Blackboard Friday : Silence Is Golden

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With PubCon going down next week I thought it would be appropriate to talk a bit about keeping quiet. To me as a coder talking about other people’s techniques, apps and scripts is just off limits unless that person expressly tells me they don’t care if I do. Even then I make a point not to as there may be many others who are doing the very same thing.

As you enjoy your week of sessions, parties and gambling you will have the opportunity to make several new friends and be privy to certain topics of discussion. Some people will be more up front about the things they do while others more reserved and only talk to trusted friends. You will meet people who work in areas that may be considered black hat, white hat and or several shades of grey.

If you happen to fall in to the right crowd consider yourself lucky and enjoy! You might learn a thing or two, score some points by answering some questions or over hear some great new ideas or methods people have tried. Keep this to yourself! Don’t go around talking or blogging about it. Some people have made a career out of outing others techniques and or clients while claiming it is for the greater good in a very guilty/apologetic tone. It’s never right to out anyone no matter how guilty you feel or apologetic you are. You will only create doubt in the minds of your peers and be kept out of future conversations.

Personally I am fortunate to enjoy access to people who have shared or have shown me some impressive methods, applications and scripts. Access to non public forums and comped memberships to paid forums I must say is awesome. The experience of all of this has helped me tremendously in growing my own skill set and general knowledge of this industry. The price I pay for all of this? Silence.

I sincerely hope you have a great time in Las Vegas and find the answers to your questions. See you all there!