Sharing your ideas (artworks, writings, etc) with a large number of people has never been easier with the help of Internet. With the proper search keywords, one can easily access limitless amount of ideas from all over the world. While this is definitely good news for people who want to share/sell their ideas, people should also remember that the ease of access has allowed the wrong parties to gain access to such ideas.

Pirates who will steal your ideas and distribute or even modify them for their own profit. And trolls, people who will do nothing but to bring you down.

From Wikipedia

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

So far, I’ve not met any pirates who would take my ideas elsewhere without my consent. Erm, I think it’s because there’s no value in pirating my stuff. LOL. But trolls, yes, I’ve met quite a number of them throughout my experience as a blogger and a comic artist.

These individuals will appear to be nice and want to help you out. So they get close to you and observe what you are doing with your ideas. Then they will speak their mind and give you their opinions. Unfortunately, these ‘nice gestures’ are actually not useful for you at all.

For one, these trolls are not there to help you but they are there to bring you down. Perhaps it’s due to jealousy that they can’t do what you are doing. Or perhaps they just enjoy bringing people down. However, there ARE trolls who have no intention of bringing you down. They just want to help but the approach used is completely wrong. They tend to choose the wrong words which will discourage you more than anything else, and even damage your self-esteem which is possibly one of your greatest assets. People called this the “destructive comment” and such comments are never good for anyone who are looking for support and encouragement.

But irregardless of how harsh these trolls can be, there’s no way we can stop them from becoming a troll. It’s a free world after all. What we, as content creators and ideas contributors, can do is to push on. The trolls only belong to a small group of people. There are more out there who really appreciate your works and contributions. So it really depends on what is your main objectives. Are you doing it to help the community or is there something which you really believe in? Or are you doing it just so that you will listen to nice words and praises? Sort out your objectives and know what you really want. Ignore the trolls.

And if there’s really a need, remove them from your life even if they are your close friends. What you need is support and encouragement from your friends and family, not some trolls who just want to bring you down – intentionally, or unintentionally.

Most people are afraid to voice out. They prefer to keep things to themselves and these include new ideas which might be able to help other people. For some of them, they just don’t want to go through all the troubles and fuss when proposing an idea or, they have no confidence and are afraid they will be regarded as stupid. But the worst are those people who prefer to stick to their roles and say “ideas should come from the top people”.

Wrong wrong wrong. Ideas can come from anyone in a healthy environment. If you have some ideas which you think have not been implemented and might be able to help improve things, then do voice out. Perhaps you can voice out to your supervisor if you’re afraid to approach the top people. Start small, maybe just introduce it within your team and see how it goes. The important thing here is to share your ideas especially if you have seen them becoming successful in other companies.

For example, whiteboarding or brown bag session, 360 degrees performance review, etc. Useful ideas that you have experienced in your previous jobs can also be introduced in your new company.

Remember that you are in a company to contribute to the business in any ways possible. Furthermore, you will be able to leave something significant and useful for others to learn and spread the next time they switch company.

The bailout by the US government has been approved. I expect the share to go up a little this week. Elsewhere, governments across the world have been spending a lot to help failing companies in order to avoid the economy from crashing down. But I don’t see this as a long-term solution.

Firstly, the governments only have THAT much money to save the failing companies. Unless their treasuries have bottomless $$$, I don’t see that this behavior can last long enough to be able to lift the worldwide economy.

Secondly, they’re only saving the failing big companies. It’s very unfair for other big companies which did not do THAT bad. And it’s even worse for those small companies. Who are helping them? And I can foresee that more people will lose their jobs because the “help” cannot reach that many companies.

Back to Malaysia. Our share market has not been doing well since the March 8, 2008 election. It’s partly due to our slumping worldwide economy, food shortages…and also due to our political issues. Our inflation rate is already record high (i think highest in 27 years? I forgot what I’ve read this). The government was pretty oblivious when they first announced that our inflation rate was under control. Well, at least now, they’re being honest to themselves. Furthermore, do bear in mind that our Bank Negara has not increase the interest rates.

That’s why things do look a little gloomy in 2008 and 2009….and maybe the situation will continue till 2010. So if you’re looking to buy shares now…wait for the next big drop which will possibly cause some panic selling. Go in, buy some good dividend-based blue chips….and wait for at least 12 months. If you’re not willing to wait that long, then hold on to your money. Put in FD for short term investment…maybe 3 – 6 months but not more than that. Why? Because I think sooner or later, our Bank Negara would have to increase the interest rates…….which will definitely increase the interest rate for Fixed Deposit. And at that time, you will want to have your money ready.

And if you’re already in the stock market for now….you can either sell or let go when the shares go up again after the US bailout….. or keep it for 1 year. Short term profit taking is simply too risky now. So please be cautious and don’t get burn like I did.

If you’re looking to change job, do it now. The job market in Malaysia is still OK since most of the multinationals are slashing jobs in their home countries…….and adding jobs here due to the cheaper labor fees. Smaller companies tend to be a bit risky.

And if you’re like me, who are planning to start own business soon, then make sure you have enough financial support to last till 2010 or later. And make sure you have ideas which will capitalise on the current situation. A lot of great companies were started in the last recession…in the 1997-1999 period. So, if you want to do it, do it now…else you’ll have to wait for another 10 years.

Just my opinion.

p/s…….. latest update. The bailout suggested by the US government was rejected. The US market dropped 777 points….7%. Worse things will follow soon.

p/s…….. banks in Europe are undergoing tough times as well.

Came to work today and realized that there were a lot of motorbikes on the road. A colleague of mine later told me the LRT was packed with people. A change of lifestyle for Malaysians?

There have been a lot of articles on the price hike…all over the place. Even my colleagues were talking a lot about it. It seems like the situation is very bad. Everyone is trying to survive the upcoming recession…and now our beloved government gave us a big surprise.

Quoted from one of the articles in The Star,

Meanwhile, an industry observer said the Government’s measures were “too much, too soon” as even before the people could come to terms with the recent surge in food prices, their purchasing power has been further eroded.
“Too much, too soon”, I couldn’t have agreed more to that “Term”. With the decrease in purchasing power, people will not dare to spend their “limited edition” money….which in turns will lead to our GDP going down.

Well, it does sound very sad but hopefully things will become better soon. Let’s hope “they” don’t come out with another funny policy. If they do intend to do that, please give the people some “breathing space” so that we can prepare for the changes. Don’t give us less than 24 hours to react.

p/s…. our share market went down by a lot today esp banking and plantation sectors. I’m still positive that these 2 sectors will recover by this week. After all, plantation companies like IOI and Sime are quite diversified. The new Windfall tax will not have that much of an impact to them. Impact, YES but it won’t be that bad. Let’s hope our market will have a technical rebound soon, after all these knee jerk reaction from yesterday’s announcements.