Finding the Time, to be Civil Online

I really dislike the phrase, “Where do people find the time?” when describing the creativity and work people put into the world. Most distinctly, the work shared online. Where do they find the time? They don’t find time, they make it. They get off their butts and create something rather than consume it.

I’m all for consuming. I love video games, just recently finished the second season of Sherlock and have seen more performances at the Fox than I can count. But each and every time I consume something good and marvel at its existence I’m encouraged and emboldened to go make stuff of my own. I do not feel like, “well, yeah they can do that, but I’ll never be good enough.”.

Share your own stuff! That’s what’s great about this technology. I write here on my little blog and people from around the world can (and do) read it! That’s an amazing ability. You can, and will, find people with a similar interest. You will find new interests. Learning and growing as an individual should not stop once you’ve left school. Keep on reading and sharing.

Help others and don’t discourage questions or new people. Ignorance does not equal dumb – it means they just don’t know. Yes they could Google it, but they didn’t. They came to your community and are asking for help. Maybe they’re not good at the Internets like you are, maybe English isn’t their first language, maybe they’re a younger person without much experience. There is no such thing as a stupid question. We should all work to be more passionate when people share something.

The one thing I dislike more than people’s lackadaisical appreciation of those who create (and their lackadaisical drive to create themselves) are people who are rude to those that have the chutzpah to share their creation with the public.

Be Civil

If your only contribution is to leave a comment, or tweet a thought, please let it be civil.

Don’t hide behind anonymity. Everything I do online I understand to be not only in the public area and accessible by anyone across time, but that it’s all tied to myself in the real world. I’m happy to be working where I’m at and am confident that if someone looks me up online they’d find out a lot of positive things about me.

Listen, think, then reply. Re read what you think you read. Empathy, even in small doses, goes a long way.

The Internet isn’t a convent, but please knock off the profanity. That ties into being yourself online. Would you want someone to associate you with a ranting account on Reddit or a bunch of derogatory remarks on YouTube? People search for this stuff!

Be yourself, share yourself, and be awesome.