to blog or not to blog
OK all you readers, all seventeen of you, this is your chance to respond or at least pause a moment.
Question
Are blogs, some blogs, this blog, any blog, too open with personal information? Are the people who write the blogs endangering themselves emotionally, physically, psychologically, socially?
A couple times over the years I have been told that my blog is too personal, that I am allowing myself to be a target.
Last year a young girl killed herself because she was harassed by readers of her blog (to the ring leader of that you are a psycho, she was only thirteen). There is a law against internet harassing now. For the record only one person has ever been rude on my blog and he apologized very nicely and even writes from time to time.
Several times I have regretted what I've written, not because it was too personal but more often because it was poorly written or too juvenile in nature.
I love writing and enjoy the rush of imagining someone is reading my thoughts but cringe at their possible reaction. I like to think that I write to help others but the reality is that I write because I like to hear my own words. I am my biggest fan. (Critics not needed.)
So Are blog writers just techno geeks who talk to themselves? Are the socially inept rising to the top of a literary fad? Or are we our only audience? Are we who write the same we who read? Most of all is it time to shut this thing down and start talking to live people?
talk to me
:-)
I would never use my real name in a blog. I've had two major situations with folks I met on the
web. One was as close an opposite sex confidante as I've ever had without being in love. The
other was a woman who showed up where I worked after one e-mail. That was a bit much but
there are extenuating circumstances.
The girl who killed herself was an isolated case. Unwanted internet communication happens, and
I work at a job where I know for a fact unwanted communication happens, but it is isolated.
You said: Several times I have regretted what I've written, not because it was too personal but
more often because it was poorly written or too juvenile in nature.
Response: Hey, you sound like a real writer!
All writers are their biggest fans at some point. They are also their biggest critics at some point.
Answers to specific questions follow:
Q. So Are blog writers just techno geeks
who talk to themselves?
A. No, some are enjoyable reads. I like
your blog because I sure ain't gonna
get out in no river or lake in a kayak
because I remember the last time I got
in a lake in a rowboat! It was only thirty
years ago. I was positive I was about
to drown even though the water was
only up to my waist! Your wilderness
adventures are like short stories. Plus
I like people who talk down to earth about
Jesus and how He touches them too.
Q. Are the socially inept rising to the
top of a literary fad? Or are we our
only audience? Are we who write the
same we who read?
A. Judging from myself, socially inept is
probably an accurate phrase, though I
would rather like to think we are afraid of being
wounded in the real world. You're probably
not your only reader but most folks won't
respond. They'll stop for a moment and go
on down the information superhighway.
Q. Most of all is it time to shut this thing down
and start talking to live people?
A. For me in my own life,
it is time to start talking to live people. God
is calling me from the comfort zone I control
through my keyboard and mouse.
It is ironic that just before reading your post I finished reading a thread in a newsgroup I
sometimes frequent. It was on "why I write."
Now, whacha think? (Comment this)
Thanks for writing, writing so much and writing with openess. Sometimes, when someone writes to me it's like sitting down and having a cup of coffee and a good conversation with them. It's very enjoyable. This has been like that.
(Comment this)