I noticed we have several members within this site…my question to ALL is why members do not wish to fill out their profile with information. I have been visiting this site for many many years and I have often wondered why people are so secretive.
I enjoy visiting other establishments of people I have met on this site…but I find it hard to check out others when they don’t share anything about themselves…I would be very interested in learning more about the members that participate in these forums.
I’m sure others feel the same way.
Speaking for myself, and probably others who remain “secretive”, I just don’t want my customers, employees, competitors or vendors to know what I type here.
I’ve complained about customers and employees from time to time. I tell vendors things are tough and we’re having trouble making ends meet when the opposite may be true. I discuss my marketing plans and implementation, which I would rather not have my competitors read.
There are a whole slew of reasons to remain anonymous. Do you remember gobpile? She was on here complaining about her landlord (badmouthing is a better word) and in popped her landlord via a Google search. I’m sure that did nothing to help that relationship.
I’m with Piper on this, I don’t feel like I could be as honest and open here if employees, vendors, customers and competitors were reading. I’ve only been at my shop for a few months and am still extremely new to this business and learning on the fly, but I certainly don’t want others to be aware of that.
When I first started reading these forums, I actually found my main independent competitor was on here talking about how much they were struggling and it completely changed the way I view them and their business.
Yup, what they said ^
Oops…I’m sorry I think I stepped on some toes maybe it’s better if we remain invisible then that way we don’t offend anybody.
To me, at least, you can post on here without being derogatory and still be truthful and helpful. If one is fair, and is not naming names, I think we’re safe from espionage.
I suppose by remaining anonymous you don’t have to remember to choose your words but I enjoy seeing other people’s concepts. Its helps to put their comments and opinions in context as well.
You guys make good points. I need to think about my openness on here.
Not only that, I have very very unique creations that I’ve never seen anywhere else. I don’t want to publicize my menu more than it already has been.
Are you worried that someone across the country might take an idea off your menu? Anyone serving the same market as you do can just come in and pick up a menu, right?
Lol, that’s a good one.
Its never one recipe or concept that makes a business successful. Its the combination of the whole. You could give someone all your exact recipes and products that you use and by the time they opened up for business you would hardly recognize it, if at all.
In any case, you could always create an “alias” and post under that what you don’t want attributed to your business. I learned that from Ebay. People who use the Ebay forums create aliases so that people cannot search their stores or auctions to see what is selling well.
True, I realize that greatly and I can’t control that. But why expose my menu to the world when I don’t have to?
Although I can see your point. It just seems that if you could help the community here, that you would. Not everyone has the same sense of community that everyone else has though. Like another poster said, if your LOCAL competitors want your menu, they already have it. I don’t see how it could hurt to help others across the nation.
I’m all for helping the community here, but I’m not sure how showing anyone out of state or out of area my menu could help anyone. I just choose not to expose it to people that physically can’t get my menu… For example, if I found out that a pizza place in New York just starting offering one of my very own unique creations, I would be a little upset. Yeah I can look at it like “ok, cool, they got the idea from me”, but I just don’t see it that way. If a local place used one of my ideas and starting offering one of my creations, I could actually use that to market that mine is the Home of the Original.
I guess its just a matter of personal preference.
So I take it Steveo that you don’t have a website for your business then?
Like the others I just really don’t want my customers, employees, vendors and direct competitors to come across me by a google which would bring postings up.
With posting over the years here people come to know ya…most can figure out where you are because over time postings let the pizza out of the bag.
Kris
I do indeed have a website.