Scoble writes about repressing his writing urges in the face of corporate assimilation (How's that for a headline?). I must say that, although much differently then Scoble, I feel the same way about writing to my weblog recently. My concerns span different aspects of life though. I‘m currently on the lookout for a job. That means before I write anything that could sound bad about my current job, or complain about stuff concerning my current job, I’ll think long and hard about it.
Even though this is a “personal” blog, I can’t really write anything terribly personal. Sure, everyone has skeletons in their closets, and everyone would like to complain about their jobs every once in a while. But I can’t I fear my next employer would seek me out in Google and see stuff I’ve written about today’s job, and ask himself “Hmm, Why didn’t he say that at the interview..??”. Of course, this is the sort of stuff you just don’t say at interviews, and the sort of stuff that shouldn’t even matter in interviews. If you have a bad day, that doesn’t have to ruin your chance at the next gig. Everyone goes through that. But I can’t bring myself to write about stuff like that. Not every potential employer would see it that way, either.
It seems to me that in order to write truly personal blogs, you have to accept the fact that these can hurt you just as much as help you in the future. You’re basically exposing yourself, and are left out in the open for everyone to see (yes, even if it’s a .Net Weblog). The closer you work with people who will read your blog, the more distant you have to become when writing about stuff that concerns them in any way.
Believe me, even when writing this post, I’m reading it through and through 3-4 times, and censoring myself. That sucks. But that’s life. Just like in real life, you can’t go to work and say anything that’s on your mind. You’d be fired before the day ends. Just like real life, you can't just talk about anyone to anyone about whatever you like.
It seems that the more blogs will get mainstream and accepted as a means to find out information about people, the less “personal”( or more “fake”) they will become. Yep. I think we’re heading down a road which leads to the opposite of what blogs were all about when they started. At least for me. Scoble, I think that means you too..