What do you do when a good blog post may offend someone?
If you have read this blog, or my other blog (www.jonzee.com) you would notice that sometimes I may mention things that have actually happened in my life or my personal experiences. When I do mention those things, I usually try to keep them anonymous, I don’t want to "call anyone out" or anything like that.
When I first started this blog, I wrote up a nice little blog post about a situation I am currently going through, a very annoying situation. I never published it. The person that is the topic of this situation will probably never read my blog on his own. The people in "my circle" will know who I am talking about if they happen to read the blog post, mainly because I may have complained about it a time or 2. Although the situation is indeed an annoying situation, and he probably does need to be talked to about it, I don’t really want to "call him out" on my blog (even though it makes for a nice story). The post was written like Ive said before, in an anonymous way, where unless you know of the situation, you most likely wouldn’t know who I’m talking about.
Since Ive written that post (its still in my drafts…unpublished) Ive talked to a few people about if I should publish it or not. Most said that I should and that I’m being way too nice about the situation all together. So I ran it through the ultimate test and read the post to my mother and asked her what she thought. She knew who I was talking about half way through reading and recommended that I shouldn’t publish it.
Don’t get me wrong, the blog post isn’t being mean or rude towards anyone, its basically about something that is happening, probably a situation that a lot of people have had to deal with themselves.
As a blogger, how many of you have had this dilemma? What do you do? For now I think I’m not going to publish it but I’m still going to keep it in my drafts in case I change my mind.
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March 21st, 2007 at 1:46 am
I’ve dealt with this exact situation several times. My take and opinion is this: your blog is about your thoughts, your feelings, and your life. If you are telling the truth and being honest about your intentions, you should not feel bad about sharing things that may make other people look bad.
The only warning I have is that you should be able to express your thoughts and feelings on the situation to the person involved as well… and not use your blog as a passive-aggressive way of telling someone off.
Just my .02
March 21st, 2007 at 2:03 am
I agree with you, that was the reason why I wrote it in the beginning, not to make anyone look bad or anything but that it was a situation, that I thought would be an interesting read, that some people may be able to relate.
And yea, I’m not really the type of person that would try to tell someone off indirectly, like sneaking it up on my blog. The blog post I wrote wasn’t telling him of though, its actually a more harmless than than it sounds like from my description kindof hard to explain without you reading it, but it is something that he probably wouldn’t like to read about.
But I feel the same way you do on the topic
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:14 pm
A blog is a personal journal so it reflects your thoughts on life. On the other hand, it is an OPEN journal that anyone can read.
If you care for this person (value their friendship, etc.) then don’t risk saying *anything* about this situation online.
Remember: what you publish online can never be taken back.
April 25th, 2007 at 6:17 am
Thank You