Blogs, going dark
A few days ago I discovered that my friend Lex had shuttered his Blog on the Run. Lex, being a professional journalist with a wicked sense of humor and a wellspring of righteous anger, did a really good job with it. (Thankfully, he's still writing The Lex Files at the News and Record. I have a hard time keeping up with just the one blog!) Lex writes at the link that "blogging hadn't been fun in quite a while."
Perfectly understandable. Blogging, like any other hobby or creative pursuit, can become just another chore from the sheer repetition, especially when there are so many other demands on your time. (Raises hand.) But I've been thinking lately about how fundamentally weird blogging can be.
There was a recent sordid affair where an Iraq veteran (a blogger) was murdered, allegedly by his wife's (a blogger) lover, who was a friend of their daughter's (a blogger) boyfriend. Their son blogged as well. The local newspaper easily found the blogs and published the URLs in its coverage. I believe there were some posts by the children after their father was shot. There were also a host of comments, some of them vile. The newspaper received a fair bit of criticism for publicizing the blogs; the newspaper pointed out that there's no expectation for privacy when you post something on the global internet.
There's also been some interesting stuff in the online gaming world. I recently wrote at length about the self-inflicted PR challenges Sony Online Entertainment faces with their changes to the online game Star Wars Galaxies. One of the developers had a long-running blog about random stuff. Occasionally he'd mention something work-related. But when you've got thousands of worked-up video game obsessives out there unable to let go of the changes to their online community, even the most casual references get magnified. And replicated on your workplace's online forums. And presumably cause you headaches at the offices. So the blog is kaput, archives erased much like Lex's.
Blogging is without boundaries, unless you're using one of the social networking sites like Livejournal which allows blog-style posting to a closed community of friends. (Even then, that's risky.) Google and archive.org can find everything you've ever done and said online. You can't thoroughly separate the online persona from your time at the office. If you're fortunate enough to find a following, you'll find trolls as well, and they'll follow you to every place you're publicly accessible.
Why do we blog? In my case, it's an effort to force some reflection, and I do like the idea of having some opportunities for feedback that a closed diary simply won't allow. Because it's a globally open book, however, I'm reeeeeaally circumspect about what I post. Others have a true publisher's mentality, and are trying to build an audience and deliver a message. I got a taste of that kind of writing and response with the surprising reaction to my SWG pieces, and that's the direction I want to move in. But with global reach comes real human costs. I want to move carefully.
But I can't blame Lex for shuttering Blog on the Run, much as I'll miss reading it. When blogging takes a toll on a pro like Lex, I worry about the folks who blithely sign up for an LJ account and sally forth completely unaware of the fact that there are consequences to being a global communicator. We're fast becoming a nation of public figures with no clue how to handle ourselves or protect our boundaries. Take the way people mug for the cameras, desperate to be part of reality television. Lower the barrier to entry. Turn up the volume.
Wait for the crash. For a lot of people, it's coming.
Comments
I'm ba-a-a-a-a-ack.
This is going to be a purely audio/visual/multimedia blog, however, meaning that reading it will be like watching someone learn a new language ... perhaps painfully so.
Posted by: Lex | February 12, 2006 2:29 PM
Frankly, a little common sense should suffice. If you're going to blog about your work -- either use a pseudonym (and hope your writing and not your name gets you attention)-- or generalize it so much that neither your company nor your readers (and assume your company's customers, from pleased to angry read your blog) would have much to vent about.
Jeff Freeman screwed the pooch with his "Shenanigans" blog -- he blogged about his role -- with a lot of specifics, for this sort of thing, in the most controversial SWG design decision of them all -- and that's saying a lot.
People paid attention. People wanted him to explain himself.
Koster doesn't have that problem -- he stays very general and theoretically, and ignores -- or shuts down -- anyone trying to tie it to current controversies. He only talks specifics about old decisions and experiences, or other people's current works.
He erased his first post -- rather than explain it -- and then got pissy when people compared his views on "complexity" with the design he claimed so much credit for.
You post to a blog, the public reads it. You're a well known designer, your customers will read it. He was a fool to think otherwise.
But I think his real problem is simply that the things he wrote made him one of the faces for unpopular change, and his blog -- designed for open and honest communication -- accidentally communicated a few facts he didn't want known by the unwashed masses.
Jeff -- whatever his skills -- seems to never have left the amateur designer mindset. Where you design for yourself and what you want, and screw anyone who doesn't like it.
He's a professional now -- there's responsibilities there he's unwilling to accept. Such as designing for your customers, not yourself -- and realizing that your customers WILL call you to task if they're unhappy about something.
And for the record -- I said nothing about his last post either on his blog or on the forums, but I razzed him about his Shenanigans post until he responded on the SWG forums.
I didn't do it because I was angry -- I quit a long time before. I baited him because he was bluntly honest on his blog about where the NGE came from but deceptive and evasive in his official capacity.
I find it insulting to be lied to.
Posted by: Morat | February 13, 2006 3:50 PM
I tend to see blogs as being the natural backlash of too much political correctness.
There will be blood. Folks will talk about their work and lose their jobs over it. The lesson learned is not for the blogger it is for the company.
If a named employee blogs about his work, he is giving his personal honest assessment tempered by the fact that its his name on the article. What the company does that fires the named blogger is creates ten annomimous bloggers who are a great deal harsher in their assessments and a great deal freeier with their information.
The smart blogger will use their name and recognize that with great audience comes great responsibility. A smart company will recognize honest assement of a valued employee is much better for the bottom line than anything an "underground" blogger can give.
Now, all we have to do is wait for society to catch up. Blood will be shed, marters will be created, but like democracy in America it will be worth it in the end.
Posted by: Woody Cavenaugh | February 15, 2006 11:17 AM