web analytics

Seeking permission to write to you

I see people engaging in, or talking about, publishing directly to people's Inbox after seeking permission to do so (eg. asking people to subscribe for that purpose).

The idea is that you're writing privately to people that want to read your words, rather than writing publicly.

So far I've subscribed to three people in this way to see what they do. One excites and inspires me. One bores me. One angers me – I unsubscribed from them yesterday.

They considered a G+ discussion a 'flame war' and deleted the discussion (they obviously didn't know what a real flame war is. It was like calling a kindergarten discussion a war and closing the kindergarten!). Their right to do so, of course, but I exercised my own right to unsubscribe from them as they were not providing me the value I expected.

However, it helped me see that if (when?) I start writing to people's Inboxes I need to make them feel listened to and avoid shutting down conversations I don't like. Practicing censorship is not the way to provide value to others. It's offensive.

A much better strategy is to look within ourselves to understand why we don't like something, so we can learn more about ourselves and grow from the new insights. And as we write about them, maybe others can gain their own insights from ours.

Do you think censorship is a good idea, or is it detrimental to the growth of all?

Google+: View post on Google+


Thanks for reading! Please add your own thoughts below.



Don't forget to subscribe for new posts sent to you by email!

%d bloggers like this: