Hey let your hair down

Hey let your hair down once in a while! Sometimes it is good to let your hair down once in a while -- that is an expression meant that sometimes you should express yourself in the vernacular to let your fellow writers, friends, buddies, chums and pals know a little more about you in an appropriate setting. What the heck am I talking about?

Ah, it would be a new forum thread that was recently opened up called Squids Gone Wild on the SquidU Forum. Normally, I am quite a serious lensmaster -- at least that's what my hubby is always saying. He is always encouraging me to laugh more! Yes indeed, I kid you not. Growing up and attending Catholic school put the fear of God and the nuns into me way back in my formative years. You know you had to be careful or the nun would bring you up to the front of the class to whack your knuckles with a ruler. The really 'bad' ones got the paddle in the back room. Oh, and sometimes you got to stay after class and help dear sister clean the blackboards!

Whew, thanks for stimulating that moment of deja vu and nostalgia. So, nothing terribly profound today -- no new etiquette post -- I'll leave that to the experts as I think I've scared away my readers with my take on etiquette. ;)

Let's think of something fun today. So, when was the last time you let your hair down? Care to tell me about it? Something topicable -- Trick or Treat? Hey, Halloween is around the corner -- what say you? What is your stance on Trick or Treat?

Thou shalt not flame - Forum Etiquette

Thou shalt not flame, harass, denigrate, spam, or malign -- Forum Etiquette! Have you been following along with the latest Topicability blog posts -- and then being sure to read ALL the comments.

When I was tackling the broad and worthy subject of Twitter Etiquette, I eluded to the fact that I would soon be tackling Forum Etiquette. Well, here I am sitting here working on this blog post a bit early. Why? Well, it is thanks to a fellow lensmaster Deb aka flowergardener. We got to know each other quite a while ago, but as life is -- we each have been very busy with the daily stresses and many sequence of events which take us away from the daily civility of conversations. But, that is not meant to indicate that we do NOT care what the other individual might be up to -- or what challenges they face -- we know that we all have to come to grip with life!

So, what was I saying about etiquette? Oh, I wanted to next talk about the rules of forum etiquette. At the moment, I will contain this etiquette lesson strictly to the Squidoo, Squidu Forum, as I am not yet active, on a daily basis, in other forums like maybe that Zazzle Forum. But, I'm sure I will be making my way there soon. So, as etiquette goes, forum etiquette should be universal in concept.

Today's topic gets a kick-start from flowergardener Deb in that she took time away from her busy morning to post quite a meaningful post in the Squidu Forum.

"I just looked up the stuff that was in our TOS: flame, harass, denigrate, spam, and malign. Here they are, pulled from google definition searches."

flame:
An Internet user typically generates a flame response to other posts or users posting on a site, and such a response is usually not constructive, does not clarify a discussion, and does not persuade others. Sometimes, flamers attempt to assert their authority, or establish a position of superiority over other users. Other times, a flamer is simply an individual who believes he or she carries the only valid opinion. This leads him or her to personally attack those who disagree. In some cases, flamers wish to upset and offend other members of the forum, in which case they can be called "trolls". Most often however, flamers are angry or insulting messages transmitted by people who have strong feelings about a subject.

harass:
To irritate or torment persistently. To wear out; exhaust. To impede and exhaust (an enemy) by repeated attacks or raids.

denigrate:
To speak damagingly of; criticize in a derogatory manner; sully; defame.
To denigrate someone's character.
To treat or represent as lacking in value or importance; belittle; disparage: to denigrate someone's contributions to a project.
To make black; blacken: rain clouds denigrating the sky.

spam:
we all should know what this is

malign:
To say unpleasant things about (someone or something), especially without reason.
To speak unfavorably about, traduce; drag through the mud.

Thank you flowergardener for taking time to look all these up. Yes, forum posters! Do you understand that thou shalt not flame, harass, denigrate, spam, or malign other forum posters? Heck, this is something that is a principle of social interactions. It applies elsewhere online AND in life.

So, let's think about this for a moment shall we? In our recent dealings online, can you say that you have observed these "not to do" principles? Can YOU?

Does the ANONYMITY of the Internet aid and abet rudeness

Remember that TV program, Kids Say the Darndest Things? Well, the more that I use the internet, the more apparent it has become that people in general can and will say the darndest things especially with the anonymity of the internet.

After personally hosting a number of Squidoo Hey Monkeybrain debates and having included guestbooks on many of my lenses, I'm happy to say that people do indeed say the darndest things! And the darndest things that people say can be downright rude and crass!

It was recently that I received an interesting and brief guestbook message ... 2 words ... the first begins with an "F" ends with a "K" and the second word was me, well "You." Get it? Well, it seems that I am not alone as the only Squidoo lensmaster receiving these type of rude, crass guestbook remarks in addition to others.

Take lensmaster Janet21 for example ... she received a different type of 'rude' guestbook remark: $328 --- that's your idea of "making a living". And you're no. 1??? Not a very good adverstisement for Squidoo, I must say." 

Lensmaster kab recently started a SquidU Forum thread: Don't even 14 year olds get tired of leaving rude and pointless comments on lenses and other websites? My lens Did Atlantis Really Exist, just got three comments: 1. f-- atlantis and f-- u if u read this sh-- 2. no atlantis does not exist u damn b-- f-- all of u u could suck my c-- 3. f-- you.

The rude remarks have been also directed at Squidoo from other social-network sites such as StumbleUpon and wis.dm. It seems that one if not more Squidoo lensmasters got a bit carried away with their 'passion' about Squidoo and their lenses and added too many links to their lenses on those two sites. As a consequence, lensmasters such as myself got inadvertantly and rather rudely labeled as social members who didn't care about those social-network sites as much as we do about Squidoo. And, other NOT so nice things were said ... ah -- again the anonymity of the internet. At the moment, I can't speak for Twitter, as I've not gotten firsthand knowledge of similar circumstances.

Bottomline: While the internet may provide a sense of anonymity to forum and guestbook posters who make drive-by rude and crass remarks, IPs are traceable. And, perhaps the bigger picture, I believe in a sense of karma ... what goes around, comes around. --JaguarJulie.

How to Make Money on Squidoo

How to Make Money on Squidoo?  Do tell, do tell ... Tongues have been a-wagging when it was announced that a Squidoo lensmaster had earned $1,000 in a one-month period from just one Squidoo lens!

Megan Casey reported in the Squidoo blog ... "Yes, once you’ve got a suite of worthwhile lenses up, they’ll just keep earning you royalties, little by little, month by month.Yes, working through the dip pays off."

Take it from Megan ...

• No, it didn’t happen overnight.
• No, you can’t get there by shortcutting or cheating or spamming.
• No, piling on the affiliate links willynilly isn’t the solution.

There has been plenty of buzz recently on The Lensmaster Lounge at SquidU.

BTW, this cool graphic is compliments of a fellow Squidoo lensmaster, Janusz Biela who designs cool graphics for use by Squidoo lensmasters for FREE! Soon he'll probably be charging for his services!
P.S. Keep an eye out for future blog posts to give you more info and tips about how you can make money on Squidoo. I'll tell you what has been working for me and give you more insight into the magic behind the income!