From: cryofan@mylinuxisp.com
Date: Tue Jun 17 2003 - 08:16:27 MDT
Harvey Newstrom <mail@HarveyNewstrom.com> said:
> There is also the concern over personal reputations and having
> misrepresentations tar us in public. Many of us have professional careers
> that require us to avoid the appearance of impropriety. I personally have
> had clients reject contracts with me because an Internet search on my name
> shows me connected to the Extropians List. Most people don't realize that
> this is why I drop in and out over the years, and why I suddenly disappeared
> from the Board of Directors. When the list just becomes too extreme, I feel
> that it is detrimental for me to be associated with it. I have never had
> any problem with ExI or the philosophy. But the false accusations on this
> list and the level of debate here literally reflects poorly on my and
> damages my profession. A simple Google on any of our names will bring up
> the list archives due to our numerous postings. This instantly links each
> of us to list discussions whether we are personally involved or not.
>
This is why I operate on a variety of pseudonyms on the Net. I prefer to
express my opinions as they are without having to worry about what you
mention above.
> I will even reveal something that few people know. A couple of years ago
> when I was involved in a dot-com startup that no longer exists, one of our
> venture capitalists expressed interest in providing funding to ExI. They
> thought our futuristic and technological philosophies might give an
> executive better insight and a better reputation. They were intrigued by my
> involvement with the Board of Directors and thought this would make my
> executive profile look attractive to investors in future startups. To
> facilitate this angle, they thought they could have their execs as members
> for free think-tank support and prestige, as well as indicating their active
> involvement in promoting future technology. In return, they would want to
> provide funding to keep ExI viable and promotional activities to enhance
> ExI's visibility in the technology sector. The idea was still at the
> talking stage, and I had barely mentioned the possibility to Max and
> Natasha, when suddenly they pulled out and dropped any consideration of me
> or ExI for any future projects. They had found the list and were reading
> it. They said their execs were horrified at what they saw. They were
> unanimous that they did not want to be even indirectly associated with such
> unprofessional behavior. This was a huge loss of a potential support and
> funding for ExI. And it was lost due to bad behavior on this list which had
> nothing to do with ExI, the Board of Directors, or anything officially
> connected to the extropian philosophy.
This is what I said years ago: the extropian list is a public surrogate for
the extropian institute and the people who run it. So therefore politically
correct opinions are an embarassment. Well, I have a suggestion, then. Just
sort through the list archives and find the posts that you find politically
correct (or correct in whatever fashion you find appropriate). Then store
them and write a bot to periodically post them to this list. With a little
more work, you can even have them quoting each other :-)
Investors will not read the list enough to notice the facade.
Then, create another list for those who post profilfically here. Hide that
list so that potential investors cannot find it. Of course, it is hard to get
new list subscribers that way. But then again, when is the last time a new
subscriber made made than a couple of posts here, anyway?
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