Think Before You Ink

In the thirty years since the Internet arrived in Australia, it has moved from being a communications tool for Universities to becoming an integral part of daily life for most of us. Its benefits have been never been clearer than during this pandemic.

Whether it is: working from home, ordering groceries online, maintaining some visual contact with distant family members or simply catching up on movies and old TV shows, the Internet, and particularly the World Wide Web, makes living through this difficult period much easier to bear.

There is a potential downside of the Internet though. When we are angry or annoyed, it can be so tempting to vent our frustrations on Facebook, Twitter or the pages of a website. When emotions are running high, it is too easy to overreach: to say things which are hurtful to others or even wrong; to say things we would later wish to retract. And therein lies a problem.

The Internet has a very long memory. For example, the image accompanying this article is how the Internet still remembers our website’s front page just as it was 7 years ago in April 2013. It remembers individual articles from that time too. And articles that have been posted since.

As a site editor, I feel I should remind contributors that posting on this NAC website is similar to posting on any form of media. Changing your mind about what you have written and pretending you didn’t do it doesn’t make it go away. Tearing up yesterday’s paper doesn’t erase the contents. Once an article has been published, the damage is done. It’s still on record and remains in the memory of all who read it.

Please, before you go to into print, be certain that you are confident about the words you use and the message you want to convey. That your writing isn’t the result of an emotional outburst or personal grievance. That it’s factual and that its publication is in the public interest.

If you feel angry or upset by an event, wait until the heat of the moment has died before you put your thoughts into writing.

Remember too that your readers are invited to comment in response and you must be prepared to accept that some people may disagree with you.

Most importantly, anything written by you on our website must comply with the site’s Contributor Code of Conduct which specifically prohibits personal attacks.

And don’t put into print personal opinions or comments made to you by others without their knowledge and permission.

The Internet never forgets!

Meanwhile, please keep contributing .........carefully.

Thanks, Tony Hann