[EricH]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

It's also important to remember that the people you are bashing on this board are not just internet posters. In many cases they are extremely successful engineers, managers, and leaders of corporations. You may just end up working for them not so far in the future.

I think this point is important enough to speak up on this matter. I have a couple of things to say.

It may be that those people aren't even posting on CD. Maybe they're just looking at it, reading posts. Let's say it's 5 years down the road, you're in college, and you're applying for your dream internship or job. Someone searches your name, and the search engine pops up a list of posts here, that you generated. They see that you said X, Y, and Z--and maybe those things were not in the best taste. Maybe you're the best in your field, but if you're posting on a public forum, and that's what you're saying... well, it probably won't leave the best impression. Good reputations take a long time to build up; as you found out, it's relatively easy to destroy one.

When that manager finds that post, they may not see it as "young and _____" (you fill in the blank here). They might see it as "anger issues" or "no self-control" or any one of a number of other things that are negative. At that point, Tom's "You may just end up working for them" becomes "You won't be working for them". Why? Because you were "young and ______".


To Niles: There is one thing you did right the whole time this has been going on. You kept your name (and team) public without hiding behind an anonymous account. Most people who start that type of discussion aren't bold enough to do that. This apology is another step on the right path. If you learn from this experience, you'll be well on the way to learning how to voice opinions without needing to apologize for the way in which they're voiced--and we need to hear more different opinions.


The other thing I'd like to say, and this is to everyone else: I think it's time to let this die down. Everyone step away, you have a robot to finish in about a week.