Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

I really get a kick out of forum discussions. Some of them turn into knock down drag out fights. And you know why that is? It’s because people just don’t know how to communicate. In this article, I’m going to give you an example (leaving out all names) and then give you some tips on how you can avoid such problems. You’ll never completely avoid them, but you can avoid most of them.

Let’s start with my little example. One person, at this forum I attend, started a thread explaining why people don’t make any money online. He cited one of the problems as asking questions like, “How long will this take?” or “How many hours will I have to put in a day?” and things like that. His assertion was that these people were lazy and didn’t want to do any work. Granted, many people who DO ask these questions are just that…lazy.

You would think that the members reading the thread, myself included, would “understand” the point the member was trying to make. Most did. But a few argued that these were valid questions from people who maybe worked a full time job and didn’t have the time to put into a full time business. And yes, for these people, these ARE valid questions. But the initial post painted with very broad strokes and didn’t account for these legitimate folks. And so the arguing began.

Had the original poster CLEARLY stated that he was not referring to people with other responsibilities who didn’t have that much time to put into a business, all the arguing could have been avoided. At least a great deal of it could have. I’m sure somebody could have found something else to argue about.

Point is, by not clearly communicated what you mean, you open yourself up for these kinds of arguments. And believe me, I understand them and even pointed out why this was happening in the thread itself.

What you need to understand is this. When you are making the post you’re making, your mind is in a certain place. You know where you are. Problem is, the other members DON’T. They don’t know you’re only referring to a certain group of people. So you need to make that clear.

In short, the more info you give in a forum post, the better the chances that you aren’t misunderstood. So carefully think out your posts BEFORE you make them…no matter how angry you may be.

It will greatly help avoid scenes like the one I witnessed this morning.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve had a good old fashioned rant so I figured, why not? This article has to do with forum etiquette and this one thing really burns my cookies. Doing this is a sure way to get me to ignore you for the rest of your miserable existence. If you want to find out how NOT to get on my ignore list, you might want to read this article.

Today, I went to the Warrior Forum to see what was going on and was greeted by a PM message. They pop up automatically. Well, this one was from a member who had just joined, had something like 22 posts, and was contacting me to ask me if I’d review his product. No, “how are you, I really think you’re a great guy” or anything like that. Just, “Would you review my product?” I don’t know the guy from Adam and he wants me to take time out of MY busy day to review HIS product. Guess what I did? You got it. I closed up the PM and went my merry way.

And I’m not the only one getting these. In fact, a thread was started on this very thing just this morning. Seems these people are contacting a bunch of us to try to get their product reviewed. So, I’m not even special. I’m just one of the herd who you’re trying to get something from. Yeah, that’s going to go over real big with me. And what gets me is that if you don’t respond, or say no, you get some kind of nasty response back. The entitlement attitude of these people just boggles my mind.

Okay, so you want to know how to approach me for reviews? Get to know me first. Do something nice for me. Make me feel like I’m special. After all, you ARE asking me to give up MY time to do something that in no way is going to benefit me one little bit. Where is my incentive to review YOUR product? If you can’t think of one, then most likely, unless you’re a 7 figure a year marketer, your request is going to be ignored. I only have so many hours in my day and don’t have time for people who can’t even take the time to get to know me personally.

Think I’m a jerk? No problem. Wait until YOU get 10 PMs a day for product reviews and can’t get YOUR work done and see how YOU like it. Ah, it’s different when the shoe is on the other foot, isn’t it. Like I said, the entitlement attitude that people have just drives me nuts. Well, let me tell you. People with that attitude usually don’t get anywhere. Oh, there are exceptions to every rule. But in this case, they are few and far between.

So, if you want another marketer to do something for you, especially through a forum, get to know the person first. Do something for the person…FIRST.

You might actually stand a chance of getting somewhere if you do.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.