Forum Moderators: phranque
So please post the ethical codes (or just one or two important pieces to it) that you follow. What are some common ethical traps that a noob may be tempted to fall into? What are some things that other webmasters do that are unethical and make you angry? Have you any other "best practices" words of wisdom you wish more people understood or followed? What are some non-obvious ethical considerations which you think too many people ignore? Any common ethical rules with which you disagree? Anything tangential to this subject you would like to add?
I did search the forums a bit and found a few threads on very specific ethical issues, but not one catch-all. I hope this thread is appropriate and potentially helpful. I'm not going proceed toward any of my web business plans until I have a very rigorous ethical framework established in my mind, so I will appreciate even the smallest contributions very much.
Thanks
What are some common ethical traps that a noob may be tempted to fall into?
Don't write fake testimonials
Don't say something has shipped when it hasn't
Don't say your office hours are ... to ... when you are never actually in your office during those hours
Don't slam a competitors site
What is the IT industry to me, or me to the IT industry?
If the IT industry didn't do that, I as an individual would be MUCH more productive. (Top management even in IT industries can make a medieval monk seem high-tech...but they still choose IT equipment and software.) And that productivity would profit the IT industry in which I work.
Ethical behavior is a positive-sum game. Unethical behavior is negative-sum.
Keep them coming please, there's a lot more wisdom in a lot of your posts than what many of you may realize. I've seen this with poker--it's easy to forget just how complex simple things can sound to the amateur.
