I’ve been wondering for some time about the relevance of a personal blog on the internet.
I began writing a public journal online about 8 years ago, around the same time that the term “blogging” was coined. In many ways the early days were a time of innocence - blogs were diverse, interesting, honest, open, and truthful.
Lessons were learned along the way about disclosure, privacy, trust and probity. More than once I found myself being marched into various offices to explain myself after over-stepping the mark. I quickly learned that some subjects - family, work, friends - are completely out of bounds no matter how mild your opinions might be. Passing judgement on the actions or opinions of colleagues would amount to professional suicide - and on family would make you the easy scapegoat to blame every family argument, no matter how ridiculous.
Over the years I have been writing I have also been reading. I have come to know some of my fellow blog authors very well - “real world” friendships that will probably endure for the rest of our lives. Others have remained anonymous - and yet no less interesting to follow through their sometimes daily adventures.
I wonder if I made the right choice - exposing my identity as a blogger. Sometimes I envy the freedom that anonymity might have provided - the range of subjects I might have covered. The thoughts I might have shared. The more controversial opinions I might have explored.
Identity is a little like pandora’s box. Now I am known, the idea of retreating seems fraut with complexity. Could I really write a second string blog containing unfiltered thoughts without making some sort of mistake, and exposing it accidentally? Surely the only solution might be to retreat completely, and begin again - writing under a pseudonym - leaving behind everybody who has read me.
It’s a sobering thought. The prospect of leaving all the people who have shared so much of my life over the last few years (and there are a lot of them - I rarely share the visitors stats for this personal blog). If I did it, some might erupt in fury - presuming that I will be writing about them. Others will smile, and wish me well. A few might even miss me.
What to do. What to do.
If you came across somebody’s writing elsewhere on the web, would you recognise them by their words alone?