Rick Beneteau

Road Rage on the Information SuperHighway

I sat in the right lane at the busy ... waiting forthe light to change. A scruffy looking male driver in the leftlane looked as ... as I must have. Finally, on green, ... down th

I sat in the right lane at the busy intersection waiting for
the light to change. A scruffy looking male driver in the left
lane looked as impatient as I must have. Finally, on green, I
continued down the 6 lane road. About a half block up I saw a
sight that horrifies me to this day.

A child, no more than 3 years old, was starting to saunter
across this crazy road. Alone. Reacting instantly, I sped up
and got ahead of the driver to my left, then slowed
dramatically, turned and stopped my car across both lanes to
block traffic. Jumping out, I snatched up this tyke just as
she was about to cross the center line and into oncoming
traffic. The timing could not have been closer.

The story gets better.

As I was hurrying the toddler to the safety of the sidewalk I
just about stumbled over her younger brother, who was starting
to wheel his stroller between parked cars into the street,
following his sister. Of course, he was safe as traffic was
now blocked, and suddenly I felt blessed to have arrived at
this critical moment.

Where was mom during all this? You shouldn't have asked:-) She
had apparently told her kids to wait on the sidewalk while she
walked across this major thoroughfare to go into a store. The
siblings were simply trying to find her.

What I said to this poor-excuse-for-a-parent you don't want to
know and has nothing to do with this article, but what does is
that during the entire time I was making sure these children
were safe (which really wasn't that long) there was a car horn
blowing furiously in the background.

Guess who?

Yep, the disheveled looking driver in the next lane. When I
returned to my car, he made a point to open his door, stand up
and scream at me at the top of his lungs (in what I perceived
to be Arabic). After witnessing what had happened, he was VERY
upset WITH ME because I inconvenienced him! This my friends,
is referred to as road rage.

I would assume that most people (and the drivers behind him)
would have breathed a heavy sigh of relief that neither of
these kids were hurt, or worse, killed on that road that day.
But this article is not about "most people". It's about "some
people" and a phenomena on the Internet that is becoming all
too commonplace. And I don't like it one bit. It's what I call
Road Rage on the Information SuperHighway.

The majority of people I come into contact with as customers,
resellers (I own 2 affiliate programs), newsletter subscribers
and folks who email me with questions or advice, are simply
put, wonderful. But since I am communicating with sheer
volumes of 'netizens', I am receiving more and more blatantly
angry email. I mean the kind of ugly verbiage that most people
would never have the parts to say to your face. And, I'm not
alone. I'm in contact with many Internet marketers who are
experiencing the very same thing.

Here are some recent examples, straight from my email files.
Bear with me as I attempt to set these up for you.

I've written, and sell through a popular affiliate program, a
best-selling marketing eBook called The Ezine Marketing
Machine. The ordering system is state-of-the-art (digital
delivery) and extremely dummie-proof. When a customer inputs
their final order information on our secure server, they
receive a 'Thank You' webpage with the simple instructions on
how to download their book and bonuses. It's virtually
impossible to miss the simple process and get instant access
to your goods (I send an automated email with the same
download instructions as back-up), but a minority of customers
do. I am only too pleased to quickly assist them and am online
to do so from 6:00 am til 9 or 10 pm seven days a week.

However, one particular customer didn't quite "get it" and
fired off no less than five emails within an hour. They
arrived around 11:00 p.m. when I wasn't online. I've extracted
the content (verbatim) from the three I've kept:

#1. "I've paid the $$$ for your program, now what about the
goods? The info sounds wonderful as does your yada-yada! Why
not deliver the goods now so a mere morsel like myself may
possible take advantage of the material you allude to as
"Gospel" for success?"

#2. "Is it time to take all this stuff to the next level??
I'm prepared to do just that unless you can resolve this
TONIGHT."

#3. "Why is this such a hassle?? I sent my $$$ and followed
your directions. Where the hell is final product?? You
"Gurus" appear to be all the same. You promise the moon and
deliver nothing."

