First Edition

Cover picture credit: reway2007 (http://www.flickr.com/people/reway2007)© Copyright 2009Some rights reserved.This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0Unported License.To view a copy of this license, visit:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to:Creative Commons,171 Second Street, Suite 300,San Francisco, California,94105, USA.Obtain permission before redistributing. In all cases this notice must remain intact.DisclaimerThis document is for informational purposes only and does not provide any legal advice; it shouldnot be interpreted as doing so. Neither the contributors, authors, publishers or distributors acceptany responsibility or legal liability resulting from the use or misuse of the information presented inthis document or any of the resources referred to within it.You accept in reading this document that you do so at your own risk.Any views and opinions expressed in this document do not necessarily represent those of theauthor.

Stage One: Put The Kettle On

So you’ve received a letter, you feel intruded upon and threatened. You’re wondering if you even did whatyou’ve been accused of – well, at least, what your

connection

, has been accused of…You’re not the first and you’re

unlikely

to be the last toget one of these ‘nastygrams’.The first step to managing the situation you’vebeen put in is to tackle it calmly. You havebeen invited to play a game. This particulargame requires careful thought and rational,planned actions. It is not best played whileemotions are running high; never do anything inhaste.You’re reading this handbook so you’ve clearlyused your head so far and are on the right track.If you’ve not already done so, make yourself acuppa and sit down to read the rest of this.Relax… you’re among friends now. Welcome tothe team.Photo credit: Mark Thurman(http://www.flickr.com/people/mthurman)

Stage Two: Don’t Make a Bad Situation Worse

Quick Advice to Get You Started

•

Don’t write

anything

about this for at least 48 hours… blog posts, letters, emails, forums…

nothing.

You’ll figure out why later.

•

Don’t get drunk (yet).

•

Wise man say: be selective where you go for information. In other words – there’s a lot of bad adviceout there. Think carefully before acting on any of it.

•

Understand the ins and outs of your own situation. Only you know your own particularcircumstances. No one can tell you exactly what to do. You need to review the information and makeyour

own

decisions.

•

Play as part of a team. It’s the only way you’ll win this.