Polite Society and Blogging

My mother always told me, "There are three things you don't discuss in polite society: Religion, Sex and Politics." She also told me "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Wise woman.

These words are important to consider in real life, and even more so in the blogosphere. If you say something in real life, chances are no one is going to hear it or remember it - unless you're unwise enough to say something in front of a camera or on tape. In the blogosphere, you say something and it's out there. Delete it and it's still out there. (Just try clicking 'Cache' under a link and see if you can't find something preserved for all time.) Heck, I had a website on geocities back in the late '90s that just disappeared last year, so when you stick something out there, it's out there.

Of course, your words won't really make a difference one way or the other if you're just doing a personal blog - but so few people are living in a bubble where nothing they say in their personal life has an effect on the rest of their life, that it's really moot.

Everything you blog about can be researched. Everything. By anyone. I heard a new term the other day which relates to this. "Dooced". It means losing your job because of something you posted in your blog. D'oh!

I suppose it could be spread to cover losing anything of importance because of a slip of the fingers on a keyboard. Want to lose an agent? Want to have something come back to bite you after you've made it big? (I won't even go into the scads of predators out there who could tiptoe through your blog finding everything out about you, your family, your children... Too scary to envision.)

So, I guess what I'm saying is follow Mom's advice when blogging. You never know when an agent is scoping you out via your blog.

:waves: Hi.