on blogging. and ethics.
For years I’ve been adding my thoughts to / in this space. My intention has always been to make you like me. Oh please do! And it’s worked occasionally. Not everyone hates me. To me that’s success. But as I continue to get older I wonder what line I should draw.
There’s a professional line. This is the line I feel that could most bite me in the ass. I don’t blog about clients, and I avoid specific coworker instances. If I ever cross that line, I delete ASAP. I am generally a happy worker and I do my venting for work in secret/in person.
There’s a friendship line. I try to respect this knowing my friends’ wishes. Most have their own blogs and/or twatters so I feel comfortable using their names and photos. If I’ve ever gotten a request from a friend to take something down: I do. It’s been rare though. And I’ve only aired dirty laundry here when I’ve cut off all contact with a former friend. For those keeping count: it’s only happened once.
The family line? I consider this one a lot. But don’t usually post super personal family shit anyways. We’re small. We’re nice to each other. Life wasn’t all sunshine and smiles but it’s pretty awesome and PRIVILEGE.
Then the line I think about most. Sex. And then dating is in the same vein.
This is the one I continually try to put myself in the other persons’ shoes. I say person, I mean dude. I only fuck dudes.
Sometimes the desire to vent is so great. SO VERY GREAT. That it’s hard for me to resist. But so far I’ve done a good job over the past 4.5 years to not go too far. With the exception of exes. One in particular. I constantly worry about the ethical implication of this.
Even if I omit identifying info, I feel like an ass for posting about every orifice filled, every date that sucked (figuratively). But then. Occasionally a desire to just spill one’s guts to the anonymous internet bubbles up and it’s hard to avoid. So typing this out reminds me of my own code.
I will always try to respect others.
Which leads to my next and final point: the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
