
If you run your web services alone, like me, are you using "I" or "we" pronoun on website and in touch with customers? - ivan

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comatose_kid
I prefer "we's all" eg-

[cletus]"We's all had this here idea to create a series of tubes, and
shazzam!...Now you gots tha internet."[/cletus]

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amichail
It looks like this might be a new use for "we":

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We>

I guess you need to decide whether such fibbing is acceptable in a web
service.

BTW, more serious forms of deception can be found in the ESP game:

<http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~biglou/ESP.pdf#page=3>

See the sections on "pre-recorded game play" and "cheating".

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jrbedard
hehe, "I" thought I was the only one worrying about this :) I use "we", as me
+ the company entity. And it will require no re-editing if a partner join or
you hire.

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jm3
I use both. When I'm speaking for "the community" or "the developers", i use
We.

When I'm referring to a decision that I made as far as the direction of the
site, i use I. (taking ownership and standing behind your beliefs)

it's a good question, though. I don't think there's a right answer, it's a
question of what impression would you like to create.

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mauricecheeks
The company is an entity. It would be appropriate to use "we" more often that
not. Use "I" when talking about yourself or yourself on behalf of the entity.

The same should be said for 2 or 3 person teams. Try to get in the habit of
thinking about the company as an entity bigger than yourself.

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mattjaynes
I lived in Scotland for a couple of years and in Dundee the natives would
always refer to themselves (individually) as 'us'. For example:

"They hit us wi' a stane." == "They hit me with a stone."

I'm sure you have some scottish heritage somewhere in the family tree, right?
;)

~~~
ivan
Heh, maybe in previous lifes Matt.

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staunch
_"The market is a lot more discerning than any employer. And it is completely
non-discriminatory. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."_ \--
<http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html>

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papersmith
I think if you're alone and selling a non-mission-critical product directly to
consumers, using "I" makes you sound more genuine and not out to take
advantage of them. If you add a partner you could just do a regex replace.

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zaidf
Depends whatever comes out naturally. When _I_ am responsible for something,
say getting back to the customer, use "I"; when I'm giving a statement about
iJigg in general for example use "we".

-Zaid 

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imp
I try to write in the third person as much as possible and avoid using
personal pronouns. Although if you're writing a blog post, then I suppose you
could use "I" or "we".

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igrigorik
"we" - if you want to be a big dog, you gotta act like one.

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jdvolz
I like to use the name of the company in place of "I" or "We" because it
reminds the customer who you are. Also, it's good for search engine
positioning.

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ivan
So you are acting as a big company no matter you working alone?

~~~
python_kiss
Use "I" because it's more personalized. The excuse for using "we" is simply
that the service may seem professional; hence, building more trust. That might
actually be true, but unless you're building an online bank, it wouldn't
matter.

I initially worked on my webservice alone, and decided to adopt "I" on every
possible location. I managed to build a dedicated community around the
website, and later on decided to use "we" to denote the community as well as
myself. Now, when I say " _we_ thank you for participating", I mean " _me and
the community_...".

Of course, if you've more than one founder (like I do now), you should use
"we". Be consistent with the terminology in order to avoid confusing the end-
user.

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pbreit
We.

