hey folks,
SitePoint has been a major part of my learning of web languages and correcting my syntax. today a unfortunate thing happened. as i am very protective of what i do online i.e study and research and in offices there is always a cut throat competition. today i was giving presentation while i had my Gtalk opened (i forgot to leave it sign out), while my presentation on a huge projector, suddenly a mail notification came up, which stated my question on Sitepoint forums, and i suddenly paniced to **** it down. but i guess (and i hope not), my colleagues saw it. now my colleagues and me are not on good terms. as they underestimate my skills. with that said i have been feeling very stressed out on reason, that
1.what if my colleagues saw sitepoint name,
2.what will they do,
3.do they have another reason to mock me,
4. how do i cover my track,
5. how do i defend myself if it ever comes up
i been really upset about this since evening, can someone suggest me something?
I work at a Dairy Queen and a local gym. I’m afraid that this has never happened to me, nor could I imagine any advice I’d give.
I’ve never even had a real web design job besides a few freelances…
I even swap links of forums with my collegues when we need to know something none of us has ever done before. I guess it all depends on the company culture, and the type of collegues/boss you have.
Indeed. I commute over 2500km to the office every month or so. 
Not all the people working for SitePoint lives in Australia. It really depends on the role you want to apply for.
@poes… well i am not as brave as u r, going ninja on my coworker telling where i get my tools and skills from 
Tell them that you are consulting with industry professionals and gaining desirable contacts that will not only improve their services but at no additional cost.
And if they don’t buy that, I think SitePoint are looking for employees! j/k 
On the face of it that may appear a problem but consider the following points
- We all ask questions sometimes because we dont always know the answers
- the questions are only easy if you know the answer
- they may have an account on DigitalPoint…
- it could have been your subscription reminder for playboy.com that popped up…
how do u defend it. how do u defend ur skills coz some people are real jerks
Where do those skills come from?? Most of my knowledge comes from forums, more than books or articles (it was mostly books and articles in the beginning, but not now). The rest comes from testing and re-reading the specs.
well there is difference between 2500km and 11066 kilometers otherwise SP would have accepted me for job
lol, i m not that kind of guy who uses facebook/gtalk etc on work. though i have them open, we communicate a lot on email and email is must open during work hours or i might miss a important change by my boss
u can hop in and gimme some advice on what if ur desk is at a position where the site your getting help from i.e fourms in visible and someone reads it or taunt it or search for u on the website and finds out ur getting help to solve ur web issue at office from this site.how do u defend it. how do u defend ur skills coz some people are real jerks
I don’t think your boss/colleagues are concerned about the website/sitepoint. They are more concerned as to why the heck you are on gTalk at work.
You are paranoid for the wrong reasons. Now, you can freak out.
No distance for SP though… I know of a few that work a bit further 
You should read about the co-founder of SP… he lives in Canada while SP is in Australia
Going back to what you asked… it is quite simple… nobody knows all, and sometimes you need to ask. If you know that you’re going to get an answer quickly, or a tip that will put you on the right track to solve a particular problem, why wouldn’t you ask in a forum? As long as you keep the things that need to be private just like that, private, that shouldn’t be an issue.
Ok, maybe the answer could be in a book but finding the right book can be a nightmare… and not asking and acting like a know-it-all (Furthermore if that’s not true) would be stupid. So asking is the smart thing to do.
Late to the wagon here, you asked me for help here…what exactly can I help with?
despair not
those who do not understand how special sitepoint is, are doomed
@Blz thank you so much for your kind words, i try to make myself good at what i do. though i think i have lot to learn but what i know i m proud of it coz i know it my heart and never let anyone down. sometimes i get too obessed with what i want i can eliminate sleep to learn and do what i want, actually my coworkers are kind of taunting. and i have a very taunting enviorment, unless i try to control it with less talk so everyone know their limits i.e why i am just worried what if they taunt me that u went to help to sitepoint etc,
like suppose i have given a demo of jQuery dialog box, to my boss coz i hate popup. now i am on a timeline after getting dialog box passed and implementing it. now problem comes that i don’t know JavaScript and i have jQuery dialog pop with so much to do. this can be another tauntig thing for me if i can’t do it. though i am thinking server side coding isn’t my thing, my job is as a web developer. so i will simply create dialog box on some button where needed and pass them on. (but now i need learn JS and jQuery, in matter on days to back myself), anyhow i went to the other direction.
coming back to my own stuff, i have a submissive nature and i come easily under fire of taunts and professional bully. though i know i am not perfect but i know what i know. so i wanna be a ninja when and if it ever come as a taunt from my colleague telling ‘oh u got help from that website,’ when i say ninja i mean ninja of self defending.
so throw in some advice
OP, I’m really confused as to why this would be such an issue. I do recall you asking about ISO flow-charting a web app you did, and gaining an impressive amount of knowledge concerning that in an incredibly short period. Obviously you are far from underskilled, and more importantly very willing to learn independently and do so very quickly.
Perhaps you set the bar too high for your fellow employees comfort, and give them the pleasure of seeing your displeasure when they give you disapproval.
Gack, I’m wordy sometimes.
I’ve been impressed with you, I think your coworkers are probably jealous and only what the boss thinks should really be your concern.
I feel fine telling people (colleagues) “Hey I asked about x on SitePoint”. They know it’s a professional web developer forum, so it’s absolutely the place to ask questions. I refuse to do the OpenID thing, so I’m not really on StackOverflow, but I wouldn’t have an issue asking questions there either (tho they are lower in quality).
And, it’s not like you ask questions like, “what’s the code to do this?” which does show someone looking to have others do their work for them. Instead, YOU already have code and you ask “why am I getting this result” which shows you want to learn more. Anyone should want employees and colleagues who want to learn more.