Email of the day [modified]
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
Making fun of people who go out of their way to tell you that they respect you and your work is really bad form
No, because I can tell you, from other emails that I've received from other people of this nature, that the "praise" is just BS. [edit] In my experience, when I have replied kindly, I get ads for outsourcing to India and so forth. It's phishing, as mentioned below. [/edit] Marc
I don't doubt that phishing is a part of your feedback, but neither do I believe that it constitutes 100% of your readers. It's easy enough to hit the delete button on email of this sort if you think it's warranted. When you post things like this, you send an unintended message to all the legitimate admirers of your work that you hold them in disdain. Since you go out of your way to help others I'm pretty sure that's not the image you really intend to cultivate, but that won't be apparent to the casual reader. They'll just assume that you'd treat them the same way. Whether it's writing, speaking, political office, the entertainment industry or a host of other such examples, when you step up to the plate and decide to become a public figure, you're held to a higher standard. The fact that the medium is the web doesn't change this. Remember, when you openly take a swipe at someone, deserved or not, you rarely do them harm. You only succeed in shooting yourself in the foot, because in the public eye, style counts. You have a good name. It's worth the effort of maintaining it with a bit of discretion here and there.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
modified on Monday, May 19, 2008 11:59 AM
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Dear Marc, Trust this mail finds you doing great. I'm from New Delhi, India. I am a software programmer working on Visual Basic 6.0 since past 3 Years. For my career growth and to upgrade my knowledge base I've recently switched to C# 2005. I read your paper, "Another Look At IDisposable" in 'CodeProject' website. I was really very impressed as you made it much much clearer than many of the well known books on the subject, floating in the market. Please let me know where I can find more of your articles on C#. :sigh: [edit] For those that feel I am displaying a holier than thou attitude, I would like to say, I have responded kindly to these emails in the past, only to be pumilgated (sp?) with IM requests and with outsourcing offers. I'll be happy to try again with this one and post about what happens. [/edit] Marc
Thyme In The Country Interacx My Blog
modified on Monday, May 19, 2008 11:23 AM
Marc Clifton wrote:
pumilgated
Okay, now you're just making stuff up. :-D
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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I don't doubt that phishing is a part of your feedback, but neither do I believe that it constitutes 100% of your readers. It's easy enough to hit the delete button on email of this sort if you think it's warranted. When you post things like this, you send an unintended message to all the legitimate admirers of your work that you hold them in disdain. Since you go out of your way to help others I'm pretty sure that's not the image you really intend to cultivate, but that won't be apparent to the casual reader. They'll just assume that you'd treat them the same way. Whether it's writing, speaking, political office, the entertainment industry or a host of other such examples, when you step up to the plate and decide to become a public figure, you're held to a higher standard. The fact that the medium is the web doesn't change this. Remember, when you openly take a swipe at someone, deserved or not, you rarely do them harm. You only succeed in shooting yourself in the foot, because in the public eye, style counts. You have a good name. It's worth the effort of maintaining it with a bit of discretion here and there.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
modified on Monday, May 19, 2008 11:59 AM
Christopher Duncan wrote:
you send an unintended message to all the legitimate admirers of your work that you hold them in disdain
Well, that isn't my intent, but I see your point. Thanks for giving me a different perspective. :) Marc
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
you send an unintended message to all the legitimate admirers of your work that you hold them in disdain
Well, that isn't my intent, but I see your point. Thanks for giving me a different perspective. :) Marc
Now if I could just figure out how to apply all that discretion stuff in my own life... :-D
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
Sam Slade wrote:
that maybe this is a phishing email like others asking for info and not really from a legit source?
I view these emails as phishing emails. Particularly as I've responded a couple times in a nice way and I get immediate requests to be added to gtalk, I get sent offers to outsource, and so forth. Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
view these emails as phishing emails. Particularly as I've responded a couple times in a nice way and I get immediate requests to be added to gtalk, I get sent offers to outsource, and so forth.
