9 Comments

Comment by Jeremy Williams on June 18, 2008 at 4:29pm

Stephen,

Good to see you back at SI. I would read your blogs occasionally. Are you the author of Crazyman's Economics or do you do work on promoting the book? From reading one of your previous posts on it, it sounds interesting. I can't say that I agree with the 'economics' that it sounds like are presented in the book, I'm always up for a good, healthy debate!

Comment by Nwokedi C. Idika on June 18, 2008 at 10:03pm

This is an interesting post because I see this post as 2 blog posts. One is a book promotion and the other is a deeper issue regarding the purpose SI. An interesting post would be what conclusions you've drawn from your evaluation period of SI.

Comment by Stephen Edds on June 19, 2008 at 12:36am

If you don't mind, I'm going to answer both comments in one post:

1) I am the co-author of "Crazyman's Economics." The concept and thoughts of the book are T.E. Scott's, I just took his ideas and put them down on paper. The reason I am listed as a co-author is that I contributed enough new ideas and thoughts that T.E. thought I should be given a co-author credit, for which I'm incredibly grateful.

As for the "economics," I hope you read the book and understand how the markets have a negative impact on our economy. If you disagree, I welcome a healthy debate, that's what this country was built upon.

The second point would be to address Nwokedi's question. I have had contact with many new and interesting people as a result of being a part of SI. However, I have spoken with many people who have shared my concerns with having posts removed for being too promotional, when I feel that is the point of a business-related networking group.

The conclusion I've drawn is that the rules need to be re-evaluated as we are all adults, and if, for example, no one wants to buy my book, then they can click on the next post. I'm not happy with SI leadership, but I'm giving it another shot.

Comment by Greg Perry on June 19, 2008 at 6:17am

Hey Stephen,
Your pulled posts are news to me. I can see the urge to protect SI from becoming a mall of vanilla networking. But I saw your book project, and your posts about it, as consistent with what a creative community does -- we start projects, we have questions about projects and ask them in the spirit of collaboration, we talk about the wins. Promotion? I guess, with with a lower case "p". I see wins like that as little gifts to the rest of us -- keep at it. good work makes it to a market.

Comment by Pat Coyle on June 19, 2008 at 7:11am

Stephen, Sorry if SI's limit of self-promotion isn't clear. I think Nwokedi's suggestion is heading in the right direction...it suggests a way to make interesting posts. I think you're struggling with a style issue more than anything. We'd love to know about your book, read excerpts, or learn about the process you went through to write it. If you gave that type of "behind the scenes stuff, then at the end of such posts, you can certainly link to a store so folks can buy it if they choose; but posts promoting products or services without more substance will continue to get "axed" as you say. The promotion you see on SI is generally related to local arts and innovations...where SI members are given special opportunities to engage or attend events (generally for free) in exchange for blogging...and contributing interesting content (and energy) back to the community (and promoting local arts at the same time). I understand these rules may not suit you, and at times they may seem off base, but SI was not launched to be a just business networking community. Indeed many Smoosiers use SI to network for biz, but that's not it's highest purpose. We are all much more than what we do. SI is hoping to lure people out of the "business first" mindset, to help people display their gifts and their passions in compelling ways, to demonstrate the depth of talent we have here in Indiana...and from time to time some folks will do business together because they've met each other, and come to respect and trust each other...which is great.

Comment by Stephen Edds on June 19, 2008 at 9:51am

Pat,

I appreciate your response, and hopefully this will clarify the issue for myself and others. I would point out that I did mention the book in several posts before the announcement, which is why the announcement was so straight-forward. One thing I would recommend is before you pull a post, give the person a chance to either edit it to make it fit the guidelines, or suggest a better place to post it, or both. That would be much better received than the post simply disappearing.

Comment by Pat Coyle on June 19, 2008 at 10:57am

You're right. I should have let you know. I typically do...but cut a corner in this case.

Comment by Wanda Stine on July 16, 2008 at 11:00pm

Hi, I'm a freelance artist and also did not quite understand where the line was drawn on what was okay to say and what was not ok. My first post, I just didn't read the guidelines well enough to know...but since that time I have been sort of mixed up on what is promotional and what is not. I really like the atmosphere here, and I wouldn't want to change it for anything. But I also would like to ask folks opinions on direction in my business and don't know if I should, or should not. I think its a "grey" area...you know? Good luck on your book! and nice to "meet" you.

Comment by Stephen Edds on July 17, 2008 at 4:19pm

Wanda,

My belief then, as it is now, is that how can I know your talents and goals as an artist if you don't use this forum to promote yourself. Obviously, there are limits, you don't want to hijack every thread to tell everyone how wonderful you are. But, like with me, if you see an opportunity to present youself as an expert in a field or looking for work and someone may see it and respond, then there's nothing wrong with that.

Good luck with your freelance work, and I would be crazy not to recommend that you order a copy of "Crazyman's Economics" and read it. It's not a book for investors, it's a book for those who have investments.

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