Your opinion is so highly regarded you shouldn’t talk about the topics you talk

Not the first time I post a comment here on this blog or Twitter and someone comment with a "You have a large audience  and shouldn't be spreading ideas such as this" or "You have a position of influence so you shouldn't post this".

This mainly happens when the person posting the reply doesn't agree with the idea I have just posted or have a business interest that conflicts with the idea.

The way I see those comments they are something like "I don't like what you are saying and because you have a large audience that could believe you I rather you not posted it online".

Think about it for a second. My audience or my position of influence is not an automatic gag order if one disagrees with me.

The last example came after I posted a tweet:

Found application performance monitoring app. Requires Java. *NOT in my server*

- Mauricio Freitas (@freitasm) November 18, 2012

In my ops world I follow a good rule: less is better. If I have the option of running something without having to add more to my stack on the server, I will. If I have to add anything to the server, it needs to be really good to justify a spot in the box. And in my books there's nothing great (at the moment) that would make me install JRE on my servers.

So I got a reply:

@freitasm It's your right not to run Java if you wish. But you have a position of authority and IMO should be engaged in spreading FUD.

- Paul LeBeau (@paullebeau) November 19, 2012

I guess Paul wanted to say "shouldn't be engaged". But you get the point.