I’m always astonished when someone posts the contents of a private text conversation, be it accurate or manufactured, in a public forum. Those that advocate such a practice, regardless of the caveats they tack on, equally amaze me. I have to believe they do so without regard to the consequences.

We work in a global business environment where it is common for close business relationships to develop either in part, or exclusively, in a text only medium. The evolution of these relationships almost always involves being more candid with each other than we might in a public forum. We may also engage in some gossip exchange that would never be said publicly. After all, it’s only human nature. While we all like to think that good relationships go on forever the fact is some do not, and in a breakdown things often get said that are best kept private.

Yet some individuals do air the private contents of both cordial and hostile conversations publicly. To make things worse, some of these postings are, shall we say, a bit embellished. In fact, some would qualify as pure fiction.

Perhaps a lot of people don’t see the harm in this, because they watch so much of it on afternoon TV talk shows. But the TV shows are for entertainment, a far cry from the intent and atmosphere of a business forum.

From my perspective, the conduct of an individual, or the advocacy of that conduct by another individual, is very telling in a business-to-business environment. I’m not comfortable developing a close business relationship with anyone that demonstrates their willingness to air private conversations, regardless of the circumstances. Nor will I warm up to anyone who advocates such practices. And I can assure you I’m not alone in this thinking.

Some would argue it really depends on the circumstances. I would argue that in every case these incidences are driven by the heat of the moment, and therefore are possible in any circumstance. A chance I’m not willing to take.

We all demand that government and big business respect our privacy, yet many of us turn a blind eye when we do it to ourselves. There is no line in the sand when it comes to respecting privacy. Either you do, or you do not.