Some of you may have noticed that I removed my post from yesterday. My husband read it and asked me if I was worried someone who knows me would see it and get mad at me.
When he first said it I was not concerned at all. After all, the only people I know personally who read my blog are members of my family.
A few hours later, I started getting paranoid. It's such a small world, and you really never know who's reading your blog-even if they aren't commenting.
Then I started having visions of my post being printed out and read to me by one of the offending parties. If any of the people I wrote about read my post-I would be in deep shit. The events were so specific, there would be no denying that I wrote it.
I couldn't get the computer, because I was out all day, and it was freaking me out!
I came to the conclusion that writing an entertaining gossipy, venting, post about other people, no matter how vague I might be about their identities, could make my life very complicated.
So, I took it down. Now I can only pray that for the 36 hours my post was up, no one involved saw it. Let's hope I learned a valuable lesson on this one. You know what they say..."The pen is mightier than the sword." Let's hope my pen (or more accurately my keyboard) doesn't end up cutting me in the throat. (While it's stabbing others in the back!)
How about you? Has your blog every landed you in hot water? Did you ever find out that someone who knew you was reading your blog and not telling you? Am I dead meat? Should I sell my house and get the heck out of Dodge?
What a tangled web I have weaved!!!
29 comments:
first off, your secrets are SAFE with me. I am terrified of any one finding my blog. terrified. even my friends that i would NEVER say anything bad about. i just feel strange, like they could know my every thought ? i am getting all paranoid b/c i am blogging for sites and i am starting to get quoted and stuff....i use a pen name on the site. i am a FREAK about it. seriously i kept me up last night. so i totally understand what you are saying. and i hope you know i would never EVER say that i know you through a blog and i would never repeat anything you say here. i PROMISE. now promise me the same !! hee hee.
I worry about this some times. A few weeks ago I had a little rant about something that happened and then wondered, "Uh oh - I never gave her my blog info did I?" Yikes! Love the Rockwell pic!
I don't have a blog- because my life is really boring AND I am a terrible writer!
I'm not even sure I read yesterdays... of course now I am super curious ;)
My rule of thumb (and sometimes it's hard) but I try not to write anything down I wouldn't be comfortable with everyone reading.
My blog hasn't gotten me in trouble, but then, I've never really ranted about anything on here. I used to rant once in a while on my LJ, but I always knew exactly who would have access to it (because it was friends locked) And, not to throw a wrench in here, but apparently Google Reader doesn't care if the post has been deleted, I was still able to read yesterday's post, I just couldn't link back to comment. But honestly? I doubt they read it. And for what it's worth? I don't think you're offbase in being upset/annoyed/etc.
I try to be as transparent as I can on my blog, but it is always at the back of my mind that people I know may read it (I've got it listed on my FB page, but I don't know if people click on it).
Not so many people I know IRL know that I blog. My family does, but I don't know how often if at all they visit (I ask before I post pix of them). I have a couple of IRL friends who also blog.
I hope that person didn't read your post ... I would have been freaking too!
:(
Crap I missed it!
I can understand what you mean. I have contemplated inviting real life friends to read-I'm not there yet though.
Totally. I just found out someone the other day read my blog and then called my friend and questioned her on every detail. Some definite judging going on there. What am I gonna do though? I put it out there. I figure if it's okay for my mom to read then what do I care?
Would you like to be scared shitless? Yes? Good. Once it's posted, it's on the internet forever. Yep, FOREVER. Even if you delete it. Meaning a simple google search could bring that post back to life. HOWEVER, I highly doubt any of the offending parties would be randomly googling an info that was in that post.
Also, get yourself a stat counter. Plug it into your code (I'll tell you where to do it so no one knows you have it) and then you know EXACTLY who's reading your blog. Specific IP addresses, how long they are on your blog, what they look at, EVERYTHING.
I'll email you the site.
I'll keep your secrets quite safe!
My neighbors read my blog and at one point ambushed me with emails. We used to be friends. We're no longer friends. They attacked me and my writing and my blog. they called me a liar and all sorts of nasty things. They were reading and leaving nasty anonymous comments but i blocked anon comments. Now they just check it 3 and 4 times a day. I love Statcounter!
Um, yeah. Someone sent me a comment the other day and used my WHOLE NAME! Now, with my blog friends, for example, you, I wouldn't mind letting you know my name. But from an anonymous commenter, that was just too much. Which is another reason I sadly deleted all of my previous posts and started over. I hated doing that, but I'll start being more careful. And you too. We'll have to start emailing our juicy details to each other.
