10 Sep
Watch Your Mouth
Daily Blog Tips has published a post called One Simple Blogging Rule to Keep You Out of Trouble.
Spoiler: The rule is not to say anything online that you wouldn’t say in person. It’s very good advice, even if you blog In Disguise and think no one will ever unmask you. Don’t say anything that might upset…
- Your family. Imagine if you casually aired some family skeletons online, or gave away their personal details. No more Sunday Roasts for you!
- Your friends. A few years ago I had a personal blog that I didn’t promote or attach my full name to. One day, I casually remarked on the love life of someone I knew, not mentioning her by name and never dreaming she’d read it. As it turned out, she’d been reading for months (she found the blog via another site…) and she left a comment at the bottom of the post!
I was so embarrassed. I felt like I’d been caught gossiping over the garden fence, and in effect I had. Luckily she wasn’t too bothered, but she probably was a bit bothered and I was a bit bothered that she’d been quietly reading my blog for so long. It was awkward.
- Your colleagues. People have been fired for complaining about their jobs on their blogs. Even mentioning old jobs and employees can upset people and damage reputations.
So before hitting ‘Publish’ and running off for ice cream, ask yourself:
- Am I writing this in a bad mood/after drinking too much/simply reacting to something trivial that has been said? Save the post and walk away for a while. If in doubt, delete, delete!
- Have I invaded someone’s privacy?
- Have I written something I would never say to someone’s face? How would I feel if these remarks were written about me?
- Have I posted something that’s illegal or goes against my own ethical boundaries? Would my future children be ashamed to read what I’ve written, and disown me?
A little dramatic, perhaps, but the moral of the story is: anyone could be reading. Be yourself, but be careful.
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Posted
on
Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
under
shona,
Good points here. In fact here in America we have some commercials regarding the problem of cyber bullying which seems to be a growing problem in our schools. Unfortunately I also believe that this problem is creeping into the adults of our society as well. It is unfortunate and sad situation.
September 11th, 2007 at 2:09 amthese are definitely good points of advice to follow, you never know who is reading and who would be offended by what you might say.
September 11th, 2007 at 4:35 amI once wrote a hostel review for a place I used to work for and got a nasty email from the manager. Oops. But that’s different because I would have said the same stuff to their face. The place was crap.
I just wrote a post about skiving at work on my blog… here’s hoping my manager never moseys on over there for a read.
September 11th, 2007 at 7:00 amHi Kirsty, I guess you can file that review under ‘honest opinion’. And just don’t accidentally email your boss a link to the skiving post
September 11th, 2007 at 6:52 pmOooh, yes, I understand this one totally.
I had a job I *hated*, and this tiny little personal blog that I thought only my friends read…
Well, when I finally got a new job and vented on the blog about how rubbish and stupid my boss was (using his name - what was I thinking?), a friend of his read it whilst surfing on employee names. And send it to him. I wouldn’t have minded so much if he’d confronted me face to face, but he got all his friends to mailblat my blog with obscene messages, and in the end I just shut it down rather than have the hassle.
The stupid thing is that he denied the whole thing, despite me being able to track his IP address. *sigh* Never again! I do still keep a personal blog as well as my professional one, but I filter what goes on there *very* tightly, and password protect anything beyond “what a nice day, I think I’ll eat some icecream”
September 11th, 2007 at 7:39 pm