You never know who's looking...
 

In this day and age when it's so easy to find things out about a person or company you may want to do business with, it is imperative that everything we do smacks of professionalism. This includes postings and threads in forums. If you can't proofread the title of your thread for typos, much less the body, how can I trust you to proof my final product for any mistakes? Also, argumentative and immature postings CAN and WILL be read by prospective clients, so it's prudent to be careful there too. And finally, if people give you good advice or even bad advice in a thread you started, thank them, be polite. I recently saw a post here by a guy in my area, I and several other folks responded to his query to which he never acknowledged. Last week I had a shoot that I needed an extra hand with, it paid well and would have been good experience for this young man. Guess who didn't get the call.

Mick, I agree with your statement. That's 1 reason I lke DVi, Chris keeps a pretty tight hold on flames and arguements. While a healthy disagreement can be good it doesn't have to be negative.
I have heard from customers that have actually seen my posts here and in todays electronic, instant message age, we as a group do have to be careful not only of what we say but how it's said. Sometimes things that are "said" online don't sound the same as when they are said verbally, humor and cynicism don't always come out as we intend.

Let's all think about what we're going to say before we say it so when we write it out it comes out as we intended it.
(just a grouchy old man getting off the soap box)
O|O
|__|

"if you can't say anything nice..."

I don't know why people don't think that the Internet is some sort of big faceless, nameless sandbox where anything goes, but it ain't...

Of course bad behavior online is probably a pretty good indicator of offline conduct too, they just haven't gone of the deep end in "real reality" yet, just my grumpy old opinion!

I still say people are basically nice, but sometimes they need to be reminded of appropriate behavior, don't know why being online seems to make people more forgetful of how they appear!

That's the DV Info Net difference -- we don't allow that type of stuff in the first place.

(Please use the Report Post function if you ever see it here)

Very important!! Why? Because once you speak and write good english, well, ain't nobody can't never take that from you.

Jeff

durn toot'in!

You gotst dat right!!

It's darn tooting...sheesh

according to Webster's, sheesh is not a word BTW.

And it's not just DVinfo... It's also Facebook, Twitter and every other social networking site. The world is getting smaller and what some people don't realize is that the impressions you make online are just as important as you make in the ones you make the real world.

It takes me forever to post on this forum... Please tell me I'm not the only one who re-reads and edits my post 50 times before posting. :P

You're not.

of course... it's "yeesh"! Yowsah, da noive of sum dicshunarys... wuzn't Webster that "whatcha talking about Willis" guy?? howz dat make him an expert?

Webster wan't from Brooklyn

Bad for Brooklynites, maybe good for the rest of us

(My fadda was fum Brooklyn)

The "preview" button is your friend. Works very well for me.

Andrew

Even after extensive editing, I will sometimes delete a post completely saying to myself...""never mind" in my best church lady voice. If someone PO's you, it is not a good idea to post until you have worked through your anger in some way. Posting while angry is a sure way to be seen as a hothead....which you are at that moment!!

It's interesting, we all have our moments no matter who we are. But if we put something out there during that moment, no matter how professional, rational and friendly we are 99.9% of the time, that is the moment that will define us. Remember the Howard Dean howl??

Did I really come across as hotheaded? I apologise, I had no intention of being aggressive in any way. I only meant it as a joke - how many times I have to check my own post before I'm confident it has no errors and communicates my message properly. It was supposed to be a light-hearted, poking fun at myself and not anyone else. I thought I made my intentions clear enough, but I mustn't have...

Sorry about that.

It's funny how something intended with humour can be taken the wrong way when typed without the intended vocal indication.

Aaron -
I think we were just "thread drifting" a bit... I don't think Micks post was poiinted at you or anyone in particular, just a good desription of how anyone can quite thouroughly embarrass themselves in the age of instant communication...

Taking time before pressing "send" or "submit" or "post" is always good if there's something causing you to act/react in a way less than professionsl - but we've all probably violated that rule ONCE (and hopefully lesson learned when you realize how silly you seemed at that moment!).

I too sometimes just delete a post before submitting, simply because it isn't really adding anything, glad to know I'm not alone!

Generally even the "heated discussions" here are professional, and the rare times when someone slips, CH is there to ride herd (and other regulars will gently hint...), and tranquility returns. Nice neighborhood!

In now way shape or form was I referring to you Aaron, I don't even know the post you are referring to. If anything I was pointing at myself. This thread was a reminder to me as well.

That's an excellent point which is highly relevant to the overall DVi experience.

We try to withdraw from public view these types of "angry posts" wherever we find them (hint: it really helps us when people *report* them), or we'll edit them out of an otherwise tech / creatively helpful post, and when we do this, it's more for that poster's own good than anything else -- because it doesn't matter what the target of your rant is; ultimately when you post a rant, you are what's looked upon negatively, not your subject.

Note: we seldom ever delete posts. We withdraw them from public view. There's a big difference!

As the networks say: We don't cancel shows; we just don't renew them.

Well, we have the ability to restore them to public view. They're not really gone; they're just invisible. Very much still there however.

He he he... and for a small fee, you'll protect our dignity, right? <wink>! WE all goof sometimes, it's nice to have a genteel editor on the lookout!

Can't... Edit... Post... Argh!

Oh well... It looks like my stupidity is stuck on the internet for all to see... Guess the topic at hand has metaphorically come back and bit me in the rear...

That reminds me Chris... when is the rumored private section for professional communication going to be available? :-)

Aaron, if it's any consolation, I got the joke in your response to Mick's post. Of course, maybe Dave and Mick were joking in their responses to your response, acting like they thought you were serious. But then, maybe in your latest post you were just pretending not to get their jokes, in which they were pretending not to get yours...

There are so many levels of irony here I think I'm getting vertigo.