Top Five Most Obnoxious Webmaster Board Behaviors by Connor Young

[seeric]

Got this from a long standing, respected, webmaster resource site. For obvious reasons i can't post the whole article, but here is what the author thinks are the ?Top 5 Most Obnoxious Webmaster Board Behaviors?. I kinda agree with him.

#5. Spam. Message board spam has gotten a lot better in recent years, which is why it ranks fifth on this list and not first. However, there are still some people who don?t seem to understand acceptable use of a webmaster message board. Webmasters use message boards to share industry news, to obtain knowledge about their trade, to foster relationships with other webmasters, and to just hang out a bit and chill. If you have a product to sell, try buying an advertisement, or use one of the many message boards, (*edit for board courtesy)**** included, that allow ?signatures? appended to each chat board post or reply that you make. And here?s a clue: Showing up on a message board that you seldom frequent and pretending that you just want honest opinions about your new website isn?t fooling anyone.

#4. Negative Attention Marketing. I don?t know of any other industry in which companies market themselves by purposefully drawing negative attention to their brands. People who market themselves by stirring up fake ?drama? and constantly attacking others on a given board are exactly the kind of people with which I would prefer not to do business. We all have our bad days and say things that we later regret, but if you?re purposefully using negative attacks to market your wares then you are part of a serious industry problem. Please, grow up. And connected to this is the tendency some people have to build up their brand by knocking down someone else?s brand. That could include starting lies about a company, having one?s friends join in on a thread condemning a company to make it look like a bunch of random webmasters are speaking out, or any other activity basically designed to stir up shit rather than offer something constructive and useful.

#3. Loose Lips Syndrome. Message boards can be dangerous for people who don?t know when it?s a good time to shut up. For example, talking about how your company isn?t 2257 compliant yet is probably not the brightest idea ? especially when you consider that it?s almost certain that the government?s ?bad guys? who are targeting the adult industry with oppressive censorship campaigns are reading the boards. And be careful if you have a really good idea you hope to develop that you don?t blab about it before you have a chance to make it happen. Will others steal your ideas without so much as a ?thank you? in return? You bet. So protect any information about your company that might be used against you.

#2. Spreading Misinformation. The problem of misinformation is most evident when legal issues are discussed, but by no means is misinformation a problem limited to the law. It?s important to remember that just about any adult can get an account on an industry message board, and just because someone knows how to post and sounds smart doesn?t mean his or her information is sound. Some people even purposefully post misinformation just to confuse other webmasters or muddy up an important issue. And for those of you who are posting legal information, keep in mind that a misstep in this area can lead someone to time in prison. Do you want to be responsible for that? Take everything you get from the message boards with a grain of salt, and think twice before you post something vitally important that you are claiming is fact.

#1. Public Customer Service Demands. Now we get to the top prize winner for obnoxious webmaster board behavior. Why do so many webmasters keep making public posts on message boards demanding a response from a company not affiliated with said message board, and then ripping the company when they do not reply? This quite literally makes me want to bang my head against the desk! Your favorite message board might be the world to you, but that doesn?t mean every company in the industry wants to hang out there all day long waiting for a webmaster to start demanding answers to questions. If you have an issue with a company, try taking it up with that company! Call them, email them, ICQ them, check their website ? but don?t ask customer service questions on a message board and then get annoyed when the company doesn?t reply! If you are having an issue with a Microsoft software application, do you call Microsoft tech support or do you find the nearest message board not operated or affiliated with Microsoft and then demand answers from Microsoft there? Think about how many webmaster message boards exist, and how many posts are made each day. Additionally, professional companies are not going to be very eager to handle their customer service issues out in a public forum. So please, for the love of Jesus, stop making customer service demands on message boards that aren?t intended for that purpose!

End rant.

Connor Young

Some people here could learn from this information. Hate me if ya want to, I don't write it folks, I just pass it on for the valuable perspective it is.

[seeric]

Oh and giving credit where it's due, if everyone doesn't know, Conner is the editor in chief for YNOT.

[J-$]

somehow it seems like it was designed specifically for gfy

[RuthB]

sound advice

[seeric]

Originally Posted by J-$

somehow it seems like it was designed specifically for gfy

i should add one. not specifically related to board activity, but carrying over based on the fact that they snagged my contact info from the board.

