Your Permanent Record

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Your Permanent Record

    Tim Mitchell, Microsoft Data Platform MVP
    Data Warehouse and ETL Consultant
    TimMitchell.net | @Tim_Mitchell | Tyleris.com
    ETL Best Practices

  • This is a very good point and something I don't think a lot of people keep in mind. At least among the younger generations. It'll be interesting to hear what people on this site have to say. I'm expecting most to say it's something they do than, say, the teens in the Youth Group I help out with. I know we've had some issues with that even with rather protective parents watching what's posted.

  • Many folks wonder why I don't have a Facebook account. It's not that I would post anything questionable, it's that it's too much exposure. Do you want to be judged by all your family and friends private lifes and their extended network posts and pictures?

  • I had poor grades in school, at least up to my senior year of high school. Dropped out of college after one abysmal quarter. Does that mean I have a license to post horrible things online, since I'm already contravening one of the other bits of advice? 😛

    More saliently, I follow a personal rule of not writing what I wouldn't say in person. I've written some things that would violate the "don't ever offend anyone" type of rules that the editorial seems (to me) to be calling for. I've told a couple of people, for example, to "step away from the database, keeping both hands in plain view". I've written some things about, for example, Joe Celko, that could be considered "harsh" or whatever. I've also posted both religious and political views that aren't exactly mainstream (I'm a political independent because I can't stand either of the main US political parties; religiously, I'm a Scientologist).

    Is it possible someone will pass over hiring me because of my religion? Yes. And I'd rather work for someone who knows it and doesn't care than for someone who would hate me if they knew it. Same for politics.

    I've found that a rule of "don't write what you wouldn't say to the person's face" works for me. I'm sure I've offended or alienated a few people. We're human, we don't all get along. I try to help. I try to treat everyone with respect and dignity. I try to maintain appropriate manners. But that doesn't mean sticking to writing pablum, either.

    I'm not sure that's what this editorial is calling for, but it does read that way to me.

    - Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
    Property of The Thread

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • I have often found that people who say things like "Don't do this or that because it will cause this" either don't know what they are talking about or they are trying to put me on a guilt trip and get me to do something for their agenda. My parents were masters at this, and I did exactly what I wanted anyway. I got a College Education on my own dime, served honorably in the Armed Forces, worked my way up on my own dime, and I never spent one night in jail. So all that "Don't do this" is just a bunch of hot air in my opinion.:-D

    "Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"

  • TravisDBA (4/19/2012)


    So all that "Don't do this" is just a bunch of hot air in my opinion.:-D

    So you would argue that behavior on forums or other social media sites doesn't have any professional implications? I would think that people that have been fired over what they've posted on Facebook would say that's not the case whether or not you agree with the reason. And while I can't think of anything that someone would do on these forums that would get them fired I can so that if I knew a job candidate posted here I would take a look at their posts to try to get a feel for what it would be like to work with them.

  • cfradenburg (4/19/2012)


    TravisDBA (4/19/2012)


    So all that "Don't do this" is just a bunch of hot air in my opinion.:-D

    So you would argue that behavior on forums or other social media sites doesn't have any professional implications? I would think that people that have been fired over what they've posted on Facebook would say that's not the case whether or not you agree with the reason. And while I can't think of anything that someone would do on these forums that would get them fired I can so that if I knew a job candidate posted here I would take a look at their posts to try to get a feel for what it would be like to work with them.

    Depends on the behavior. So long as it is not attacking peoples character for having a different opinion, lude, lascivious, profane, or racial in nature. But a lot of that is just using your common sense too. Just having an opinion on a forum that differs from your own is an entirely different story dude, and if that did have professional implications, based on just that alone, I wouldn't want to work for those people anyway.. 😀

    "Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"

  • cfradenburg (4/19/2012)


    TravisDBA (4/19/2012)


    So all that "Don't do this" is just a bunch of hot air in my opinion.:-D

    So you would argue that behavior on forums or other social media sites doesn't have any professional implications? I would think that people that have been fired over what they've posted on Facebook would say that's not the case whether or not you agree with the reason. And while I can't think of anything that someone would do on these forums that would get them fired I can so that if I knew a job candidate posted here I would take a look at their posts to try to get a feel for what it would be like to work with them.

    The potentially misleading thing about reports like that is how many people who have posted "inappropriate" content on Facebook who haven't been fired is always left out of the reports. Mainly because there's no possible way to collect that data.

    Alarmist reports of that nature are written to create fear. They have no other actual purpose. If they were intended to inform and educated, they would go way beyond a slideshow of 17 people and "hah hah look what bad things these morons did" kind of reporting.

    Fear, as aimed for by most modern media, fixates attention. That's a standard part of human emotional responses. Fixated attention, which is also the primary mechanism of hypnosis and mesmerism, gets marketing responses.

    Keep that in mind when you read these things. It helps you separate the emotion from the data, and you'll find that most modern "reporting" is remarkably sparse in data. Sometimes completely missing it. And what it does present is carefully selected to enhance a feeling of fear and helplessness. So filter by that before you accept anything reported in this manner.

    If you want a perfect example of how this works, check out www.dhmo.org.

    - Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
    Property of The Thread

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • Having looked through the "people that have been fired" article, I can say I agree with the outcome in almost every case.

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