Pantsland

Richard Querin, a long time member of my reading list, has made a very well thought out and constructive post in response to my post about the nature of blogging. Let me just say that said post was never meant to garner any attention, let alone such a lengthy and interesting response, which is something that continuously amazes me about blogging, and indeed life itself: a random thought that might pop into one person’s mind may affect another in more ways than initially anticipated.

Anyway, Richard makes some really interesting points (not just in this post, but all the time). The things that stand out to me are:

Don’t go searching for things to blog about, let them come to you

This is something I completely agree with. Forced blogging is not something I ever want to read. If you have to search out something to write about, then it isn’t worth writing. I would much prefer to read about someone’s comments on something they come across in day-to-day life, than about something a person is posting because they feel they need to update a blog. I don’t unsubscribe from people for lack of posting if they make me think when I read what they have to say.

Keep a private life

Indeed, a very important point. Richard says

If I need to relate my personal state of affairs about something on this blog then I would likely pass it through my standard question: “would I be ok with everyone I currently know reading this post?”

It is always important to think about how your words affect others, and this goes triple for such a public and easily accessible medium. While I do post about my personal life, I indeed run everything through the same kind of filter that Richard does.

Richard does not write about his work

This is something I don’t entirely agree with. Since my work is online for everyone to see anyway, blogging about my work life is something I don’t really hesitate in doing. The ‘About‘ page on MobileBurn links to this blog, and obviously I need to take the same precautions as anyone would have to take when speaking of their employment, but overall I’m pretty happy to speak about what is going on in that side of my life. I think of this blog as an extension to my paid work anyway, where I can write more personal opinions about the pieces I write for MobileBurn, though it is not necessarily an integral part of my work - and I am certainly not paid for the thoughts expressed here. What I do not do, however, is blog about people I meet or talk to in my work life - I have no permission to talk about those people, and respect their privacy. The same goes for blogging about my personal life.

In short, I feel happy expressing my thoughts about my day-to-day work life, but not about individual situations that may arise in an effort to respect other’s privacy.

Richard really does sum it up perfectly:

I’m not going to jeopardize other areas in my life for the sake of my blog. I want to be proud (or at least not ashamed) of what I write here.

Well said.