A discussion yesterday on the SMB IT Pro lists here in Australia made me think a little more about all the information we place out there in the Internet. It made me think carefully too about the info I post on this blog and I’ll be aiming to do better as a result of it.
The discussion was around a post by Philip Elder – fellow SBS MVP. Philip posted back in April 2009 this post about problems and concerns he had with StorageCraft ShadowProtect. He had been through a number of issues with the product back then and finally found a workaround to solve the problem he had.
Fast forward to today… another reseller was searching for answers. He found Philips blog post which helped him figure out what his problem was. However the issue is that Philips problem he experienced now 2 years ago, is no longer the major issue that he had back then. The reseller, unwittingly posted incorrect information but the only problem with that is that other resellers will now take that incorrect information and amplify it here. Statements like “StorageCraft is most likely working on a fix to this issue right now, especially considering Acronis’ True Image has already addressed this” draw conjecture on issues that are 2 years old. What happens now is people take this incorrect information as FACT when it’s not. The particular issue that Philip had, was resolved not long after he posted. I’m sure that Philip though was not aware of it though as he’s implemented his workaround.
Another case in point is an interview I did with CRN Australia back in March 2010. In that interview I was most upset at Microsoft’s decision to dump Essential Business Server. And I was. I thought it was the wrong decision and still do. However in a recent discussion with another separate journalist, this issue was raised once more as if it was still current. I was asked “So given that Microsoft have upset you so much…” when in fact that’s old news, now not relevant.
Ok – so that’s a couple of experiences I’ve seen and had – but my bigger point here is that many people use references on the Internet as gospel, fact, truth and believe that they are accurate as at right now. In many cases they may well be, but at the same time, we need to ensure that we don’t go chasing our tails on issues when in fact things have moved on past whatever blog post or comment that we are using as a basis for our thoughts. We need to also ensure that when misinformation is out there, that we as a community do our best to correct it. That way we too don’t individually get burned by the wrong info.
How do I plan to help resolve things like this?
Firstly, I’ll aim to be more aware of my postings and to ensure I comment/ modify them when I’m aware of changes to them.
Secondly, I’m aiming to better communicate this type of issue to the wider community, and correct it when I see it.
What do you think about this? What are your thoughts?
Wayne I am so glad that you are suggesting posting an update rather than pulling the old posts/articles. So many people think they are helping by pulling old content and then when you run into an old problem and you know there was a fix for it, it is gone when you need it.
Thanks Andy – totally agree.