To top off his nastiness, he called at midnight and left a
totally vile message about what a "#&@*!! thief" I was. Now,
what makes this quite humorous is the fact that this
unfortunately computer-unsavvy person actually had his files
the entire time, but never knew he had to click to open
them:-)

Here's an example of how not to relate to content providers if
you're a publisher on the Internet. Again, a little
background first.

It's common practice on the Internet that newsletters, or
'ezines'(there are over 300,000 in existence currently),
publish articles from writers and in lieu of payment, feature
the author's "resource box" at the end of that article. The
publisher receives the content free of charge and the writer
receives the exposure whereby the ezine readers can link to
their website. A win-win.

As a widely featured writer, my publicist, Anne Marie Baugh
(who is very highly regarded on and off the Web), sends my new
articles to those Internet publications who advertise for
article submissions. Upon doing so with my latest article, she
received this response from a publisher:

{{{{Anne edit below (we can save 150 or so words) for the best
parts and keep the last par.}}}}}

"Could you please tell me why you are sending me these
articles? Oh, I think I know the answer. I am supposed to
put these articles in my newsletter to generate business for
Rick Beneteau. Right? Well, what do I get out of it except
absolutely nothing. I will be honest with you even though you
might not like what I am about to say. I am pretty sick and
tired of all the scamsters and opportunists on the net that
want something for nothing or only want to take and don't know
how to co-operate so that everyone gains. In the first place I
am not stupid enough to publish these articles just to benefit
Rick Beneteau and secondly the articles sound too much like a
motivational, inspirational speech that mlm companies use. If
they had practical tips that you could apply to business then
I would print them but as it is they don't so I haven't
printed one yet in my newsletter and I don't plan on printing
one in my newsletter anytime soon.

As for the money that one can make with an ezine or
newsletter. Let me fill you in on something, there are a
multitude of "I want something for nothing" type of people on
the internet and as long as you keep giving they will keep
taking and give you nothing back in return. This is reality
even though it is not pretty. Unless you actually can get real
business people subscribed you won't make a red cent. The only
other way that you may be able to make money is if you are
selling people hype and pipe dreams and books that tell you
how to become a success. This is what business opportunity
seekers are buying, they are buying dreams and not reality.
It is kind of obvious that Rick Beneteau knows this and is
cashing in on it. Unfortunately, I don't wish to lie and con
people. If I can't run a business the honest way then I don't
want to run it at all.

I would sure like to hear your thoughts on what I have said
and I don't want to hear some business hype because I don't
buy it and I've seen it all before."

Now, what makes this publishers reply not only naive and
unprofessional, but also funny, is that her last paragraph
invites a response from Anne. Anne sent her a brilliantly
worded letter that not only defended me but politely provided
this angry person with a little education on Internet
publishing. What happened next? I receive a VERY polite letter
from her complaining that Anne was "harassing" her:-) Does the
phrase "get a life" apply?:-)

Lately, I've encountered some very ugly "flames" from
subscribers to my opt-in newsletter. Some were long-term
readers who woke up one morning with amnesia, suddenly unaware
of the publication they subscribed to and had been receiving
for months and wrote me the spam riot act, complete with
expletives. A few thought it prudent to report me to the "spam
police". Good thing I keep subscription records:-)

Ok, before you begin thinking "this Beneteau guy has probably
let off some cyber-steam", well, I have. Occasionally, I've
reacted out of pure emotion when someone has attacked my
integrity. I am fully aware of this "trigger" in me and
usually know better than to fire back when I'm hot under the
collar. A few times, I've been embarrased by my own words.
Nothing vile or vulgar mind you, but an unprofessional display
of anger. So yes, I'm guilty too:-)

{{{{{Anne, re-write the next paragraph}}}}}

A good rule of the road - if you feel any kind of negative
emotion when communicating by email, complete it, but don't
click send. Let it sit there until your temperature reaches
normal again and remove the "emotion" from your words. As
evidenced above, you just may be wrong, but even if not, you
will be acting in a totally professional manner.

Now, some questions to ponder.

Does a dial-up account come with an unspoken license to spew
venom?

Will the whirring sound of a connecting modem actually boost
testosterone levels?

Is the faceless Internet the new, global venting ground?

Is the Net getting nasty or what?

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR