Edit: (2:25pm) I deleted the offensive post I was making reference to. Not because I think I should have to, but because it obviously hurt someone’s feelings, and the fact that it’s out there is much more important to that person than it is to me. So it’s gone. Which is one of the great advantages to this medium.
As blogs gain popularity, it’d be ridiculous to think that they have no impact as a piece of what forms your personal image to the world. This affects the ways different people write in different ways. Someone has beef with the way I portrayed her in the post immediately before this one I just deleted – and really, why wouldn’t she? I said the pieces of information she put out to the world made her look like a jackass. She left a comment to that extent, and added some more information that cleared up a few missing pieces of the puzzle.
This doesn’t change the fact that I still think the pieces of information she initially put out to the world made her look like a jackass. She made a comment on my blog one day, and a post on her own the next day that (when compared to the comment she left) made her sound like a raging hyppocrite. So whose fault is that?
No, blogs can’t tell the whole story. Yes, certain aspects of our lives aren’t anybody’s business but our own.
But isn’t it also true that we choose what we put out to the masses, and it’s our own damn fault if we don’t craft the online picture of ourselves in a favourable light? I probably looked like a Grade A Bitch for posting what I did about someone’s apparent spending habits. Which is why I chose to spin it with this follow-up, and edit the blog again to remove the offending content entirely.
I feel like I have a responsibility to myself to maintain a certain image of myself online. It’s the same reason I usually blowdry my hair and put on makeup before I leave the house for the day. I care what people think. Do you? And what do you do about it? And do you have a right to complain if someone calls you on something in public, when the information is out in the public sphere for anyone who can put two and two together?
God knows I’m far from confrontational (if anything, I tend to fall into the category of your most recent Standard), but don’t you also have an obligation to others when you post in your blog? What about the image you are projecting of *them*?
It seems – again, from my limited exposure to you through blogs – like you and (removed) are friends (or at the very least, friendly acquaintances), and if you want to call her out on something, that is of course your right. And your point was well made, in a general sense. (Sue’s post also spoke more generally, if I remember correctly.) It just seems to me that identifying her by name and posting selected material from her blog isn’t especially sensitive.
Money is a sensitive and frustrating subject for many of us. Lord knows I haven’t made the best decisions in the past either, and when I repeat my mistakes I expect my wife and my friends to call me on it. I just think doing so privately is the best way to go.
“before writing a shitstorm like that”
Nae lass, t’was but a mere squall, that one.
I’d like to suggest that everyone involved in this “take it offline” for the sake of all our sanities.
(quote taken from deleted comment)
So I used another blogger to illustrate a couple points (outside of my original post):
1. People do things online that make them look dumb, and sometimes get called on it. If you left it on the internet it’s a matter of public record, and can be used as such.
2. If you don’t care what people think, then that’s fine. If you do care though, then put some effort into managing your appearance, wherever it may show up. I was reminded of the incident when Sue made her comment, and figured I’d post. Considering the quote above is how I figured (removed) would respond (without all the snarly stuff surrounding it) I mistakenly assumed it wouldn’t be near as big a deal as it’s become.
But to say you don’t care, then get all huffy, but don’t want to change, that confuses me.
as someone who offends on a regular basis (although not recently, funny that), here are my thoughts…
I don’t really care what strangers think of me based on my blog. They don’t know me completely. But of course I care what my friends think…and I would hope that they would not take anything I wrote the wrong way.
Whether or not it was prudent to write a specific person on your blog, especially knowing that the person will read it and probably recognize herself/himself, is another story. That’s when I like to generalize…to not completely offend someone.
That being said, you can be as general as possible and perhaps not even be writing about a specific person, and you will likely offend at least one person (if not more).
I so wish I knew who/what you were talking about. Always miss the damn boat! 😛