Welcome To The Newbie-Friendly FIB Board?

I haven't been hanging around quite as much as I once did, but have had a bit of time the last couple of days and have started hanging out again. As I come back to the forum, I'm not real happy with what I see.

FIB was the first discussion board that I found a couple of years ago when I was investigating an online business opportunity. I immediately liked it. Being "strongly opinionated", I wasted little time in jumping right in and expressing my opinions on almost every subject. I said some really goofy things, and not once did someone belittle me on this board. As a matter of fact, several well-respected people in Internet Marketing circles took time out from their busy schedules to gently correct me, and many of them have also been extremely generous and helpful to me over the past couple of years.

(As a side note, whenever anyone takes time out of their schedule to help me, I am extremely thankful. In this business, any time that you spend helping me is time that you're taking away from making money. I realize that and appreciate it, guru or not.)

Anyway, some of that helpful spirit seems to have evaporated, so I decided to write this post as a gentle appeal to return to the way things should be. Please, everybody, remember that the purpose of this board is to help people. Sure, the primary purpose is to help people avoid business scams, but it's evolved into much more than that. This board has established a reputation as one of the better places to visit for people new to business. A lot of people find this board because they're researching a particular opportunity and need advice, and once they're here, they realize (as I did) that they can learn a lot by sticking around. So new or old, let's keep this a business-friendly place, please.

So before you post anything, please keep a few things in mind:

• Most people don't ask questions so that people can tell them, "Gee, that's a stupid question!"


• Even if a post doesn't "belong" here, if the mods let it stay, then be nice and don't say bad things about it (and no, I'm not a moderator. MaaMaw knows better than to give me admin rights to anything!). It's not our board, and if the mods let it live, then they must have their reasons for doing so.


• Discuss ideas. NEVER (well, ALMOST never) criticize people unless you own the board. Nobody should fire MaaMaw's customers except MaaMaw.


• Remember: this board exists to help people, even if they do seem to be clueless. Trust me: if you stick around, you won't be clueless for long.


• Remember: if you "know it all", there was a time when you did not. There really was a time when that "stupid question" wasn't quite so stupid.


• And most important: your posts are being archived somewhere on the Internet, and someday MaaMaw will get the archives un-gummed (still waiting for that admin password...). What goes around comes around, and you can bet that bad attitudes on this (and other) boards will not sit well with your future customers when you get your online business going strong. Besides, if you think that some of the questions and opinions posted here are stupid, how are you going to feel after you tell a customer for the 97th time that they need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader on their PC before they can read your eBook? Take control of yourself and decide that those things aren't going to make you respond in an uncivlized manner.


• There's a big difference between ignorance and stupidity. Anyone who can figure out how to get on the Internet and post something to this board isn't stupid, so that only leaves one option, doesn't it?

And if a post really upsets you, go ahead and type it, then take a break and come back to it. Then delete it. You'll feel better and won't get me upset.

So let's stop the mudslinging and get back to helping and providing constructive criticism of ideas. OK?