Are Personal Blogs too Personal?

23 Aug
2006

Posted by David Peralty as Blogging News, General

Recently, I put up a post on why people blog, and really it brings up another subject that has been highly debated in my family: personal blogs are too personal.

Many blogs, including my personal one, discuss my family members, friends, and people I come into contact with in great detail, and some of them don’t always like what I chose to write on the site. Interestingly enough, I have never been asked to take down a post by any family or friends.

Personal blogs allow people to rant and rave about their lives, and talk about the things that make them different, special, or even just keep them going from day to day, but what if it goes too far and offends someone or talks about something that another mentioned person feels is too personal? My family can be much more conservative than me when it comes to talking about life and whatnot. They don’t see the reason behind me even having a personal blog. Why does the whole world need to know how my life and family are doing? Why does the whole world need to know he activities and tasks that I take on?

Where do you draw the line with personal blogs? I know many bloggers only refer to their significant others with “codeword” names or their first initial, or have been told never to mention certain subjects.

It is an interesting problem for people out there that really want to connect with other people and let them into our lives and point of view as we have to try not to compromise the comfort of anyone else. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

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9 Responses

anon

August 24th, 2006 at 6:40 am
1

That’s what my personal, anonymous blog is for. I keep my public one with my name professional and my personal one private. I use LJ for that, so I can really lock up posts that I don’t want getting out.

I get to let off all the steam, yak about things and so on. No names, no one’s offended.

It goes beyond friends and family being upset, anyway. A potential employer finds it, looks at it and goes, Euw. Or something. I simply don’t understand why some people hang out all their laundry under their name, but to each their own I suppose.
jinkies.org

August 24th, 2006 at 7:52 am
2

too much information…

At Blogging Pro, David asks if personal blogs are too personal. I’m not sure if this one is. Actually, it’s probably fairly personal, but in a superficial kind of way. Does that make any sense? I blog about things I might bring up in ca…
Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov » Are Personal Blogs too Personal?

August 24th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
3

[...] Davig brings up an interesting discussion in his post Are Personal Blogs too Personal?. There are as many opinions on this as there are people in the blogosphere. And maybe even more, as some people change their opinions once in a while. Why does the whole world need to know he activities and tasks that I take on? [...]
J. Angelo Racoma

August 24th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
4

If we were talking about kids, then it’s not only too personal, but also dangerous!
marie b.

August 25th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
5

I use pseudonyms for family members and friends who don’t wish to be otherwise identified. I also don’t talk about the details of my personal relationship.

Otherwise, it’s all go: therapy, family issues, school, mental illness, etc.
April

August 25th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
6

Having a personal blog that is somewhat semi-personal has given me the advantage of making friends from a distance. I do not have the time to casually socialize because my job requires it already. Semi-personal blogging is a way for me to open up as much as I want. I think the real question of personal blogging has a lot to do with how much control does a blogger have when blogging?

Personally, I would like to see more activism done online as opposed to strictly news regurgitation and personal rants.
Hank Osborne

September 1st, 2006 at 9:21 pm
7

I have struggled with this question. I started blogging with a very personal blog almost two years ago. My general rule of thumb is that I do not post anything that I would not say out loud in a public place to a friend. In other words, I do not blog about things that I would be concerned about someone overhearing in a public place.
freshblogger.com » Blog Archive » Blogging: Personal or Personality?

September 2nd, 2006 at 1:27 pm
8

[...] Leroy Brown at Blogging Blog has a post (that also refers to another post) asking this question about personal blogs. This is, however, a good question to ask about any blog or web page. [...]
How Personal Do Bloggers Need To Be? by Blogging Pro

October 16th, 2006 at 11:53 am
9

[...] Reminding me of a post I did almost a month ago now, Blog Republic has posted an article called “How Personal Do Bloggers Need To Be?” where they bring up the subject and focus on the preference of blogging, between what Darren calls a “game face” and a more public, and emotional look into the writer. I have always been the type to share more of who I am to the public, even publishing details on my family dichotomy, which angered a few of my family members. I’ve noticed that some of the most popular blogs get into great detail about the author’s life. I mean, they pour over every possible personality quirk, as the author examines herself. I find I don’t want to blog like that. I’m not at all interested in delving into every possible detail of my emotions and psyche at every possible second. Instead, I think of blogging as more of a professional medium where you maintain a “game face”, rather than reveal all of yourself. [...]