"Take me off your mailing list. I did not write you for information and I do not want your mail. If you continue to mail your stupid information to me, I will consider it harassment."

"Where are the JOBS (EMPLOYMENT). I have searched hundreds of web sites, looked thru thousands of classified ads. I've only found a few jobs, none I want to do. Why must almost everyone LIE, and say they have an employment opp., only for us to find out it's a business opp.? WHERE ARE THEY???"

Internet "businesspeople" get so hectically involved in learning the proper and most effective ways to advertise, promote their websites, get more prospects, increase sales, etc., that some of them seem to actually forget the most important and invaluable skills of all:

Courtesy. Organization. Honesty.

First of all, I'd like to say hello, and that I hope you're having a great day. I hope things are going well for you today, and that it's been profitable, successful, and peaceful thus far -- much the opposite of mine on this fateful day in 1999.

As you can see, I'd been called almost every name in the book. Liar, spammer, scammer ... you name it, I'd probably been called it. The first incident occurred when a prospect REQUESTED info about one of my opportunities from an autoresponder.

As autoresponders are known to do, it automatically sent out my pre-written follow-up emails every few days following her original request. And in turn, the prospect sent me the type of message above twice ... following it with a virus each time.

I wrote her back explaining why she was getting the info, and that the only way that she could have gotten it was by sending an e-mail to the autoresponder requesting info on my ad. I also sent her original request along with my explanation. (I wasn't trying to risk any bogus spam complaints getting my biz shut down.)

As it turns out, she realized her mistake, and apologized for her admittedly "inappropriate behavior."

I accepted. :-)

The second incident occurred with no forewarning. I was checking the posts on the new forum at my website, and found that message posted in response to a cheerful welcome message I'd left for my guests ... and I didn't quite know what to do about it. (Delete it? Leave it up and ignore it? Address it?)

I decided to leave his post on the board and reply to his nasty accusations to try to clear up the misunderstanding. In a nutshell, I explained to him that I wasn't a liar, nor did I make it a practice of misleading people for the fun of it.

He didn't respond. But here's the kicker...

As it turns out, this same person actually signed up for my new affiliate program later that same evening.

And not long after THAT, he writes me to HELP him with some questions he had!?

After he'd left those totally off-the-wall comments on the forum, he turned around and joined one of the very "business opp's" he'd been griping about?

And not only that ... now he needs MY help??

Me -- "The Liar."

Ironic, wouldn't you say?

The point of my telling you those stories wasn't to vent or to upset any of the "offending parties." I only used those examples to stress how the Internet seems to make people lose all of their manners and God-given common sense in dealing with their peers.

Being polite, courteous, and helpful are MORE important online than they are in person, because the only things Internet marketers have to judge you by are the way you handle yourself, the way you treat and "talk" to them and your peers, and by what you say. People are much less likely to trust you, and MORE likely to develop misconceptions about you, by default. Don't add fuel to the fire by being discourteous and impolite.

Sometimes I ask myself, "would this person be saying the same things to me or acting the same way if I were talking to him in person?" The answer is always 'no.'

Why is that, exactly?

Because, in person, you're much more worried about what people are thinking about you, and whether or not they accept you. On the Internet, people feel that they can 'talk' to us any kind of way, and get away with it. After all, they may never have to communicate with us ever again.

I was reading an article or forum post once, where the author was stating how people are more likely to act out of character and be rude online than they would in "real life."

True.

She also said that, because we're online, we shouldn't take people's rudeness and disrespect to heart, as it's not their normal way of handling things.

False!

In my humble opinion ... that's INCREDIBLY ridiculous.

I respect MYSELF, and expect others to respect and be courteous to me, just as I extend that same honor and respect to them.

The Internet does NOT make people invincible. Just because someone "acts out of character" does NOT mean that you should accept that as every day practice.

Every person deserves honesty and respect.

Especially YOU!

And we as intelligent, self-respecting human beings have to respect ourselves enough NOT to communicate with people who don't share the same view.