The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Perhaps someone has told you to "back it down a notch or two", called you aggressive or even a POV Warrior. Perhaps you just want to learn how to promote yourself, your business or your area and avoid some of the many pitfalls. If that's the case, then this thread is for you. So you know, this is a rewrite of a PM I sent recently to a friend. I have removed all the personal stuff and am making it more universal in nature. After all, he is not alone in this. It's actually the third time in the last month I have had to send a similar PM. In that regard, I am keeping the tone of this post quite personal. Why not? I want each one who reads this to learn a little about themselves and become a more effective communicator as a result. Enjoy and learn...
First, I am hoping this finds you well and prosperous. ScubaBoard prides itself on promoting diving and the dive industry in particular. If you're doing well, then so are we! However, I have to point out that we are starting to see a pattern which is fast evolving into a problem on ScubaBoard. It's obvious to even the most casual observer that you are an ardent promoter for your business and even more. You never seem to miss an opportunity to post great things about it and sometimes not-so-great things about your competitors. While a moderate amount is OK, you have crossed the line into being a POV Warrior and quite combative. In case you missed it, we aren't like other forums. In fact, we are incredibly popular because we moderate most of the battle tactics we see on other sites. ScubaBoard is based on MUTUAL respect and not on beating your perceived opponent into submission. I hope you'll read the next few paragraphs where I identify these tactics and demonstrate not only how counter productive they are, but that there are also some great alternatives.
Argumentum per deluge (Argument by Flood): This is a common tactic on other sites where a user latches on to each and every thread about a certain subject only to interject their POV (Point of View). They feel if they reach a certain tidal volume the readers will see that theirs is the most popular and ergo, the most desirable POV. We call people with this one sided approach to social media, POV Warriors. Go ahead and ask a question about two jacket style BCs and watch the POV Warriors go off topic and wax long about how superior the Back Plate and Wing is. The problem isn't that they are right as much as they become so lop sided that they become irrelevant. In the long run, ScubaBoard can become just as lopsided and irrelevant as they are which is why I point this out! It's best to simply state your case and not attack each and every person that dares to disagree with you. It's OK for some people to like your competitors and for some to like you. The reader will read all opinions and make a decision which seems best to them and you need to accept that. It's not uncommon for me to meet a user at a dive show or on a dive boat and for them to bring up your name and how they have come to resent you over this. No, I'm not making this up and you are not alone! Perhaps you should back off a bit and work on your sig line. It could be so much more than it is and that's the best way to promote yourself and your business.
Personal attacks: Calling someone out is also common elsewhere and it's completely inappropriate here. Assigning nefarious intent to a poster is anything but friendly and it only adds an antagonistic aspect to your posts. There are better ways to get people to change than to alienate them with vituperative rhetoric. You've gotten a bit subtle with these attacks at times, but that does little to make them acceptable. BE NICE! You'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Yeah, I get that it's a bit of an ego rush to hold up people's stupidity for all to see, but it works against you in the long run. Avoid the petty little slap downs like the plague since they say more about you than they do your victim(s). There is almost never a need to confront another user over anything. People are attracted to friendly posters and not to combatants.
Exposing others: This is another way to call someone out and I can't stress how badly this makes you look. You don't get to set the rules of conduct here on ScubaBoard and we have a long history of allowing people to remain anonymous for many reasons. Castigating them for not revealing their true identity is wrong and creates hostility where none existed before. Nothing can derail a conversation quicker than demanding that someone identify themselves. In addition it makes people want to stop posting here on ScubaBoard and I find that personally unacceptable. You are not authorized to chase people off because they won't post by your rules. I hope that I am crystal clear on this. We have enough trouble getting the masses coming to ScubaBoard to register, let alone to post. If you feel that someone is a sock puppet or other schill, then please report them. You don't need to take this into your own hands and make things uncomfortable for them.
Promoting yourself at the expense of others: This is something that comes out of our human nature and is an industry phenomenon. I call it the "If I don't teach it, sell it or dive it, then it must be junk!" attitude. You have it and you often post with it. Learn to promote yourself without ever demeaning others. Your competitor doesn't suck, but many people would think that you ascribe to this notion. If you are the best then tell us why based on your own merits and only your meirts. No need to compare yourself to anything else. When I promote ScubaBoard, you will never, ever, no not ever find me comparing it to any other forum or even any other magazine. When you set the standard you only hurt yourself by comparing to others. It's why Microsoft never complains about Apple or Linux. It's not that they are afraid of the match up... no it's because they could only dilute themselves in the process by promoting less successful entities. Microsoft only talks about Microsoft. ScubaBoard only talks about ScubaBoard. Do you see the pattern here? In reality, ScubaBoard talks about those other forums... at least our readers do. If we deign to participate in those discussion it's only in the most glowing terms possible. Yes, we actually embrace our competitors by and large. Did you know that most (if not all) of the successful Scuba related forums were launched off of ScubaBoard! Yay! I'm glad we helped and you can be sure that this is another reason for our unmitigated success in becoming the most popular Scuba related web site.
Best practices: Show nothing but respect for those who disagree with you and even for your detractors. Allow people to have differing opinions without questioning their intelligence or their genealogy. Put links to your web site and how to contact you in your signature line and try to always post happy. Never ever take it upon yourself to expose or confront others. Use the report button or simply be magnanimous by befriending them instead. Back off a bit on your intensity when promoting yourself. I get that you think you're the best in the world, so let others get their two cents in as well.
