[Coco] New Video from Cloud-9!

[Boisy G. Pitre]

Steve,

I see you still have a lot to learn about communicating in way that doesn't make you look like a jerk to everyone else.

Now, I haven't always been perfect in this regard either, and regrettably, I've made my own share of jaded posts on this very medium over the years. However, I'm committed to continual self-improvement and recalibration in order to sharpen my communication skills as well as my ability to make friends and influence people in positive ways.

Since you took the time to post a suggestion to me on the list, I'll return the favor to you.

Next time somebody posts something announcing a new product or sharing something proudly that they've worked on, I suggest that you use this template:

"Hi <WHOMEVER>,

It's great to see a new product for the Color Computer after all these years. As a top games programmer for the CoCo back in the day, I know the satisfaction of creating and producing products for our beloved machine. It's also fun to see how you've chosen to promote your product with the video.

Others might disagree, but I found the background music a little distracting. However, I just turned down the volume and enjoyed the video.

Nice work, and congratulations!

Steve"

See how nice that is? How it flows? You even get to throw in a little bit about your own achievements, and blow your own horn too. But that's ok, because you're giving compliments to someone else. People don't mind it so much when you do that.

And the bonus is that people will actually like you and respect you for posting such a nice message. It's a "win-win."

Contrast this to the two messages you posted:

"You should have removed the annoying background music.
Never did see the new memory board because I could only stand a few seconds of the video."

Followed by:

"The point is you should be more concerned about the annoying music than being annoyed by a spelling error. After all, you do want people to watch the video."

The problems with the above is:

1. It doesn't start with a formal or informal greeting (e.g. Hello, Hi, Yo, Boisy, etc.) that we've come to expect in polite dialogue and writing. The omission of the greeting doesn't allow the reader to ease into the body of the message.
2. It has a sense of recklessness that doesn't take into account how the message might be perceived, or "taken" by the recipient of the message.
3. It exudes a certain narcissism and self-centeredness that ignores the fact that others might like the music and think its fun instead of annoying.
4. It comes across as lecturing and slightly condescending with a "I know better than you" attitude.

To summarize, your messages were short, quaint, lacked helpful and constructive criticism, and didn't provide any compliments to counterbalance the negative tone.

My dad always told me: "Son, treat others like you want to be treated." And he was right. How you treat people does matter. How you talk to and respond to them does matter. And the way you treat and talk to people is a mirror of how you will be talked to and treated.

And I'll end this message with an old dictum that I am doing my best to follow: "If you don't have anything nice to say [or in this case, type], don't say [type] anything at all."


On Apr 4, 2013, at 11:22 PM, Steve Bjork <6809er at srbsoftware.com> wrote:

> The point is you should be more concerned about the annoying music than being annoyed by a spelling error.
> 
> After all, you do want people to watch the video.
> 
> On 4/4/2013 5:56 PM, Boisy G. Pitre wrote:
>> Steve,
>> 
>> Try this:
>> 
>> 1. Turn down your volume on your computer.
>> 2. Click on the scrub bar at the bottom and drag to 0:32 into the video. That will get you past the boring memory removal and bring you right to the point where the memory board is shown.
>> 3. Watch it through to the end.
>> 
>> Enjoy!
>> 
>> On Apr 4, 2013, at 6:31 PM, Steve Bjork <6809er at srbsoftware.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> You should have removed the annoying background music.
>>> Never did see the new memory board because I could only stand a few seconds of the video.
>>> 
>>> On 4/4/2013 1:39 PM, Boisy G. Pitre wrote:
>>>> Juan found a misspelling, and I couldn't stand to see it there.
>>>> 
>>>> Here's the newly uploaded video.
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRXPJuGW5pI
>>>> 
>>>> 
> 
> 
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