How much info do you give in public chat without letting the competition get ahead?

**Squirt** · 09-25-2004, 08:37 PM

I see a lot of posts here, and I post a lot as well. How far do you go in public chat with your business plans and how much do you leave to private chat with members you know and trust on the boards?

Where is the line in the sand drawn?

**Lee** · 09-25-2004, 08:52 PM

A very good question and to be honest, i dont think there is a right or a wrong answer to it.

For me, ill happily give as much information as i can on any given subject, ill post things that i have done wrong and the things that i have done right usually in the same thread LOL

One thing that makes any community what it is, is the willingness of its entire community member base to nt only learn from each other but also to help each other. For the most part, i think we have that right on our part of the web

As far as giving out information pertinent to MY business to others, i do hold back on some things, for example, DILF, we told 2 people about our plans for that, one of them was our now business partner and another was a family member.

Obviously as with any aspect of running a business you need to keep 'some' details private until such a time that you are able to release the information, such as trademarks or patents that you may have pending or even new ideas for niches, in fact, scrub that last item i know we had a very lengthy discussion here within the past few months about what niches everyone would like to see and i have seen some of them put online by community members.

Overall though, as i have said, the 'line drawn in sand' is going to be in a different place for everyone and, as individual community members become accustomed to other members the boundaries of those lines will become smaller and smaller.

Would be great to see what everyone else thinks of this question too im sure that we have people here that have found themselves sharing more than they did when they first joined and i for one would love to hear about their experiences

Regards,

Lee

**Chilihost** · 09-25-2004, 09:06 PM

I am not telling :high:

cheers,
Luke

Dawgy · 09-25-2004, 09:21 PM

i dont actually do anything, im just here.

**Squirt** · 09-25-2004, 11:02 PM

Thanks for that response Lee it makes a lot of sense. Basically different strokes for different folks.

In the back of my head I always envision the competitor that doesn't participate in our community writing down notes reading our posts, that's my only concern.

Thanks again Lee.. good input as always.

Dzinerbear · 09-26-2004, 12:23 AM

For a long time I kept things pretty vague. I didn't share my URL in my profile because few others were unless it was a program like Stud Money that they were trying to promote. But few seemed to be advertising their actual site, so I followed suit. I figured there must be a reason.

I eventually learned that there was. When my site started picking up steam, I actually had a webmaster pretend to be a model in a specific gallery on my site. He demanded I remove the pictures because he hadn't approved them. Coincidentally enough that gallery had a number one ranking for "low hanging balls" which pulled in good traffic for me.

I've had other webmasters pull scams on me as well. It's unfortunate.

I'll share my URL in private with board people. I just choose not to broadcast it all over the place. In terms of other things, I generally try to be helpful, but at the same time, don't run around blabbing stuff that I might want to try myself.

I have to admit I haven't always been forthcoming in the what sponsors are selling for you threads because if you tell everyone, then everyone runs over there and suddenly than sponsor is over exposed.

I'd exercise a certain amount of caution because while there are a lot of reason cool and helpful people here, there are a lot of lurkers and who knows what their motivation is.

Cheers
Dzinerbear

**Squirt** · 09-26-2004, 12:39 AM

Well said!

"I'd exercise a certain amount of caution because while there are a lot of reason cool and helpful people here, there are a lot of lurkers and who knows what their motivation is. "

I agree. The turnkey webmaster being discussed on another board made reference to my posts on this board .. so he watches and doesn't post. He also doesn't post on the Gay section of the other board.. yet talks about how much money he can make people on Gay Turnkey sites. Pretty ironic.

Being new to this board I don't know who's who.. so if you'd like to send me a pvt message and let me know your thoughts I welcome it. I've asked for a low down from a couple other people on here and haven't gotten a response.

desslock · 09-26-2004, 02:12 AM

Squirt

Just use your own judgement. Just realize that more or less, we are all your competition. For me, I resolved to post info to my sites from time to time if and when it is topical to a message. It's not a big secret or anything. But I don't spam the board with them in my signature line.

I've met most of the regulars on here. They are all very nice people, and professionals. Our sites aren't a big secret. I'm more concerned with as Dzinerbear says of con artists, copycats, etc. Plus, there are such things as a good limit to information.

Still I enjoy beig helpful, so I've had to figure out a good balance.

Steve

**Squirt** · 09-26-2004, 02:47 AM

Good advice Desslock. Yes we're all competition but there's plenty to go around.

CopyCats would piss me off to no end!

Not a good thing.

Thanks for your reply Desslock.

Cheers

Dzinerbear · 09-26-2004, 10:18 AM

Originally posted by Squirt
I agree. The turnkey webmaster being discussed on another board made reference to my posts on this board .. so he watches and doesn't post. He also doesn't post on the Gay section of the other board.. yet talks about how much money he can make people on Gay Turnkey sites. Pretty ironic.

If it's the same guy I'm thinking of, he used to post here semi-regularly. (I think his name was Monkey Wrench or JigSaw or something.) He left in a huff when we all finally got tired of his bullshit and told him essentially to sod off. People continually told us that he's not so bad in real life and he's actually a nice guy, however, with a keyboard in his hand and an Internet connection, he transforms into something else.

I don't miss him.
Dzinerbear

**Lee** · 09-26-2004, 02:54 PM

Originally posted by Dzinerbear
I think his name was Monkey Wrench or JigSaw or something.)

He was definately a tool

Regards,

Lee

**Squirt** · 09-26-2004, 05:09 PM

"Sod off" and "tool" British slang is so sexy! Even sexier with an accent :-D

I thnk my style here in regards to sensitive business info will be to just use my best judgement... communicate some stuff by email etc.

A lot of good advice here and thanks guys for sharing your thoughts on this.

Mamakity · 09-28-2004, 12:24 PM

Woopsies! I think I might be giving a little too much information like in my Intro thread and info on other boards. ACK!

Squirt- I don't believe that the jigsaw or monkey wrench they speak of is the person your thinking of even though the handles do seem so compatible. But I'm pretty confident that it's not him. Hammer is good friends with many people on this board. He has a bit of clout amongst webmasters in general as he has helped many of them with solid advise and counseling. So, it really wouldn't work for him to hide behind another name. Just my .02 cents.

Now, how the heck do I figure out if I gave up too much info????

LOL

Ounique · 09-28-2004, 02:11 PM

Working in content does not present much of a problem when it comes to secrecy. I guess the only secrets I have is when we are planning a sale, we don't want to let people know too early because then sales drop to nothing the week before. However, my boss found a good way to combat this. He doesn't tell me we are having a sale until the day we start! LOL! Yikes, he knows me too well. :presley: