I think this is great advice.

But the biggest benefit --in my opinion-- of this kind of honesty behavior is not the immediate respect you gain from others or differentiating friend from foe. It's the effect that it has on the person that you are becoming. In other words, it's the intrinsic benefit --not extrinsic-- benefit of shaping you into someone that you proud to become, the person that makes a habit out of being honest so that one day when it really matters, you will do the right thing automatically rather than having to think about it.

Obviously this is easier said than done, but this forum is all about stretching ourselves to be the quintessential citizen, and I truly believe this is one step on the path to truly living a good life.