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--- Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>
> First, Internet message boards do not, in my opinion, constitute a
> "professional environment." The Internet is a notoriously deceptive
> environment. As such all Internet posting must be met with a certain
> amount of
> skepticism. What a person writes on the Internet is rarely a good
> picture of
> that person in reality.
Ah, but first impressions are the most important impressions. Perhaps
one should not make judgments based on others' internet postings, but
it happens. I make judgments all the time based on my evaluation of the
poster and whether his/her posts would be worth reading or whether I
want to follow a thread or not. And you can be sure that I make
determinations about who I would be willing to work with and who I
would not be willing to work with...or for...based on the impression
the poster makes on me personally.
> Hence, I think the point a lot of us are expressing, David, is that
> your criteria for judging writers based on Internet postings is
> remarkably shallow. It has tones of unfairness and
> discrimination. Synonymous to saying somebody
> is a bad writer because they have a foreign accent or ware ugly
> shoes.
I would disagree with this assessment. I think David is being honest in
saying that he has to make judgments on who he would recommend to a
client and who he would not. Often these are judgment calls. Frankly,
every hiring decision made could be viewed as discriminatory. "I think
this person will fit in with my team better than that person will." "I
think this one has skills I think are better than this other person's
skills." and most importantly, "I think I'll like working with this
person more than I'll like working with that person."
I think it is particularly specious for someone who hires and fires all
the time to claim anything else. If I don't like somebody's attitude,
it doesn't matter how good they think they are as a Tech Writer, they
won't work for me. If that's discriminatory--and I would say it is--sue
me.
> I am a writer and a recruiter too. I want people who can get the
> job done and deliver quality work to my clients. I don't much care
> about their opinions. Yes, there is a limit to being self-absorbed
> or overly opinionated. Assuming somebody who expresses an
> opinion YOU, PERSONALLY judge as "flaming" is a bad
> writer, does a tremendous disservice to your clients.
Maybe, maybe not. I won't judge whether David does a good job for his
clients or not. But I think that if someone is consistently uncivil in
posts directed at their professional peers, it is reasonable to wonder
how civil that person...or company...will be toward my client. If I
thought hiring a particular writer that I felt might be a good would
imperil my good relationship with a client, I could very well
understand not hiring that writer in favor of an inferior writer who
would get along with my client. Relatively speaking, writers are a dime
a dozen; clients are important.
> I feel it is best to deal with candidates on a individual basis. Look
> at a whole person and not just a tiny fraction of their life. There
> are plenty of forms of expression I find distasteful about some
> candidates. I recently interviewed some guy who works for this
> right-wing political group I loathe. Yeah, the guy probably
> shouldn't advertise that - but so what. I'm not
> evaluating his dogma, I am evaluating his writing skills.
>
> Nobody is saying don't use your instincts. But rejecting a person
> because of some nasty Internet messages is a very flimsy basis
> for a judgment.
You know what. Some writers evaluate potential employers based on how
they express themselves in internet messages, too. There are some
employers who post on this list that I might consider working for.
There are others I would definitely NOT work for if they had the only
job open. (I suspect the feeling is mutual, but I could be wrong.)
It seems to me that there are two issues here. One is whether or not
one should be civil in one's emails on this, or any, list. Obviously,
each writer evaluates the importance of civility differently. I thought
Eric's plea to consider being more civil to each other was a reasonable
one. I find it interesting that those who favor incivility cite both
their right to freedom of expression while at the same time decrying
the notion that someone else would hold it against them for being
uncivil. As my favorite writer said, "TANSTAAFL." (There Ain't No Such
Think As A Free Lunch.) Another favorite writer suggested that "You pay
for your satisfaction, somewhere along the line. Then there is always
the biblical "You reap what you sow."
The second issue is whether your behavior in one arena should be
considered as informative about your overall professionalism or
behavior in a different environment. Again, everyone makes their own
determinations on that.
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