

Social Media: Why it pays to be super awesome to almost everyone online - kitsguy
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/social-media-why-it-pays-to-be-super-awesome-to-almost-everyone

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alanthonyc
Although I agree with the conclusion, I disagree with the premise.

Being "super awesome" to people "pays", not just on the internet, but in
everyday life. Yes, this applies to high school too.

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diN0bot
> "A part of being awesome is being honest. If you don’t like something, you
> can say so, just don’t be rude about it."

mos def. i wish more developers, in particular, took the attitude that we're
all learning and improving. at best we can each enable and help one another;
at minimum we can respect different perspectives.

i find so many tech talks, especially from the insecure startup crowd, are
initially aggressive and secretive. it makes me uncomfortable, even as i
struggle with my own insecurities and attempts to be gentler and less
defensive or snobby.

after a little more time talking with someone we almost always find common
ground and lose our egos in the excitement of the actual content and
information exchange. that's good. it's hard to get that personableness on the
internet, tho. be honest, but not rude +1

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diN0bot
> "This is being a part of a community, bringing something to the table and
> sharing it without expecting anything in return."

this is also a good one. i think it's ok to expect community in return, and to
try to engage (nicely) with others who want to be secretive.

the main point, though, is to see oneself in an ecosystem that benefits from
exchanging knowledge and goods. far too many developers are afraid that their
project will get swiped if they share their code. it is more likely that
everyone else is already too busy. i would also like to think that by being
open, others are more likely to collaborate with you, or bounce ideas off you,
or learn from your code.

distrust results from fear, and most fears are irrational. the result of the
desire for secrets and power is serious harm. there are many shining examples
of open developers, companies and communities, so i know this can work in
certain situations.

the thought that one defector can ruin it for everyone--other than some risks
being worth taking purely to stand on principle and strive for goodness
against the dark--i'm not sure how to handle. perhaps there is a middle
ground. i don't have enough data to be rational here ;-)

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onreact-com
"That stuff on the internet? Yeah, it stays around forever."

This is a wide spread myth. I'm on the web since 1997 (I know, I was late).
Back then I started with publishing poems online. Most of them are sadly lost
and gone forever. I relied on the Web to keep them and was quite sure that by
posting them on mailing lists, forums and publishing on websites they will
make me a famous poet one day (no, I hoped at least that they will stay
available).

Searching today for some of the most ofen published ones yields zero results.

So back up your stuff and don't believe the stays forever thing. I never shun
away from an argument online and I'm quite successful on the Web. Of course I
do some ORM (Online Reputation management) myself but on the whole I don't
have to hide much about me.

~~~
dhs
Did you try <http://www.archive.org/web/web.php> to retrieve your poems? It
worked for me on several occasions, particullary if I still remember the year
and the domain name under which a text I searched for where published.

~~~
onreact-com
Yeah, Archive.org is great for that but it was so long ago that I don't
remember most addresses.

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4chan4ever
There was not even close to enough content here to justify the shameless plug
for the book. I agree it pays to be awesome to people, but come on... give us
more than 3 paragraphs if you're going to try to get us to buy something.
Sheesh.

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Tichy
Summary: buy a book. Flagged...