#6 Sales people for other companies that COLD SPAM

People that never used to talk to you incessantly ICQ, e-mail, and in extreme circumstances call you attempting to push their wares on you. An e-mail introducing yourself would suffice. If i have a need for your services I will contact you, otherwise I'm just getting irritated.

specifically, i have a guy that will not leave me alone about his blowout content when i tell him repeatedly "don't call us, we'll call you". we do not do anything with non-exclusive content, yet this person continues to keep contacting me making me never want to ever work with him. persistence is a virtue to be respected but if i politely let you know that i am not interested, accept that and look for opportunities in the future.

[Raven]

People that never used to talk to you incessantly ICQ, e-mail, and in extreme circumstances call you attempting to push their wares on you. An e-mail introducing yourself would suffice. If i have a need for your services I will contact you, otherwise I'm just getting irritated.

When did it become all right to call me at ten p.m.? For any reason?

Not everyone works through the wee hours of the morning. Some of us get up very early and want some time OFF the computer.....

I interact with plenty of people during the day. There comes a time when I want to turn off the switch and be left to my own devices. I can leave my office, turn off my mail and messaging systems....but,

Now, I get phone calls from companies. That is not acceptable.

[Raven]

And snail mail. I don't want snail mail. If I want the world to know what I do, I'll hang a neon sign.

[jayeff]

I wonder. Most of Connor's points seem self-evident. Many of us would agree with them and indeed they are the guidelines by which the majority of boards are run. But one effect of having such a sensible approach to board behavior is that general boards (sponsor and support boards are different animals) end up without much to distinguish one from another.

YNot was the first board I ever visited regularly and back in the day it was most of what a good industry board should be. But too quickly, adult webmasters became increasingly reluctant to share useful information or talk openly about industry issues of any importance. Since then, most general board content has been essentially "fluff", neither very useful nor especially entertaining. Things got worse as more boards opened up and our community diluted itself across them.

You really have to assume that the operators of GFY deliberately capitalize on "obnoxious board behavior", because it doesn't just break out here from time to time: basically it's the norm. And it was a smart move, because it isn't surprizing there is room for at least one board to be intentionally perverse.

So GFY gets lots of visitors and that in turn guarantees that most sponsors will post their news here (and sometimes only here). It is downright embarrassing that GFY is a major industry forum; I rarely find GFY entertaining; I hate in effect supporting something which caters for the lowest common denominator; and it is a pain in the butt to have to sift through all the dross to get at the useful stuff. But the reality is that if I didn't visit here, I wouldn't even know everything that sponsors I am signed up with were doing.

[AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE]

Little Connor's list sounds as though he is an extremist in censorship.

Essentially anypost you make if it does not fit an "Agenda" can be removed.

Fuck that asshole.

GFY runs perfectly fine what happens here is necessary compared to the alternatives.

[gornyhuy]

How bout calling everyone 'bro'?
That trumps em all.

[seeric]

Originally Posted by jayeff

I wonder. Most of Connor's points seem self-evident. Many of us would agree with them and indeed they are the guidelines by which the majority of boards are run. But one effect of having such a sensible approach to board behavior is that general boards (sponsor and support boards are different animals) end up without much to distinguish one from another.

YNot was the first board I ever visited regularly and back in the day it was most of what a good industry board should be. But too quickly, adult webmasters became increasingly reluctant to share useful information or talk openly about industry issues of any importance. Since then, most general board content has been essentially "fluff", neither very useful nor especially entertaining. Things got worse as more boards opened up and our community diluted itself across them.

You really have to assume that the operators of GFY deliberately capitalize on "obnoxious board behavior", because it doesn't just break out here from time to time: basically it's the norm. And it was a smart move, because it isn't surprizing there is room for at least one board to be intentionally perverse.

So GFY gets lots of visitors and that in turn guarantees that most sponsors will post their news here (and sometimes only here). It is downright embarrassing that GFY is a major industry forum; I rarely find GFY entertaining; I hate in effect supporting something which caters for the lowest common denominator; and it is a pain in the butt to have to sift through all the dross to get at the useful stuff. But the reality is that if I didn't visit here, I wouldn't even know everything that sponsors I am signed up with were doing.

yep, the moral of the story is DON'T believe anything you read on a message board. there are all types of motives out there for posting. i personally love all the attention i can get, bad or good.

[J-$]

the second moral of the story is never give out your home number and main email adress. get a 2nd cellphone that you shut down boards are not the problem, neither are companie. its ignorance

[EZRhino]

Good points, should be on GFY's Terms of use page.