Here is a little something to think about. And believe you me that I must remind myself of this same matter from time to time. As we have moved into a entirely new age of mass communication and the world has become miniscule in comparison to what it was just twenty years ago, it is a good idea to keep in mind that anything you make public in a Blog, or even in a Forum such as this is all but irrevocable. Your words are cast in stone and always available for others to read in one form are another. How important is this? I think it is a pretty important issue in more ways than one. First, it will follow you wherever you go. How much you say, how you say it, and the earnest or lack of sincerity that your words contain will from this point on be “on the record” so to speak. Ones reputation can perhaps be one of the more import elements of ones life. It starts from the very first public word you utter, whether it is made in public or print. And there is no other single more important thing to a writer than their reputation. I recently read that someone on this forum was banned for plagiarism. This person has permanently scared their reputation forever in the writer’s world. Maybe they don’t care, and the chance for a moment of glory was worth the sacrifice. But, I can assure you if they continue in the craft, they will live to one day regret it. This post is not simply about plagiarism, and never was from the very first word that I began to write, but more about what we say and write in public in general. And most importantly to remind each and everyone of us, my self included that nothing is ever written is beyond discovery. And when you choose to make something public you should be absolutely sure that you are able to live with the consequences of your rhetoric. Of course their will always be post that are made that have nothing to do with writing, even on this forum and that is great. Nothing wrong with comic relief, venting, etc…. But, when making statements about the craft and art of writing you should make every effort to be as accurate as possible. I can’t begin to mention the times that I have been wrong or even publicly corrected and was always glad for the opportunity to learn something from the experience and swallowed my pride and accepted my correction. So the gist of this statement is to simply say please keep in mind that all you say is on the record. And to remind new comers most of all to jump right in offer their opinion. But, please make every attempt to base your opinion on fact not fiction. And always remember that everyone has an opinion and no one will ever be able to agree completely on anyone thing. So that is my ****ing thought for today. Hope it made some lick of sense. Thanks for the opportunity to post, Trailer Trash
Very true, and certainly worthy of a reminder. Once an email is sent, you cannot remove it and be certain that it no longer exists. Once a newsgroup post has been sent, there is no guaranteed way to delete it (delte requests are just that - requests - and servers need not act on the request). Forums can delete posts, but someone may have already archived it. In short, you need to think before you submit. Even the spoken word, whose echo dies in milliseconds, can get you into trouble; just ask radio commentator Don Imus, who was fired for on-air racist comments. You cannot unsay or unwrite anything that has already been heard or read by another. Still, there is the danger of becoming too paranoid to speak your mind. Speak, but make sure the manner of your speech won't come back to chomp at you.
Okay, so for those of you who are already on the verge of being paranoid .... Okay, so for those of you who are already on the verge of being paranoid schizophrenics please don’t let this push you over the edge and have the opposite effect of what I intended. Please don’t take this as a signal not to post, because that is not what I am implying. I’m simply saying that you should be responsible in your post. More specifically in areas of offering critiques i.e. if you don’t know how to offer a formal critique then simply say how you feel about the story and why, and asking questions about things that have already been answered very clearly in other threads is not good etiquette, since members have taken their valuable time to provide you with the information already. I know it is hard to find some stuff, but at least take the time to explore and try and find an answer before posting about some issue. As I have said from the beginning and continue to say, IMO you will not find a better writer’s forum anywhere else. There are some that are a little more liberal about language and make no attempt to censor it in anyway, but for the most part the writersforum is at the top of the list. It has gone through some remarkable growth in membership and this should speak for itself. And membership participation seems to be very level and consistent if not high. These are all indicators of a good healthy forum. Thanks for the opportunity to post, Cordially yours, Trailer Trash
