The Bloggers With The Most To Say
On telling stories about people from real life...
A few years ago, it must've been easy to talk shit about people in blogs without having them find out.
But now, with Facebook friendships and the like, it's hard. Does anybody have any guidelines for when acquaintances of theirs would make for really good stories, but you don't want it to be too easy to find out your'e writing about them? Do you have a timeframe for which you wait? Or do you just deprive the world of your hilarious stories?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Danaconda on -
You have to figure that the circle of friends know about most of the situations, but if not then I typically use a timeframe or omit it entirely. I use nicknames for everyone, but if I think that the person will be offended by the story then I don't include it in my blog. It's important to be tactful, unless of course you don't give a fuck about that person...then all's fair.
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Permalink Reply by Berrak Sarikaya on -
It depends. You don't have to use names in your blog and there are specifics you can omit that won't take away from the story.
It also depends on what the topic is. Is it just a funny story or can it be a general blog so it's not obvious that you're writing about one person in particular?
It's really all about tact.
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Permalink Reply by Katie Weber on -
I used to write about my dating life quite a bit once upon a time. I never said anything mean or hurtful (at least not that I thought) but when one guy that I wasn't interested in found out, he threw a fit. It was really like he was a Jr. High kid rather than a 26 year old. He facebook messaged all my friends and bad mouthed my blog all over the internet. Funny enough, it just brought me more readers. I took down the posts (even though they were some of my best). He didn't talk to me for months.
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Permalink Reply by Lexi on -
I change names... or keep the person anonymous simply referring to them as "so this one time a friend of mine" i wouldn't write anything too extreme but if they didn't say that it was something i should keep to myself then i figure it's free for the taking.
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Permalink Reply by Kelli Hale on -
I suppose I'm heartless, but I just post it. No editing (except for names) nothing. I figure that if I tried to hide it things would be more painful when they found out. So I just don't. Most of my friends though, think I'm a nut for blogging and choose not to read it. SOOOOO... that helps too I guess lol
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Permalink Reply by Kelli Shea on -
They should be flattered.
But in case they aren't (which is far more lykke li), I just don't use names.
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Permalink Reply by Dave on -
I had a little trouble figuring this out at first, but then I realized assigning people numbers works pretty well. Either that, or just saying 'a friend', which works equally well.
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Permalink Reply by whitney.bartolo on -
My most recent post was very personal but lacked the details that makes it uncomfortable and providing 'too much' information. I think some blogs can do this. We have to keep in mind that people who aren't active bloggers may not want the world to know what is going on in their lives.
Check out my blog here:
http://thelifeofwhitney.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-diary-blog.html
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Permalink Reply by John Reckzeny on -
Eh, just make sure you change the names. If I found out someone blogged about me and used my real name, I'd be pissed. And if you don't want people to find out, then stop showing them your blog.
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Permalink Reply by Neurotic Workaholic on -
Even though I'm more or less anonymous on my blog, I have to be really careful about what I write. I've heard of other teachers who lost their jobs because of what they wrote on their blogs about their students. I do write about teaching and my students in general, but I try not to say anything too specific about any one student in particular. It's one thing for them to say stuff about me on one of those awful Rate Your Professor sites (though the one time I checked one of those sites I did find a couple good reviews of my teaching), but I can't criticize any individual students on my blog. Not only would my Internet-savvy students find out, my school's administrators would probably find out too. And then I'd REALLY be in trouble.
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Permalink Reply by Jewely Hoxie on -
When you publish something about someone else without some name changes and a little bit of imagination, its an issue of consent. I think its important for people to agree to being exposed on the world wide web.
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Permalink Reply by John Reckzeny on
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Issue of consent for being exposed on the web? More like an issue of slander. I don't understand how anyone would agree to let a blogger use their real name--I know it happens, but I don't get it.
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