eric rochow

I get emails all the time from people want to use Real World Green and Gardenfork videos, but this one stood out yesterday.

The big red flag for me here was the person did not say what company he worked for, and in his signature line, it didn’t list the company either. It did list his email address, I immediately recognized the domain name as a children’s modeling agency.

When you talk to me about attracting children to your site, and don’t tell me who you work for, there is no way I’m going to get near you.

I wrote back telling them I would not allow the shows on their site.

I’m big on gut feeling, though I have been wrong at times, more often your gut feeling is the right feeling.

Andy Sernovitz of Gas Pedal and the blog Word of Mouth Marketing wrote about this in relation to marketing today, he calls it Honesty of Identity:

Trust your gut if you get the slightest feeling that something isn’t honest. If you have to ask — don’t do it.

I know this word is used to death, but Transparency is paramount when using the web. Maybe we should use the word Honesty instead.

Have any good examples of non-honesty you’re run across? Tell us.