“My mind is made up; don’t try to confuse me with facts.”

The result, as with most who follow that approach, may well be a decline in their credibility.

If so, perhaps they will require the counsel of PR professionals whose education has taught them not only to write well, but also to assess the situation (using appropriate measurement techniques), develop an appropriate response strategy and recommendations, counsel and train management to deal effectively with inquiries from faculty, professionals and press, and — oh, I’m preaching to the choir, aren’t I?

TPR just doesn’t get it. And when it’s time for my daughter to explore colleges, we won’t get TPR.

>Most of us are not professional bloggers. He made a mistake and he was honest about it asked for help. Should he have tried to cover it up or put a “warm fuzzy spin” on it?

I agree with your comment – I was out of order and I did apologise above:

>To follow up, firstly my comments aboev sound a touch uncharitable (sorry).

I’m happy to do so again explicitly. I overreacted, and I apologise for that. I should have done wha I could to help (which I have now done) and made the point mor gently.

It might not be the best reference, but if you google “data recovery” you’ll get lots of other results.

With regard to the Princeton issue, here’s the (very constructive) response from the Commission on Public Relations Education (www.commpred.org) to the Princeton Review.

http://www.prconversations.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/commpred_response_tpr.pdf

It presents important facts while also suggesting that in future editions the Commission is available to act as a source. This message is signed by two of the vice chairs of the comission, Dr. Dean Kruckeberg and John Paluszek (Global Alliance Ambassador at Large of the Global Alliance whom I thank for sharing this with us).

(Relevant Note: This was issued before the 31st August reiteration of arguments by The Princeton Review)

Most of us are not professional bloggers. He made a mistake and he was honest about it asked for help. Should he have tried to cover it up or put a “warm fuzzy spin” on it?

Most of us are not professional bloggers. He made a mistake and he was honest about it asked for help. Should he have tried to cover it up or put a “warm fuzzy spin” on it?

1) Send proper information to high school guidance counselors
2) Begin an ongoing campaign to clarify what p.r. does and how it works, aimed at the general business community and specialized communities like marketing and advertising, which utilize and work with p.r.
3) Work to get more p.r. education into college programs, especially into general business studies and marketing programs.

These are all things that PRSA should have been doing for many years on behalf of the industry, instead of talking to and fighting among themselves.

1) Send proper information to high school guidance counselors
2) Begin an ongoing campaign to clarify what p.r. does and how it works, aimed at the general business community and specialized communities like marketing and advertising, which utilize and work with p.r.
3) Work to get more p.r. education into college programs, especially into general business studies and marketing programs.

These are all things that PRSA should have been doing for many years on behalf of the industry, instead of talking to and fighting among themselves.

Judy was perceptive in saying that I was going through the classic stages of grief. First I was devastated by what I had lost–how was I going to function since my whole life was tied to that computer. Alaska seemed like a holiday compared to the desert I will have to face here. Then I became angry with the technician who formatted the hard drive without saving my data. I had visions of what I would do with the matriarch’s tusks when I caught up with him.

However, deep down I knew that I was the one to blame. But how could it be that I, one of the world’s most careful people, did not have an external backup for the last 3 years. I stared at my students’ study guide, where I told them repeatedly to back up their data. So why didn’t I?

As I sat down last night and ‘reflected’ on what had happened, I noticed something interesting. I have triple backups of the work done on an assortment of ‘old’ computers. The trouble started when I got my gleaming new machine, the top of the range laptop. I never backed up anything (externally) after that. But the most amazing of it all was that I never noticed that I didn’t! How could that be?

Possibly because I didn’t have a day’s problem with it. As time passed by, I started to feel safe protected by Norton and Windows firewall and all other possible updates, and I snoozed in my comfort zone. I started to depend on my machine, since it provided me with an answer to any question, either amongst the data stored there or via the Internet. It became my lifeline to the outside world. It became my constant companion, day or night. It accompanied me on my travels—even carrying the photographs of my loved ones.

So last night realisation hit home with a thunderbolt — I started to TRUST the damn thing. It had in fact become a trusted friend. It was always there for me, day and night. I had formed a completely satisfactory RELATIONSHIP with it! Might I say that it was a beautiful relationship while it lasted. And it brought sharp pain when it ended.

And I cannot but help to think of the story of the Jewish father who told his son to get up on the roof of their house, and then told him to jump. Which the boy did. But the father made no effort to catch the son, and the boy hurt himself. And when the son asked why his father didn’t help him, the father answered: “Didn’t I tell you never to trust anybody”? I can sure learn from this.

There will be cache corners and bits and pieces to be retrieved from here and there – and if that fails we can always start again. I can send you my comment if you wish or re-post it, but as this comment thread was getting a bit long and a bit distracted, I was wary of sticking it up again here as it would follow the Greek fires comment and perhaps add to the confusion.

Benita – polar bears are beautiful but hand-feeding them may result in more than a loss of data. And I think you might find Alaska a bit of a chilly transition from your current location! On one platform recently, I encountered someone wanting advice on how to become a ‘moose whisperer’ which I felt had real possibilities as an alternative career for my sunset years (once I’d stopped laughing) so if all else fails, I’ll send you my moose whispering tips as an alternative to any potential polar bear sojourn you may consider. For the moment, I send you a large, virtual and very sympathetic hug for your data loss and the whole episode has me scurrying off to back-up my back-ups in case I have missed anything, being the ‘belt-and-braces’ kinda girl that I am…