I've read a several blogs today where the women were talking about sharing too much information on their blogs and whether they need to protect themselves and their children. I read a blogger who had taken a break for some time for a reason I do not know and returned only after she had redesigned her blog and the type of information she let out. I heard from Cyberspace Sarah who had gotten a strange, not really threatening, but maybe intimidating anonymous email concerning the fact that her blog name is similar to another one.
My goodness we take ourselves seriously. Who has time to read other people's blogs and get their undies in bundle like this and start threatening people?
Well, I do know. I grew up in the family's weekly newspaper business. People got their undies in a bundle all the time over things you just never thought possible. As far as I know no one ever threatened Dad's safety . . . no, I take that back. We had a powerline come through our county in the late 70s. Guns came out and the like. As far as I know, no one ever threaten Dad's family.
That does not mean we did not see our share of "crazies" at the paper. Oh, my yes. Oh, yes. We saw people angry because their classified ad had the wrong phone number (legitimately frustrating), the birth date of their great grandfather was wrong in the obituary (it should have been right), the price of the newspaper too high (sorry, it stays at 50 cents).
Sometimes they were just confused. I took call from a woman once who was upset because her children had a garage sale and sold her measuring cups before she went into the nursing home. What could I say? I'm sorry. I'll see what I can do.
We had a man in one day who wanted his life back. He felt Dad and the rest of the world's media had stolen it. Yep, us and the BBC. I'm sorry. I'll see what I can do.
We had a man in one day who had photographic proof -- from the internet -- that 9/11 was a hoax. Fascinating. Yes, well, we don't really cover national news.
Putting things in "print" comes at a cost. People will read it. It feels great when you write something that everybody loves and everybody agrees. It feels not great when people read what you wrote and have a reaction which seems disproportionate to the situation.
Dad always says it's okay when people react to what you wrote because at least you know they're reading.
There are certain topics you're just not going to see me take a stand on because I'm not in the mood to argue these days. I've left it intentionally a little bit complicated to comment on my blog. There are things about my life and family you just don't need to know.
Unless you're Barbara Walters. Then ask away. I'd even answer that famous Katherine Hepburn question about what kind of tree I'd be. I'd be a willow.
John 10:10
Mary Lisa, this was a fun post, especially having worked in the newspaper business myself. I could come up with a few doozies, too. Our staff was once deemed "worm food" by a guy who thought we were the work of the devil. And so the list goes on. Our editor would get out his pen and paper when he saw it coming, take down their gripe, and say thanks for letting us know. Somehow, that seemed enough. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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