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blogging and privacy

Sometimes I miss being able to blog about whatever I wanted. Or at least the naievty of not thinking about who might read my blog and the impact or perception it could create. Recently on Jordan’s blog, he brought up a good point in relation to something awful that happened in the blogosphere recently. When I blog now, I have to think about the company and any misperceptions that could occur. I have a disclaimer, but still, some people have lost their jobs over blogs. In some ways my blog has become watered down. Partially because I’ve been so busy, but partially because maybe talking about sex now wouldn’t be such a great idea, although my stats and comments were pretty high when I used to, lol - and for those of you who go searching through the archives looking for those posts, they’ve been deleted (and for those of you still curious, no it was never writing about my sexual escapades, lol. It was rather generic, educational type stuff;)). And yes I know we’re not supposed to edit our blog posts, but it is still essentially my blog and my choice. Heck even strong political views I have to be cautious of (although we all know what I really think;)). Yet the reality is that if someone was truly sick they could take anything we write about, our kids, our lives, whatever and twist it or write things that could potentially scare us.

So like everything in life, it’s about finding balance, what we feel comfortable writing about and giving some thought about who is reading, family, friends, employers, employees, clients, ex’s, future dates and so on. And probably eventually my kids, ack.;)

Posted by By: lisa | 2007/04/10 | Life - blogs - internet | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]

7 Responses to blogging and privacy »»


Comments

  1. Jordan
    Comment by Jordan | 2007/04/10 at 12:33:30

    I for one am grateful that you’ve been able to find that comfort level, Lisa. I agree that blogging is like life; you can’t be too paranoid or you’ll miss all the fun!

  2. Jo
    Comment by Jo | 2007/04/11 at 12:08:46

    have you thought about starting a live journal (or some other blog) that allows only password protected posts or friends only to read? i do miss hearing more about some of your thoughts and feelings that you used to share, not that i don’t enjoy reading you now :)

  3. Lisa R
    Comment by Lisa R | 2007/04/11 at 13:15:31

    That’s not a bad idea Jo. I’ll give that some thought as I do know you do that. The temptation to be wild and free in everything I say, no holds barred, ahhh, lol, j/k.

  4. ~FallenAngel~
    Comment by ~FallenAngel~ | 2007/04/11 at 14:23:34

    Wow.. I think this is the first time I post on your blog. Yay! :)

    This post hits home. As you may (or may not) be aware, in the last… umm.. year? or so I’ve changed my blog too many times for me to even admit. The reasons were intially because I was being mauled by friends (former friends actually) who had opinions about what I was writing that didn’t appeal to me. One even figured out my password and deleted all my posts… did this twice. No fun. I’ve been criticized about everything I write - if I’m really happy and I say so in my blog, I’m being accused of pretending to be so happy to rub it in others’ faces. As if I have time for that eh? I got a kick out of that one. Then, when I had my miscarriage in January, I wrote about how sad and hurt I was because of that, and I was criticized for looking for attention. You just can’t win it seems. Anyway, my point is that I’ve come to the realization that it’s my blog and what I write is there for those who want to read it. For those who don’t or don’t agree with me, they simply don’t have to drop by. Read my disclaimer if you have time… I’m actually proud of it LOL. I’ve decided that I’ll write about what I want, when I want and nobody is going to affect that anymore. Just recently I even stood my ground and when told that I was pretending to be so happy with Chris, I just faught back and said that if they didn’t like what I was reading, to just forget about my site and made it clear that I don’t write lies and don’t have time to think about what people think of my life (you know what I mean). Thus the main reason for the disclaimer. I’ve been keeping track of those visiting my blog and she hasn’t been back since then :)

    It’s sad that some people have nothing better to do with their time than criticize our writings and our thoughts… isn’t this country free speach anymore? I say write what you want and when you want to. I’ve learned that nobody should cloud your judgment or your thoughts. We can’t live our lives walking on eggshells right?

    Hope your day is a good one :)

  5. Barbara J Gill
    Comment by Barbara J Gill | 2007/04/11 at 20:03:32

    This is very interesting. I have been deciding what I can blog about regarding my mother’s situation recently … what could be misperceived and also invasion of HER privacy. However, in the end I have put up quite a bit as I am rolling out a disease process and I think it will help others. And Mom always helped others. Mmmmm. Intersting though my dear Lisa. As usual you make us think. And smile a little to ourselves too. Barbara

  6. Lisa R
    Comment by Lisa R | 2007/04/11 at 20:26:33

    Thanks everyone for the input. Welcome FallenAngel, good to see you here. I hope you had a good birthday:) I know what you mean about how people can be strange. A few years ago I did a blog post about being tired and run down because I had the kids straight out for a few months when my ex first moved to F’ton. I had a commenter slam me for complaining because I had it so much easier than other single moms, which I had fully recognized that many people had worse situations than I did. And that our posts are merely our thoughts and reflections at the times. So I’m glad you’re still blogging:)

    And once again proof that I mention the word sex and everyone starts coming out of the woodwork;) LOL

  7. jajakoom
    Comment by jajakoom | 2007/04/12 at 11:47:26

    Lisa, you raise a good point about privacy. I have a couple of friends who are bloggers who are in law enforcement and they are very careful that their identity is not available on their blogs because that’s where they talk about family and post family pictures so that other members of the family living in far distant lands can log in and see what’s going on. They obviously don’t want the druggie they busted last night to be able to log in as well.

    My take is that unless you are a public person and want to get some mileage out of your blog or you’re looking for some ego stroking (maybe the two are the same?) then there is no reason to reveal your identity. Knowing who I am and something of my background does not make my writing any easier to understand and for those who have written to me asking questions about my work and life, I simply say accept what you see at face value – don’t try to qualify it.

    I’m intrigued by the current trend among a lot of kids to make an open book of their lives, either through blogs or the “myspace” phenomena. Now and then, while surfing the web, I find websites where everything you would ever want to know about someone is posted in garish detail. While it may serve some therapeutic purpose for the author, I really think it’s a gross violation of privacy in exchange for 15 undeserved minutes of fame.

    Again, good point, thanks for bringing it up. Gives me an idea for a blog entry of my own once I find time to write it. LOL

    Have a fine day!


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