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Old 02-24-2010, 07:08 AM
 
544 posts, read 1,482,130 times
Reputation: 410

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I must confess that with my business I've done everything wrong that I could do. When I first conceived of the idea (of adding sales to what was initially a homepage based on string pedagogy), I took a course in entrepreneurship at a community college. Some of the books that were required or suggested reading had advice in them that hasn't entirely worked for me.

For one thing, there are dozens of string forums online, and I overdid it with respect to linking back to my pages, and mostly, my mistake, I think, was appearing as myself. Competitors and people who didn't even want to see mention of my business in my signature block, ripped me to pieces. I get many thousands of hits on my page every day, but I personally have taken a beating.

I wonder, how much anonymity do you provide for yourself, with your online business? I have a couple of Yahoo groups that are moderated and I'm safe there, because I control what gets through, but it's really not safe for me to appear, as myself, in other groups -- especially unmoderated groups -- as I will very predictably get harassed.
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Old 02-24-2010, 11:28 AM
 
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
3,857 posts, read 6,944,519 times
Reputation: 1817
It sounds like others believe you were spamming forums with your links. It can be hard to get past that first impression. Only time, rehabilitation, and good behaviour will help.

For an online business I've found it best to be as upfront and public as possible - and not hide behind anonymity. Putting a face or a name to a website helps build trust esp. if it's an ecommerce type site. I don't trust commercial sites that have their contact info hidden in the WHOIS.
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Old 02-25-2010, 07:18 AM
 
544 posts, read 1,482,130 times
Reputation: 410
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary Siete View Post
It sounds like others believe you were spamming forums with your links. It can be hard to get past that first impression. Only time, rehabilitation, and good behaviour will help.

For an online business I've found it best to be as upfront and public as possible - and not hide behind anonymity. Putting a face or a name to a website helps build trust esp. if it's an ecommerce type site. I don't trust commercial sites that have their contact info hidden in the WHOIS.

Well apparently. It just astonishes me how mean spirited and downright cruel people can be. I'm never prepared for it. I have always been up front with who I am; my pages have my name in them ("My Name"'s Page) and my studio policies and vita are attached to the page. There is no doubt who I am, and my name is listed with my university, along with links to an open source project at said university with about a dozen essays, also under my name. I have a book published that's advertised on the pages, with my name listed as the author. I'm not hiding.

My WHOIS, is protected, however.

I'm not the first person that this has happened to -- there is a book written about a similar experience, by a woman who spent the money to prosecute the people involved, which I did not do. But on USENET, there is this process called "gas lighting" where someone, for fun or profit or both, falsifies headers and destroys the reputation of the targeted person by posting in what looks like their account. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know, but I was told that it was fairly obvious that the headers were falsified, which lead me to find this book about this sort of harassment.

So some person or persons got on USENET and posted maybe about a thousand posts, supposedly from me, which were odd, weird and vulgar in nature. Now everyone believes they were from me, though people who know me, know better. I can't post anywhere without one or more people bringing this up and telling everyone else on the forum what a >>>fill in the blanks<<< person I am. I was nearly suicidal until I read about how frequently this has happened on USENET.

This was a horrible experience which I would not wish on my worst enemy. I did nothing to deserve it, and I still encounter a couple of people who vehemently hate me and will not listen to reason. People who know me, and love me, just think it's horrible (there ARE such people); but it has taken a terrible toll on me emotionally.

I could have gone to the expense of hiring an attorney, getting court orders and IP addresses, locating the offender(s) and suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress. In some states there are stalking laws that are being interpreted with internet stalkers in mind. I think California is developing law in this area. But the expense would have been as big a strain as the offense.

Oh, and I also received, via snail mail, a packet of horrible photos of a man dressed as a women in sleezy clothes, with a whip, in a cheap motel room, and in provocative poses. I turned this into the police. And we received pornographic phone calls. I have a protected 888 number now, where I can block any calls of this nature. A couple of people stalked and harassed me online for about two years, following me from local "Freecycle" groups on yahoo, to the local craigslist postings, as well as all the professional forums. They have stopped, however; they're from California (we determined this from their IP address) and the laws are changing in California. I guess it scared them enough to make them stop.

Last edited by scsigurl3000; 02-25-2010 at 07:46 AM..
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Old 02-25-2010, 09:49 AM
 
Location: So Cal
90 posts, read 533,772 times
Reputation: 105
People are just jelous that someone is actualy DOING SOMETHING, and not sitting on the couch and watching TV.
Be strong. Winners never quit. Quitters never win.
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Old 02-25-2010, 10:08 AM
 
544 posts, read 1,482,130 times
Reputation: 410
Quote:
Originally Posted by socal2009 View Post
People are just jelous that someone is actualy DOING SOMETHING, and not sitting on the couch and watching TV.
Be strong. Winners never quit. Quitters never win.
Thank you. No, no way would I allow them to ruin my life, though that was the purpose. They can all take a long walk off a short pier!
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Old 03-25-2010, 05:27 AM
 
1 posts, read 1,511 times
Reputation: 10
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Old 03-31-2010, 06:06 PM
 
Location: USA
40 posts, read 89,596 times
Reputation: 21
It really depends on the type of business and how you're marketing your business. For product based businesses it really doesn't matter who's behind the product as long as it has a clear benefit to the customer it's going to sell...no questions asked.

If it's a service based business well some do need a face behind them and some don't. Each case is unique. If you want to be known as an inventor or pioneer behind something then you shouldn't care what people say and keep pressing forward. In fact, even negative attention can act as good promotional "buzz"..

Whatever you do...DON'T QUIT!! The past does not equal the future
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Old 04-02-2010, 01:42 PM
 
273 posts, read 698,986 times
Reputation: 208
Yes I agree it depends on the type of business you are doing online.

If you are selling a service that you’re personally conducting or trying to sell yourself (In terms self promotion, not prostitution), then you have to be upfront and open with who you are. However if it’s only a product or another outside service then no, you let that product or service stand on its own and remain in the background.

An example, if you were to sell pre-paid legal then you let the pre-paid legal package sell itself, however if you’re a lawyer offering your legal services then you would use your name like Joe-Lawyer.com
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