I've worried about it, and I almost made a really dumb mistake once, but caught it before I posted the entry.
My friend and her boyfriend of many years broke up (she reads my blog) and I had written entry about it and some of the choices they made together and almost posted it for her to read! It's stuff I'd never say in real life, and I would have been in deep trouble if she read it! I forgot she had my web address!
For me it hasn't been the blog it has been Twitter and unfortunately there is no pulling that back!
Twitter is such a reactionary tool and it is too easy to shoot off a later regretted b#*@chy twit. I have gotten myself in too much trouble yet but I have to constantly remind myself that the "world" is watching. :)
A few weeks ago I was at a wedding and in the middle of a buffet line, in front of everyone, a man I have never met before asked me if I was Preppy Pink Crocodile. I about fell over. He stumbled upon my blog post I wrote in regards to that very wedding. And while I think the post was innocent enough, it did talk specifics about the wedding and my invitation, etc. I was MORTIFIED. I came home and deleted the post but it was something I wrote months earlier. I can't even begin to guess how many people might have read post. I am still paranoid. So I guess I can go private (which I don't really want to do- I love being able to "meet" new people) or I can edit what I say. It's a tough call though. I didn't read your post but hope it all works out OK for you.
I worry about this sometimes. I find myself writing a post and thinking... what if so-and-so reads this? It's hard to balance.
you MUST read the new york times magazine cover article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/magazine/25internet-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin
it has moved my paranoia to new heights.
It's difficult to find a fine balance between socially acceptable "discussions or conversations" and typing out what you really think on a blog. Sadly, my in-laws found out about mine and I know several of them check it 4-5 times a day. Now I see it as a good thing, I might not be able to type out exactly what I think about everything, but it has kept me in line to thinking that you never know who might read what you write.
I think you're safe - Memorial Day weekend? People are too busy heading out of town, etc.
I once wrote a catty comment about the "Mommy Swap" a few ladies read it-it didn't go over well. I usually tell people that I am over the top on my blog so not to take everything seriously. I am pretty careful with pics but not as careful as I should be.
PS-tarnishedtiara@mac.com email me your post you took down..I am nosy! LOL!
ooh- i saw the post 'cause it was saved in my blogroll- thankfully it hasn't caught up with me yet (my blogging- i used to have a site for 2 years but started a new one out of paranoia)...i just don't share it with anyone i know except my husband. And even I know he forgot the name of my site
it's funny that you posted this. i had to start a new blog...i'm no longer such simple pleasures...because my husbands family found out about my blog and now they despise me. just call me dooce. so...i know what you mean. completely. and utterly. which is why my new blog is...
rockanddrool.wordpress.com...
rock and drool...mom gone mental
i hope to see you there!
It's a shame that you had to do that but yet I totally understand.
DAMN! I MISSED IT!
That will teach me to slack off on the blog reading!
Mine started out as a place to keep family and friends updated about my wedding.
Then it started to turn into a snarky 'what the hell did I get myself into' kindof blog.
Ooops. Husband had passed it out to his mother, sisters, other family, and co-workers.
I had to cave and go back and do some retracting.
Now I don't care. It is my blog. But I have taken our names out and I took our last name out of the title.
This is exactly why I got a second blog. That's right 2. One for my in laws to read, to catch up on our lives from across the country, and one to vent and ramble on and not feel censored. Although I still feel anxious.... that's normal right???
*delurking here...* think your great. think I found you thru lunanik and her deadly sins.
This, THIS is why NO ONE in my life reads my blog. I make every effort to keep mum about it's existance and make it very hard to track. Sometimes I worry about what would happen if someone found it...but then I remember that if I wrote it, it must've been how I felt. And if it was how I felt, than it wasn't wrong. I didn't read the post, and have no idea what it was about, but I'm a pretty firm believer in the idea that feelings and their expression is never wrong. On occasion they can be inappropriate and can complicate things, but they're better expressed. Just my ideas. But if you're worried, be on the safe side. Maybe consider having a reader list for your blog? Just an idea...
I understand completely. I'm pretty paranoid too. I try not to write anything specific about work or people I know. Mainly I'm paranoid my co-workers will find me. Not so much my friends, as they all have the url but don't read it! So far it hasn't gotten me in trouble, but a friend of mine, got into a major family squabble over something she wrote on her blog. She had to take it down and start over completely. I learned from her mistakes.
I just hope your little rant didn't get you busted.
How about that I found out my mother in law knows about the site. And while I never said her name there is a post up that basically calls her out.
She read it and that REALLY sucked.
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