One of two possibilities: 1. He's genuine - you point him to other on-line articles (if any, if not then just say "All my articles are on-line at CP"). Result: he's happy, you're no worse off and have another satisifed customer 2. He's phishing or otherwise up to no good - you reply as above. You get requests to gtalk, outsource, etc. You ignore and mark email address as spam. Result: You've wasted a bit of time reading the emails but are really only slightly inconvenienced
Graham "It's spam, honey. Everyone gets it." (Referring to getting spam and his wife thinking he ordered Viagra) Leo Laporte
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Dear Marc, Trust this mail finds you doing great. I'm from New Delhi, India. I am a software programmer working on Visual Basic 6.0 since past 3 Years. For my career growth and to upgrade my knowledge base I've recently switched to C# 2005. I read your paper, "Another Look At IDisposable" in 'CodeProject' website. I was really very impressed as you made it much much clearer than many of the well known books on the subject, floating in the market. Please let me know where I can find more of your articles on C#. :sigh: [edit] For those that feel I am displaying a holier than thou attitude, I would like to say, I have responded kindly to these emails in the past, only to be pumilgated (sp?) with IM requests and with outsourcing offers. I'll be happy to try again with this one and post about what happens. [/edit] Marc
Thyme In The Country Interacx My Blog
modified on Monday, May 19, 2008 11:23 AM
Marc Clifton wrote:
pumilgated
Just "pummeled" is what you want. Oh wait, I don't mean you want to get pummeled or want a pummeling, but you don't want "pumilgated". :laugh:
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Dear Marc, Trust this mail finds you doing great. I'm from New Delhi, India. I am a software programmer working on Visual Basic 6.0 since past 3 Years. For my career growth and to upgrade my knowledge base I've recently switched to C# 2005. I read your paper, "Another Look At IDisposable" in 'CodeProject' website. I was really very impressed as you made it much much clearer than many of the well known books on the subject, floating in the market. Please let me know where I can find more of your articles on C#. :sigh: [edit] For those that feel I am displaying a holier than thou attitude, I would like to say, I have responded kindly to these emails in the past, only to be pumilgated (sp?) with IM requests and with outsourcing offers. I'll be happy to try again with this one and post about what happens. [/edit] Marc
Thyme In The Country Interacx My Blog
modified on Monday, May 19, 2008 11:23 AM
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He was actually commenting on the person's apparent inability to locate further articles, despite having hit the obvious mother lode here at CP.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. In which case, you shoot the ungrateful bastard, and buy a different horse.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Marc Clifton wrote:
pumilgated
Just "pummeled" is what you want. Oh wait, I don't mean you want to get pummeled or want a pummeling, but you don't want "pumilgated". :laugh:
Teach me to not read the whole thread before I reply :doh:.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Dear Marc, Trust this mail finds you doing great. I'm from New Delhi, India. I am a software programmer working on Visual Basic 6.0 since past 3 Years. For my career growth and to upgrade my knowledge base I've recently switched to C# 2005. I read your paper, "Another Look At IDisposable" in 'CodeProject' website. I was really very impressed as you made it much much clearer than many of the well known books on the subject, floating in the market. Please let me know where I can find more of your articles on C#. :sigh: [edit] For those that feel I am displaying a holier than thou attitude, I would like to say, I have responded kindly to these emails in the past, only to be pumilgated (sp?) with IM requests and with outsourcing offers. I'll be happy to try again with this one and post about what happens. [/edit] Marc
Thyme In The Country Interacx My Blog
modified on Monday, May 19, 2008 11:23 AM
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Making fun of people who go out of their way to tell you that they respect you and your work is really bad form, especially when you do so in a public forum. Makes you look a bit like the ultra egotistical Hollywood movie star who looks down his nose at all the "little people," an image that I don't think you deserve. One way of interpreting this email is to conclude that he's a complete idiot. An alternative perspective is to assume that the person knows about all of your CP articles (he found this one, didn't he?) and is wondering where else you might be published. Even if the former were true, I think humility and gratitude are more appropriate than arrogance when approached by people who enjoy your work. After all, if everyone were as smart as you, then why the heck would we need you? ;)
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
Very true.
Jwalant Natvarlal Soneji, BE IT, India