Originally Posted by PuffinGin
Many of the members here look upon this board as a friendly place to share, chat, and yes, even vent our frustrations. It's like having a neighbor to chat with over the back fence.
i absolutely understand the need to vent in a supportive environment. any one of my friends here in non-cyberspace can testify to the fact that i am a championship venter. walls melt when i'm on a tear.
however, that's in the privacy of my "real world".
our back fence here at the board is very much in the public eye. thousands of people read our posts - not just the people we know we're sharing with. everything we say and do here can have a ripple effect none of us could predict. i know of at least one case in which a rant here about a commercial product was so devastating to an employee of the company that she nearly quit her job - even though she had personally been working very hard to solve the problem. do you want to be responsible for a thing like that? do you want to cause that kind of humiliation, heartache and despair for a person who happens to work at walmart but not the one(s) you don't like?
what we say and do here reflects on the entire membership and the impression we create for our unseen audience.
i beg you to remember that.