Be Kind

On Monday, I wrote about The Jocks & The Geeks. In short the post discussed the divide between the popular clique and that of the lesser knowns. I described how people feel their views are not heard and thus rendered invalid. A lot of people have told me they related to the post, so have a read if you haven’t. I’m always interested to hear new angles and opinions.

The last week has exposed a lot of harsh rudeness going on in the industry. (I personally hadn’t seen any of this until yesterday.) There has been plenty of people flogging others.

Although you are probably very aware of the incidents by now, two of many that stick out to me:

The ‘Web Designer Of The Year’ winner was bashed publicly. This created many conflicted feelings for me. I agree with the sentiment. Though however valid I feel about that, this was bullying. My Jocks and Geeks analogy holds more true now, it’s definitely like high schooling.

Then another case of an event organiser publicly shamed speakers. I didn’t see the list so have no idea if I approve of any or not, but that’s not the point. The point here is there is no constructive in this criticism.

My post a few days ago was about how tired I am that people don’t band together. That people are too busy trying to be web famous to care about others – unless there’s an incentive in it for them. It’s a shame to see this is happening. Not just as a close industry, but as human beings. I was of real hope that people would come together and push this industry much further.

The web is open; open-source, open-communication and it’s meant to be open-minded too. The insulting is getting us nowhere. It just escalates and makes anyone’s opinion instantly rendered invalid.

I vote we actually speak about this. Some are feeling marginalised, some are feeling a lot of the things going on is a giant farce. We’ve changed this industry plenty of times over in the past, let’s create a better environment for all.

We need to get past the bullshit. I think the more we focus on the community than the self-serving antics (everyone’s gotta eat – doesn’t mean we have to be a dick while doing it) the more this community will reflect that. Complaining solves nothing, action does.

Let’s challenge everyone to post more of the unknowns they find. To listen to everyone’s opinion no matter what their ‘status’ is. To stop bickering like we’re 10 years old on the playground. To communicate with each other more privately rather than deliberately embarrassing and shaming people.

Most importantly, lets get the hell on with it rather than complaining about how the current situation is so despicable. We’ve reflected on it, we realise it’s an issue, now let’s change it.

(You may also want to read Paul Graham’s post on critiscism criticism from a few years ago.)