From pointing out a job poster’s bad grammar to flaming people running contests, it seems the Freelance Ship is sinking to new lows. It’s to the point where I’m ashamed to call myself a freelancer in some circles, because I know I’ll get the looks that say, “We know your type. Stay far far away from us.”

We all make mistakes. We say something we think is funny, and it gets taken the wrong way. Our sarcasm bites us in the butt. What was meant as a helpful suggestion comes off as cocky, and we look like jerks. That’s not what I’m talking about.

What I’m talking about is writing to me to tell me my blog posts have typing and grammatical errors, and that I should hire you as a proofreader because you’ve “worked with a lot of people way worse off” than me. If you’d been nice, I might have considered you. I didn’t place an ad for a proofreader, but I’m always more than open-minded when a fellow freelancer offers advice or pitches services. However, calling me stupid isn’t a good way to make me want to hire you.

I’m talking about people who post ridiculously uncalled for comments on blogs. Don’t like an ad-poster’s rate? Don’t apply. Do we need to make a public flogging out of it? Don’t think the blogger is qualified to walk on two feet, let alone post about it? Read a different blog. There are millions to choose from. There is no need for trash talk and public insults.

I’m talking about responding to rejection letters with an obnoxious note calling the editor a dumbass, bragging that you will be the next Oprah and won’t everyone be sorry then.

I’m talking about picking your nose and flicking it across the interwebs, as though you find your bodily functions amusing and think the rest of us will too.

I’m talking about the kind of behavior that wouldn’t be acceptable if you were in a client’s office or a blogger’s living room.

I know kindergarten kids who have more manners than many of the freelancers I’ve come in contact with on the web. Maybe the false security blanket of anonymity on the internet breeds audacity; I don’t know.

What I do know is that you’re making yourselves, and the rest of us by association, look bad. Your insults aren’t putting an end to the drop in market rates. Your rants aren’t ridding the web of bad content. Your high-horse tactics aren’t convincing anyone to get that fab book of yours to the front of the production line. You’re just making yourself look like a spoiled toddler whose mommy hands him lollipops every time he throws a tantrum. In the real world, fits won’t get you candy.

Life is too short for pettiness. Our careers are too valuable to be ruined in a streak of blatant bad-assness.

Think before you type.

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