The Fine Print of Bad Ideas
If you're driving around and you see a bunch of patio furniture that you like on the deck of someone's house, here's how you can steal it (hear me out on this one): go on Craigslist, and preview (preview, don't post) a listing under the "Free" section on behalf of that person, saying "I live at this address, and have these items sitting on my deck that I want to get rid of. Please, someone come take them away." Print up the screenshot of the preview and then, when you figure the person isn't home, either during a workday or a busy Saturday, post the post for real (make sure you can get there before anyone else), then show up and start carrying the stuff away. If anyone questions you, show them the copy of the post you printed up.
Now, here's the part where I tell you that this is just an idea, it might not be a good one, do it at your own risk, I'm not responsible if you end up in jail, blah blah. I put in a disclaimer that waives any legal responsibility on my part, so you can't point at this blog post and name me, the writer, as an accomplice, or the mastermind who concocted up this scheme. (And yes, I get to call myself a "mastermind" in this post. Want to see my artistic license?)
Legally, I'm probably in the clear, but what about the social responsibility? Bloggers offer their ideas to people, and if they're bad, they hide behind the "I'm not responsible if you do this" spiel. This is like the cigarette companies selling tobacco. Sure, they're not breaking the law, but I'd argue that they're doing something socially irresponsible. I think the individual who chooses to smoke bears most of the responsibility for their actions, but that doesn't let the companies off the hook entirely.
If you're a writer, you are an idea merchant, and if you're thinking of sharing an idea that requires fine print, you might want to stop and think about the message you're sending to people. Maybe present the idea in a different way. Instead of "Here's how to steal from people using Craigslist", how about "Here's a potential misuse of Craigslist, and why you should lock down your patio furniture"?
And if the idea you want to present still needs that fine print, maybe you should consider not sharing the idea in the first place.
Now, here's the part where I tell you that this is just an idea, it might not be a good one, do it at your own risk, I'm not responsible if you end up in jail, blah blah. I put in a disclaimer that waives any legal responsibility on my part, so you can't point at this blog post and name me, the writer, as an accomplice, or the mastermind who concocted up this scheme. (And yes, I get to call myself a "mastermind" in this post. Want to see my artistic license?)
Legally, I'm probably in the clear, but what about the social responsibility? Bloggers offer their ideas to people, and if they're bad, they hide behind the "I'm not responsible if you do this" spiel. This is like the cigarette companies selling tobacco. Sure, they're not breaking the law, but I'd argue that they're doing something socially irresponsible. I think the individual who chooses to smoke bears most of the responsibility for their actions, but that doesn't let the companies off the hook entirely.
If you're a writer, you are an idea merchant, and if you're thinking of sharing an idea that requires fine print, you might want to stop and think about the message you're sending to people. Maybe present the idea in a different way. Instead of "Here's how to steal from people using Craigslist", how about "Here's a potential misuse of Craigslist, and why you should lock down your patio furniture"?
And if the idea you want to present still needs that fine print, maybe you should consider not sharing the idea in the first place.