Julie asked a specific question in regards to personal and anonymous opinions. She did not ask for a blanket statement about this list to go out TO the list. (This you can read within her message.)

This is one way to shut someone who happens to have a differing opinion down. ("Gosh, everyone else thinks that things are peachy keen, I really MUST be stupid.")

Don't let's have a conversation that could easily turn into self-congratulation in this public space unless the congratulation is legitimately warranted.

I for one have drafted and then deleted several messages to this list out of a motivation to protect myself.

Christina Salazar
Systems Librarian
John Spoor Broome Library
California State University, Channel Islands
805/437-3198


-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of McCanna, Terran
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2016 9:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] reearch project about feeling stupid in professional communication

I don't see it on this forum, but I have certainly seen it on other professional forums. 


Terran McCanna 
PINES Program Manager 
Georgia Public Library Service 
1800 Century Place, Suite 150 
Atlanta, GA 30345 
404-235-7138 
[log in to unmask] 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cary Gordon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2016 12:22:12 PM
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] reearch project about feeling stupid in professional communication

I might have rose colored glasses, but I don’t see much of that in this forum. I can’t remember the last flame war. Most folks just answer the questions as best they can.

I think that you should present your sanitized results here. Perhaps we are missing something.

Cary

> On Mar 18, 2016, at 5:36 AM, Swierczek, Julie <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> Following earlier discussions about the fear of looking stupid in public, I've decided my unofficial research project for the year is to look into ways that communication (especially on professional listservs) might provide grounds for that fear.  I think this might be something especially relevant in tech circles.
> 
> I would like to ask you if you have any examples of listserv communication where you felt that one person was trying to belittle another person, particularly about their knowledge of a given subject in their field.  Best of all would be if you could point me to the conversation in a public listserv archive so that I could read more of the thread.  However, I am also perfectly happy with you quoting the message or even just telling me about it.   I would also appreciate any explanation you could provide about why you see it as a case of someone belittling someone else.  (I ask that for two reasons: 1) it may not be obvious to me because I am not part of that group and I don't know how things normally work in it, such as ongoing flame wars, etc., and 2) I'd also be interested in gathering people's feedback and interpretations of the bad behavior they have seen.)
> 
> An example would be someone saying, "You should know x, y, and z" in response to someone who identifies as a newbie and has a very basic question.  The newbie is asking for help and someone else essentially calls them stupid for not knowing about the topic.
> 
> I promise to keep all posts confidential, as well as your communications to me about them.  (If I publicized any of that information, I would myself be publicly shaming people for being stupid, and that is the opposite of what I am trying to accomplish here.)  I intend to anonymize feedback, removing information about people, topics, the particular listserv, etc.
> 
> To avoid spamming the list with this project, please send your response to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.  Also, if you are interested in the project, please communicate with me through that email address, since I feel this is off-topic for the list.
> 
> Thanks very much.
> 
> Julie
> 
> ------
> 
> Julie C. Swierczek
> Digital Asset Manager and Archivist
> 
> Harvard Art Museums
> 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
> www.harvardartmuseums.org<http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/>