Code
“A man's got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.”-- John Wayne
Every man lives by a code, for better or worse. I think another good term for this is "consistency" -- to varying degrees, human beings tend to develop opinions on things, which guide their actions. Spending a few minutes writing down your own personal creed (which will likely continue to evolve throughout your lifetime) can be an extremely enlightening experience. I encourage you to try it...
When it comes to online business and communications, here some of mine:
Besides my tagline (Analyze, Organize, Optimize) which rather succinctly describes my unique skills and purpose in life, I also strongly champion compassion and good ethics. Too many people conflate "ethics" with "morality" or otherwise -- without writing a thesis on the topic, you can be an asshole who is extremely ethical, or a sweetheart who completely lacks ethical self-awareness. In fact, those who embrace a code of ethics often tend to get angry.
I never leave negative reviews of contractors or employees who have done work for me, period. If you find one, it was not written by me. I simply do not believe this is a good idea for employers to do.
I only publicly criticize third parties in these cases:
- They regularly commit fraud, corruption or likewise, or repeatedly make hypocritical public statements.
- They are negatively effecting the spirit and reputation of open source software, the open web, or otherwise.
- They are repeatedly causing harm to innocent people, animals, the earth, or similar.
I only publicly criticize clients in these cases:
- They publicly slander me with untrue statements, esp. if combined with another item on this list.
- They commit fraud against me (CC chargebacks, refuse to pay an accurate invoice, promise me a project but then disappear after having used me for some free consulting, etc).
- They leave me negative feedback, either without merit (does not match up with reality) or without giving me a fair chance to fix whatever they believe that I owe them, etc (e.g. complaining just to complain, with no real purpose).