hey everyone , I know that people have been wound up about the recent article dealing with the various towing forums. In the interest of information, I am
going to print a copy of it here for people to read..
Here it is below.
Are forums and chat rooms useful tools or sewing circles?
As internet use becomes more common, means of communication that have been available for many other industries is now becoming more widespread in the towing industry. Most of us now have email, which is very convenient for sending information, pictures, and documents, and many towing and recovery companies have web sites.
As technology expands, the communication opportunities become more numerous. You are probably familiar with AOL (aol.com) and Yahoo (yahoo.com); Paltalk (paltalk.com) and Skype (skype.com)are not as well known. What all of these have in common is an IM (instant messenger) feature. This service allows you to communicate with your buddies and your family via instant text messaging in real time. Some devices allow text messaging by cell phone and some web sites, including Paltalk, Skype and Yahoo, allow you to communicate by voice. Paltalk and Skype even have video features.
Another form of communication are forums, or message boards. These make it a little easier to communicate since you don't have to stay at your terminal to receive a reply. To see an example of a forum section, you can go to our company's website at www.stormins.com and find the tower forums available for state associations to use. Tow popular independent towing forums on the web are www.towtalk.net and www.tow411.net.
Towtalk.net is primarily for business improvement, business owners, and propagation of the towing industry - a towing company owner runs it. Tow411.net is run by a tow truck operator and it seems to attract drivers as the main participants in that forum.
There can be many benefits to participating in a forum provided you know whom you are dealing with. It is very easy to hide one's identity on the Internet and things sometime have a way of degrading into a sewing circle as people tend to voice opinions while hiding behind a computer that they might not offer in person.
Some questions to ask when choosing a forum or chat room is : What is the thrust or direction of that particular forum and what drives their topics? How open is the forum ? Is it a free public forum or is it supported by advertisements ( with the main purpose to keep the advertisers happy)?
Forums like Towtalk.net have an express mission to operate as a means to give support back to the towing industry without depending on advertising. For example, while the Towtalk site does offer a catalog for vendors, it has no paid advertisements so the need to censor posts and opinions is not there as it would be if you were worried about ticking off your meal ticket. This brings up my next point.
You need to check with those that have been on the board and see if open consensus is allowed or if people are removed for their associations or voicing there opinions. Better yet, post something provocative or ad-sensitive and see if it stays for very long. The towing industry is a very diverse society of individuals and the only way things can change in this industry is by an open exchange of ideas. No, we are not all going to agree but if we start censoring because it doesn't set well with the advertisers (which is the right of any private domain)
There are also some proper etiquette guidelines that you should follow. One of the most important things to keep in mind is that using all-CAPITAL letters is the same thing as SHOUTING!!. Those of you who are not familiar with the internet should not type an entire sentence in capital letters because regular users of the internet will feel like you just hit them upside the head with a baseball bat.
There are also many shorthand codes such as ttyl (talk to you later), syl (see you later), bbl (be back later), brb (be right back), btw (by the way), aar (at any rate), and cob (close of business). If you are not sure what some codes mean, you can ask your teenager or access many of the sites that will give you a text-shorthand list, such as www.netlingo.com.
If you are posting on a forum, you certainly do not need to be using any obscene language or links to improper sites. You also need to ask yourself if the info you provide is accurate and helpful. Are you going to help and make a positive contribution or mislead readers or even hurt by your posting.
Also, keep in mind that you've got a life to live and a business to run and that there are more important things in life than putting thousands of posts on a message board. If you find yourself doing that you are probably are doing more sewing than towing.
Why not put that time to good use taking care of your customers or asking other towers to join your state or national towing association?
"Don't waste time calculating your chances of success
and failure. Just fix your aim and begin" ----- Guan Yin Tzu
Here it is below.
Brainstormin with Stormin Norman
WHATS YOUR POINT ?
Are forums and chat rooms useful tools or sewing circles?
As internet use becomes more common, means of communication that have been available for many other industries is now becoming more widespread in the towing industry. Most of us now have email, which is very convenient for sending information, pictures, and documents, and many towing and recovery companies have web sites.
As technology expands, the communication opportunities become more numerous. You are probably familiar with AOL (aol.com) and Yahoo (yahoo.com); Paltalk (paltalk.com) and Skype (skype.com)are not as well known. What all of these have in common is an IM (instant messenger) feature. This service allows you to communicate with your buddies and your family via instant text messaging in real time. Some devices allow text messaging by cell phone and some web sites, including Paltalk, Skype and Yahoo, allow you to communicate by voice. Paltalk and Skype even have video features.
Another form of communication are forums, or message boards. These make it a little easier to communicate since you don't have to stay at your terminal to receive a reply. To see an example of a forum section, you can go to our company's website at www.stormins.com and find the tower forums available for state associations to use. Tow popular independent towing forums on the web are www.towtalk.net and www.tow411.net.
Towtalk.net is primarily for business improvement, business owners, and propagation of the towing industry - a towing company owner runs it. Tow411.net is run by a tow truck operator and it seems to attract drivers as the main participants in that forum.
There can be many benefits to participating in a forum provided you know whom you are dealing with. It is very easy to hide one's identity on the Internet and things sometime have a way of degrading into a sewing circle as people tend to voice opinions while hiding behind a computer that they might not offer in person.
Some questions to ask when choosing a forum or chat room is : What is the thrust or direction of that particular forum and what drives their topics? How open is the forum ? Is it a free public forum or is it supported by advertisements ( with the main purpose to keep the advertisers happy)?
Forums like Towtalk.net have an express mission to operate as a means to give support back to the towing industry without depending on advertising. For example, while the Towtalk site does offer a catalog for vendors, it has no paid advertisements so the need to censor posts and opinions is not there as it would be if you were worried about ticking off your meal ticket. This brings up my next point.
You need to check with those that have been on the board and see if open consensus is allowed or if people are removed for their associations or voicing there opinions. Better yet, post something provocative or ad-sensitive and see if it stays for very long. The towing industry is a very diverse society of individuals and the only way things can change in this industry is by an open exchange of ideas. No, we are not all going to agree but if we start censoring because it doesn't set well with the advertisers (which is the right of any private domain)
There are also some proper etiquette guidelines that you should follow. One of the most important things to keep in mind is that using all-CAPITAL letters is the same thing as SHOUTING!!. Those of you who are not familiar with the internet should not type an entire sentence in capital letters because regular users of the internet will feel like you just hit them upside the head with a baseball bat.
There are also many shorthand codes such as ttyl (talk to you later), syl (see you later), bbl (be back later), brb (be right back), btw (by the way), aar (at any rate), and cob (close of business). If you are not sure what some codes mean, you can ask your teenager or access many of the sites that will give you a text-shorthand list, such as www.netlingo.com.
If you are posting on a forum, you certainly do not need to be using any obscene language or links to improper sites. You also need to ask yourself if the info you provide is accurate and helpful. Are you going to help and make a positive contribution or mislead readers or even hurt by your posting.
Also, keep in mind that you've got a life to live and a business to run and that there are more important things in life than putting thousands of posts on a message board. If you find yourself doing that you are probably are doing more sewing than towing.
Why not put that time to good use taking care of your customers or asking other towers to join your state or national towing association?
"Don't waste time calculating your chances of success
and failure. Just fix your aim and begin" ----- Guan Yin Tzu
110% right on Richard!!!