It bears repeating that I like you and I always have. You have some great things to bring to ScubaBoard including your leadership. Learning from this post will make you a more effective promoter for yourself as well as making you more valuable. If you don't think that this applies to you: it does. Please re-read it until you can see yourself and feel free to pass it along to others. As always, I eagerly look forward to our future communications.
First, I am hoping this finds you well and prosperous. ScubaBoard prides itself on promoting diving and the dive industry in particular. If you're doing well, then so are we! However, I have to point out that we are starting to see a pattern which is fast evolving into a problem on ScubaBoard. It's obvious to even the most casual observer that you are an ardent promoter for your business and even more. You never seem to miss an opportunity to post great things about it and sometimes not-so-great things about your competitors. While a moderate amount is OK, you have crossed the line into being a POV Warrior and quite combative. In case you missed it, we aren't like other forums. In fact, we are incredibly popular because we moderate most of the battle tactics we see on other sites. ScubaBoard is based on MUTUAL respect and not on beating your perceived opponent into submission. I hope you'll read the next few paragraphs where I identify these tactics and demonstrate not only how counter productive they are, but that there are also some great alternatives.
Argumentum per deluge (Argument by Flood): This is a common tactic on other sites where a user latches on to each and every thread about a certain subject only to interject their POV (Point of View). They feel if they reach a certain tidal volume the readers will see that theirs is the most popular and ergo, the most desirable POV. We call people with this one sided approach to social media, POV Warriors. Go ahead and ask a question about two jacket style BCs and watch the POV Warriors go off topic and wax long about how superior the Back Plate and Wing is. The problem isn't that they are right as much as they become so lop sided that they become irrelevant. In the long run, ScubaBoard can become just as lopsided and irrelevant as they are which is why I point this out! It's best to simply state your case and not attack each and every person that dares to disagree with you. It's OK for some people to like your competitors and for some to like you. The reader will read all opinions and make a decision which seems best to them and you need to accept that. It's not uncommon for me to meet a user at a dive show or on a dive boat and for them to bring up your name and how they have come to resent you over this. No, I'm not making this up and you are not alone! Perhaps you should back off a bit and work on your sig line. It could be so much more than it is and that's the best way to promote yourself and your business.
Personal attacks: Calling someone out is also common elsewhere and it's completely inappropriate here. Assigning nefarious intent to a poster is anything but friendly and it only adds an antagonistic aspect to your posts. There are better ways to get people to change than to alienate them with vituperative rhetoric. You've gotten a bit subtle with these attacks at times, but that does little to make them acceptable. BE NICE! You'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Yeah, I get that it's a bit of an ego rush to hold up people's stupidity for all to see, but it works against you in the long run. Avoid the petty little slap downs like the plague since they say more about you than they do your victim(s). There is almost never a need to confront another user over anything. People are attracted to friendly posters and not to combatants.
Exposing others: This is another way to call someone out and I can't stress how badly this makes you look. You don't get to set the rules of conduct here on ScubaBoard and we have a long history of allowing people to remain anonymous for many reasons. Castigating them for not revealing their true identity is wrong and creates hostility where none existed before. Nothing can derail a conversation quicker than demanding that someone identify themselves. In addition it makes people want to stop posting here on ScubaBoard and I find that personally unacceptable. You are not authorized to chase people off because they won't post by your rules. I hope that I am crystal clear on this. We have enough trouble getting the masses coming to ScubaBoard to register, let alone to post. If you feel that someone is a sock puppet or other schill, then please report them. You don't need to take this into your own hands and make things uncomfortable for them.
Promoting yourself at the expense of others: This is something that comes out of our human nature and is an industry phenomenon. I call it the "If I don't teach it, sell it or dive it, then it must be junk!" attitude. You have it and you often post with it. Learn to promote yourself without ever demeaning others. Your competitor doesn't suck, but many people would think that you ascribe to this notion. If you are the best then tell us why based on your own merits and only your meirts. No need to compare yourself to anything else. When I promote ScubaBoard, you will never, ever, no not ever find me comparing it to any other forum or even any other magazine. When you set the standard you only hurt yourself by comparing to others. It's why Microsoft never complains about Apple or Linux. It's not that they are afraid of the match up... no it's because they could only dilute themselves in the process by promoting less successful entities. Microsoft only talks about Microsoft. ScubaBoard only talks about ScubaBoard. Do you see the pattern here? In reality, ScubaBoard talks about those other forums... at least our readers do. If we deign to participate in those discussion it's only in the most glowing terms possible. Yes, we actually embrace our competitors by and large. Did you know that most (if not all) of the successful Scuba related forums were launched off of ScubaBoard! Yay! I'm glad we helped and you can be sure that this is another reason for our unmitigated success in becoming the most popular Scuba related web site.
Best practices: Show nothing but respect for those who disagree with you and even for your detractors. Allow people to have differing opinions without questioning their intelligence or their genealogy. Put links to your web site and how to contact you in your signature line and try to always post happy. Never ever take it upon yourself to expose or confront others. Use the report button or simply be magnanimous by befriending them instead. Back off a bit on your intensity when promoting yourself. I get that you think you're the best in the world, so let others get their two cents in as well.
It bears repeating that I like you and I always have. You have some great things to bring to ScubaBoard including your leadership. Learning from this post will make you a more effective promoter for yourself as well as making you more valuable. If you don't think that this applies to you: it does. Please re-read it until you can see yourself and feel free to pass it along to others. As always, I eagerly look forward to our future communications.
