The predicament of online public journals: blogs are both very private and very public. How much do we show?
There's no point in a blog that no one reads.
Honest, insightful and revealing entries earn a reader's respect and rapport. There is both a voyeuristic and a literary pleasure in reading someone's candid thoughts and well-crafted words for the day. We smile upon wit and humor. We admire brave and reckless honesty. We appreciate humanity revealed.
On the other hand, guarded, contrived and self-serving posts turn readers away. We are already inundated by slogans and make-believe. Self-censorship is dishonesty. "No more lies," any decent reader demands.
For the writer, the blog is an instrument of clarity.
Deciding how much to reveal separates candor from insensitivity, value from vanity, courage from exhibitionism.
By writing we verbalize our thoughts. By editing we trash our noise. By publishing we dare ourselves. By blogging we connect with our friends and future friends.
But there are risks.
There are one-too-many stalkers, creeps and jerks. Those who may hound us are punished by their own wasted time and money. And judicious writing allows us intimacy without embarrassment. But even our aliases can suffer from flames, spams and hacks.
Honesty is no guarantee for understanding. Liars believe no one. Thieves trust no one. Idiots read no one.
But just as there are many good blogs, there are many more kind readers.
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