“Safe Blogging” (from: Joe Wikert)
http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_average_joe/2005/04/safe_blogging.html
What exactly does “safe blogging” mean? An interesting article on InternetNews.com(with quotes from Wiley author Shel Israel) talks about the EFF’s advice that“safe blogging is anonymous blogging.”
I hope I’m not the only one who thinks that’s lameadvice. Why would you feel compelled toblog anonymously? Is it because you’reproviding confidential information about your company? If so, you should be fired, regardless ofwhether disclosure happens on a blog, in an e-mail or anywhere else. Are you blogging anonymously because youwant to complain about a co-worker, boss or your company? If so, are there better ways to address theproblem? How about talkingto that co-worker, boss or someone else in the company? If you’ve already tried all those options,maybe it’s time to change companies/jobs.
I realize there are some situations where, on the surface,anonymous blogging seems like a great solution. Every time I come up with another scenarios I wind up picturing acoward with an ax to grind…someone who really needs to just open the lines ofcommunication and work to fix the problem rather than simply complaininganonymously.
I guess this is just a further extension of one of the nastyproblems you often see with e-mail: People sometimes say things in e-mail thatthey’d never say face-to-face. I’vebeen guilty of it too. Perhaps thatsame person is more likely to thinkthey can hide behind a blog and say whatever they want. If I feel strongly enough about something tostate my case publicly, I’d like to think I’m willing to put my name behindthat statement.
Even if you disagree with me, do you really feelthere’s a 100% foolproof way to blog without a trace? If someone really wants to hunt you down they’ll probably find away. It’s the same hubris that resultsin the occasional “anonymous” virus writer getting caught and prosecuted.