On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 11:31 AM, Lawnun <[email protected]<lawnun%[email protected]> > wrote:
in lurk mode, nothing can be taken out of context. > > The plain and simple truth is, even if you stand behind your words, > sometimes people don't always read the context of the statements made. I > know this both from first hand experience, and as a lawyer working on behalf > of clients whose sideline conversations on a mailing list, Google Group or > even an errant Facebook post that leaked out into the big wide Interwebs and > cost them a job, damaged their reputation, or otherwise impacted their > life. Hell, I'm willing to wager good money that at least one of my FoRK > posts (a mailing list I once posted frequently on) cost me at least a few > job opportunities before I got savvy and gamed Pagerank. Not mind you, for > much if anything I said in the post (it was a reply to an amusingly-titled > spam email)[1] but entirely BECAUSE of the title of the amusing spam. > > I'm still waiting for someone to invent takebacksies on the Internet. But > then I wager, half the world's crazy porn supply would disappear. > > Carey.... your words should probably be graven in stone. "Taken out of context" is truly a minefield. And it's not only professionally that one can suffer. Personal hurts, both borne and inflicted, can run deep and sometimes, explanations only make things worse. There's a lovely Tamizh proverb that says you can even spill sand grains and gather them back up, but you can never hope to gather spilt words. Worth remembering, whether the words are spoken or written. I only wish *I* could remember it all the time. I agree that if you don't ever open your mouth, you can't put your foot in... but where I disagree is in saying that if all of us lurked, there would be no mailing lists! I, for one, could never keep quiet all my life in fear of foot-in-mouth disease, which I do suffer attacks of, occasionally. "I got savvy and gamed Pagerank." What's this? Please explain....in words of one syllable, for an ignorantosaurus. Deepa.
