[thelist] Excuses and Zealotry

on 01/20/2000 3:14 PM, James Spahr at james@spahr.org wrote:

> Dave Winer != Frontier Community
> 
> Most of us in the Frontier Community does not think Frontier can save the
> world, nor that it is the best application server out there. What it is (for
> most of us), is the very good app server for our current situation, that we
> know very well ... and we all have a large code library that we have written
> in Usertalk, that is really hard to abandon :-(

I would never tar any community with the same brush as one outspoken
individual. I have an old version of Frontier on my Mac, and I know a lot of
people who use it every day. I have nothing against Frontier, and nothing
against the user community.

It only serves to strengthen my point that the impression of zealotry in one
individual can tarnish the reputation of that persons work and cause concern
in their community that they will be accused of being of the same opinion.

It's an interesting case. Imagine if one of us was trolling on /., firing
off ill-conceived missives accusing everyone of sins against humanity,
promoting socially unacceptable practices, or blaming societies woes on a
government conspiracy...especially one of us with a evolt.org address.

I'd be worried. I'd have to have a conversation with this person.

I think I owe.

<tip type="professional reputation" author="bob davis">
Always keep in mind that your behavior outside of your professional
relationships may, some day, come back to haunt you.
This is especially true on the Internet where e-mail is archived, newsgroups
are searchable, and bots are busy indexing everything they can find.

In the information age, your reputation is very valuable, and some people
aren't past passing you over for something you said or did in your private
life (OL or IRL).

Remember, though, that you are the only one who has to like your reputation.
If they don't like what you think and are willing to ignore your talents
because you are a(n) (fill in proclivity here), it's probably better for you
both. Integrity, honesty, and flexibility will take you a long way.
</tip>

-- 

bob davis
bobd@members.evolt.org