You know, I had a thought.
No jokes please, FC.
Some time ago I stumbled upon one of my junior’s blogs by accident. She bitched about the board in one of her posts, and I was really dismayed to see it. I spoke with her in person and the matter was resolved. No hard feelings remain from that incident.
Another case is when my sister complained on her blog about a certain group of people in her school who were giving her misery. Her teacher saw it and asked who they were. My sister had not intended for the teacher to find out. She got the shock of her life!
The thing about my junior and my sister is, neither of them had expected their seniors and teachers to read their blogs.
Why, though? Blogs are made public aren’t they? So why are we assuming that seniors and teachers or other people we want to bitch about won’t read our rantings?
Blogging is a confusing world.
Are blogs private, or are they public? And who is allowed to comment?
Pretty often we see this intro in the profile of people’s blogs:
“Hi I am xxx. This is my life and my blog, so I can say what I want in it.”
Which, expanded, means: “I’ll say what I want, so don’t even try telling me off, because it’s MY blog not yours.”
Which really translates to: “This is the reason I’m what I’m saying is so crass: it’s my blog. I don’t want to have to deal with your criticism. I want to show the world that I don’t care what anyone thinks of me.”
Which doesn’t make sense at all. It’s not a good reason. It’s not even a reason. Because you’re going to have to accept criticism or nobody’s going to read your blog at all.
And don’t even say you don’t want anyone to read your blog. Cause if you didn’t want anyone to read it, you’re better off with a diary or a privatized blog.
So here’s a piece of the truth:
Every single blogger out there is an attention-seeker.
(Yours truly included.)
You want people to read you, know about you, commend you, praise you, like you, love you.
And before you say anything, there’s nothing wrong with being an attention-seeker. Not just all bloggers, most people are. Even the quiet ones. Very few people don’t want to be recognized or noticed in some form. We all have self-esteem, whether it’s a lot or a little. Who doesn’t want their five minutes of fame?
But back to the above, you want people to read what you have to say on your blog and not comment about it, and love you for it? How do you expect people to be impressed? Maybe some warped part of you thinks that it’s cool to show that you don’t care? Or maybe you’re so desperate for attention that your mindset is like the Fall Out Boy lyric that’s my blog title?
Sorry to have to disappoint you, but like it or not, your blog is PUBLIC. And if it’s PUBLIC, it means ANYONE can read it. Like the movie ratings – PG-13, PG-18, and U. And if you think someone’s not going to like your blog, then it shouldn’t be rated U and it should have limited viewing permissions.
Again I say, if you really didn’t want anyone to read and comment, you’d be better off with a nice old-fashioned handwritten diary. As it is, you wanted attention, so you have a blog. But you have to accept responsibility for what you do to get that attention. Saying that you won’t take heed of people’s comments is shirking responsibility for hurt feelings that you have incited. And it just proves that you’re inflexible and afraid of criticism.
Get it straight.
BLOGS ARE NOT PRIVATE. DIARIES ARE.
You have to watch your words when you express, because it is public. It’s like peeing in public and saying by way of apology, “So what? I needed to go use the loo.”
Okay so you still want your attention. And granted, typing is oh-so-bloody-much easier than writing, so you don’t want to get a diary. Then if you REALLY want to show that you’re unconcerned about what people think, that people’s opinions don’t affect you, instead of “I’ll say what I like”, shouldn’t you be saying “I have my reasons for saying what I do. I’m prepared to answer any doubts you have about what I said"? Or at least make an adult content statement like Miaw Fen did.
It’s lengthy and complicated. But in the world of blogging and almost non-existent blogging ethics, I think it’s pretty much necessary.
Granted, some bloggers are sometimes just pissed off beyond caring, so nothing really applies to them. But still, make an attempt to hide it can? Because sometimes the consequences are so not worth it.
I would know.
BLOG RESPONSIBLY.
That said, readers really shouldn’t be judging by what bloggers say. I know people whose blogging- and real life- personalities are as different as Yin and Yang.
I don’t think I made much sense. But whatever. :) I am an attention-seeker, and when I get an idea I have to share it.
Just like the rest of you.
