Sunday, August 07, 2005

[LinkedinBlogger] Preventing Flame Wars: Two Basic Principles of Netiquette - From The Virtual Handshake

Because I intend to continually work on improving the
atmosphere of My Linkedin Power Forum for those who
genuinely want to learn about Linkedin, networking,
and communication skills, I want to share with you a
couple of great netiquette principles brought to the
attention of LinkedinBloggers by Des Walsh.

I believe it's more than irony that Des Walsh of
LinkedinBloggers brought this to our attention on the
very day that I'm re-reading page 111 of David Teten
and Scott Allen's "The Virtual Handshake" where those
2 principles are joined by 4 other well-thought-out
principles that could help members and moderators
greatly reduce flame wars.

Though by most accounts MLPF is a fairly successful
forum, I can safely say that it would have been even
more successful and enjoyable had I read and applied
the principles in "The Virtual Handshake" when I
started MLPF 6 months ago.

Kudos to Scott Allen and David Teten for organizing
and sharing such great networking concepts with us.  I
highly, highly, highly recommend "The Virtual
Handshake" for community members and moderators alike.

Please do check out Scott's excellent post "Flame
Wars: Two Basic Principles of Netiquette" at:
http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2005/08/02/preventing-flame-wars-two-basic-principles-of-netiquette

or

http://tinyurl.com/cybag

For your convenience and consideration, I'm including
two of the 6 principles below and hope that we can
strongly apply them on MLPF and its partner forums.

Thanks!
Vincent Wright
Creator/Moderator,
My Linkedin Power Forum
Linkedin @ MyLinkedinPowerForum.com
860-524-5077
7 Aug 2005


http://tinyurl.com/cybag

Preventing Flame Wars: Two Basic Principles of
Netiquette - From The Virtual Handshake

1. Presume good intent. What is the best possible way
the other person could mean by what they said? If your
initial reaction to what somebody says is negative,
pause. Take a deep breath. Try to detach from your own
personal context and put yourself in their context.
What might they have meant by that? Maybe you’re
misinterpreting what they’re saying.

So pick the best possible meaning, and respond to
that. What’s the worst that can happen? They correct
you and say, “No, I really meant…”? On the other hand,
if you respond to your negative reaction, the worst
possible thing is that an escalation begins — a
vicious circle. Sound familiar?

You’re never backed into a corner online. Take the
time to cool off and re-think it before you reply.

2. Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say in
person. Would you say it to their face at a networking
event? If not, then why would you say it here? Don’t
think that the relationships here are any less
important, the feelings any less real, etc. And don’t
think it won’t have any impact on your business.

No one looks good when they get emotional in an
argument, even when they’re right. Does it reflect
better on you to be right? Or to be someone who’s easy
to get along with?

I’m not saying people shouldn’t voice their opinions,
or debate their differences of opinion, but not at the
expense of their relationships and even their
reputation.

Think about it… would you want to do business with
someone who was always right but always arguing about
it to show how right they are? (unless they’re a trial
lawyer, of course, in which case that’s a very
desirable trait)


Thanks!
Vincent Wright
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