The Steve Wagenheim Pledge...Who Wants To Take It?

Steve,

you have always come across to me as a sweet and sensitive guy and you have always put yourself out there like nobody I've ever come across on a forum.

But you posted a thread a couple of days ago where you detailed your day. Many where very grateful that you did this, myself included. It was a very valuable post and I'm sure many learnt a lot from it. I think that many would have been pretty blown away by the amount of work you do. I know that I was.

My first thought was also that this is not a business. It is a (more than!) full time job. It doesn't matter whether or not you enjoy it. It doesn't matter that it is your day and you can spend it any way that you choose. The simple fact is that you put it out there and so people will express a view on it. You have to expect this.

Danc1122 doesn't need to, nor did he, make an assumption about it because you frequently share so much (every detail it sometimes seems) about what you do to make a living. The "my day" post was just another, albeit fuller, example of this.

The simple fact is that people do make a lot more money by working a lot less hours and working a lot smarter. You yourself have expressed a desire to do this also. Hence the new plans for the New Year. Hence the (noble) intention behind this thread.

So my question to you, as someone who thinks of you very fondly, is why do you do it? Why do you put yourself out there so openly and then (if you think about it and review many of your posts) respond so defensively to other people's reactions to and views on the things that you share?

Don't take it so personally. You're a star and we all love you. This will never change. You've given so much to so many. How could anyone not admire and respect you for this?

However, I just don't understand why you sometimes sour the medicine.

Back to your OP...

Arguments often do serve a purpose. Through conflict comes progress. As do many of the best ideas because conflict, either external or internal, is one of the fundamental keys to creativity. It is also fundamental to successful collaboration and as you are well aware it is fundamental to storytelling. And everybody loves a great story. Particularly the dramas that happen around here every so often. These are essential for the success of any community. Particularly a forum. It builds characters and tension. People choose a side, root for the good guys in the white hats and hiss at the villains. Just like any great story or any soap opera. It keeps people engaged and interested. And as we know, when people are engaged and interested they learn.

And that, after all, is what its all about.

This forum is a bit of a miracle when you think about it. When we take time away from our work in the wonderful and diverse field of "marketing" we choose to spend some (often too much!) of it here, learning about marketing! In the UK we call this a Busman's holiday! Roughly translated as a pretty stupid thing to do! But we do it because we love our craft. We do it because we love this place. As it is. Warts and all. A community is only as good as it's members. Those we may view as the good guys AND the villains are all essential to making this place what it is and it would be less of a diverse, engaging and often highly entertaining learning environment without them.

It is such a delicate miracle. Upset the balance too much and it will fall apart. Exactly like a hot summer blockbuster where the good guy never runs out of ammunition, never misses a shot, never catches a bullet, always gets an ass whooping from an angry boss, always beats the baddie, always gets the girl. It simply becomes pointless and dull. And nobody wants that.

So why change it?

There isn't a single shred of me that doubts your noble sentiments, but as they often say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Thomas.

So much for that pledge. :p