyond that -- such as taking care of business (answering questions etc.). SL is NOT a professional environment (mind, that's not to say all RL businesses are attentive either).

The best creators are the ones who anticipate all manner of questions, provide thorough documentation and then cut and paste appropriate responses or chime back with RTFM.

We also need to remember that many creators are plagued with really inappropriate questions or demands which likely pushes them into the realm of "I'm going to charge stupidity tax now".

As for those who charge and do not provide the support one is paying for -- I have not encountered this personally, and I hope such individuals are few and far between and likely will go out of business (problem solved).

In my experience they need the most help, they usually don't understand what's happened and usually just upset, they probably suffer some kind of mild clinical depression too, little things upset them beyond reason.

I beg to differ. Yes it certainly gets you a lot more mileage to treat your customers decently and with respect. But this entitlement philosophy that "if you take their money you owe them an answer to their question?" WRONG. If you take their money you owe them the product they paid for. Nothing more, nothing less. This may be a virtual world where we can do things we can't do in RL, but RL business practices absolutely do apply here, and at no time will you ever get away with such an argument in RL. Nor will it ever fly in SL.

Grumpy?

I'm not paid enough to be nor am I qualified to be someone's shrink. I'll entertain them for a while, but if they are just downright abusive, or bring their deep-seated personal problems into a product support exchange, I am happy to send them on their way, in the most polite way possible, of course.