I've just reported to the management of this site the personal abuse I was subjected to in one discussion here recently. I find it a privilege to be a part of this group and with only one exception so far everyone has been cordial, thoughtful, helpful, and on-topic. But I'd like to just remind the few who might need it, of the simple rules of this community:

- Be polite and courteous to each other
- Do not "self-advertise" too much, otherwise dE will remove that comment

If either of these two rules are broken, dealerELITE has the right to make changes to your posting, comments, photos, videos, etc, or even remove your content. If dE deems it a severe case, YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THIS SITE.

Last week I offered my two cents on a prospect letter one dealer had submitted, asking for input on its quality. I gave my input. Let me clarify, for those who don't know, I am NOT a dealer, nor do I work for a dealership. I'm an automotive journalist and analyst. My background is classified advertising management. I worked for newspapers for nearly two decades, was then sales and marketing manager for a media trade association, and now write primarily for AIM Group, LLC, which publishes Classified Intelligence Report. We cover the classified and online marketplace industry. I write about Gannett buying Cars.com, CarGurus and RepairPal now on Boston.com, how important mobile geo-location tools have become to the automotive industry, what live chat vendors offer to dealers, etc. You get the drift. My point is, while I don't have first-hand knowledge of what it's like to sell cars in a showroom setting, I surely know a lot about the industry, and the tools and services that can help you succeed. I say all this not to market myself or blow my own horn but to make the point I thought I would be contributing something helpful when I replied to this blog post. 

What I got from one community member (not the one who posted) was comments about my assumed political views, my assumed paycheck (less than his, he said, and I wanted some of his, he said), and the fact that I clearly couldn't sell cars well. (Which just goes to show he hadn't bothered to learn anything about me before he went on his personal attack, because, in fact, I do NOT sell cars.) At the point where I just got angry and commented on the fact that he couldn't string a well-spelled, grammatically correct and coherent sentence together (he couldn't) I realized I was getting personal too, and I deleted my comments to him and left the site to cool off. But I came back. Because I won't let abusers control what I do, and I feel I have a lot to learn here, and as well a lot to offer. And most of you folks are simply nice people who wish everyone else well. As do I. 

I just want to make the point that attacks on people's alleged politics, alleged paycheck, and alleged ability to do their job, especially when you don't take the time to research your information's accuracy)  have no place in this forum. The irony is all this came from someone whose job is (and YES, I DID check out his profile extensively here and several other places too -) to advise dealers how to market themselves.

Folks, we shouldn't have to take this abuse from each other. But from a business side of things, this is the Internet. All you do online is available to anyone who wants to see it. If you're trying on one hand to sell something and brand yourself well but on the other you're personally attacking someone on a Web forum, you not only brand yourself with a reputation that is totally counter-productive but you make yourself out to be somebody that no one is going to want to work with or be around. And, even worse, when you 're someone who is trying to sell your marketing expertise, you give out the message that all you can teach them is how to destroy their reputations. 

If the manager(s) of this site wants me off here, well, then I'm gone. Other than that, no one who personally attacks me is going to drive me from this site. And if you're ever the victim of such abuse, I hope you'll report it but continue to contribute as well.

 If a few folks want to behave in such a way that they show themselves to be boorish, they'll suffer far more than the recipient of their abuse. So other than reporting them once, I'm not going to give it a second thought.  In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter, nor to me do they.