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[maffyew]

I really should post more, but in this modern age where people get fired over blog posts and internet detectives are far too skilled at their 'craft' I engage in far too much self-censorship.

A lot of you are far more courageous than I'll ever be.

There's a lot of stuff I'd like to say - I just feel this isn't the best place to say it.

Comments

[madolan]

I second Alex's point, but at the same time I concur. I'm increasingly uncomfortable with my blogging habits and my open identity online. I posted publicly during work hours today and feel a little worried about that.

[maffyew]

You would be one of two or three people I know who the "courageous" line in the original post is particuarly suited to.

It's 1:20am and I can't sleep due to certain frustrations I can't elaborate on here, which I think I'd like to do, but at the same time I know I don't need to - I know the answer to these frustrations, I just need to find the balls to follow through on it.

It did give me a chance to finally finish watching the last few episodes of Oz though. Apart from the constant flashbacks for those who haven't been keeping up (the lack of these in Deadwood has spoiled me forever, I fear), I thought the series was fricking brilliant.

[madolan]

A year ago that would have delighted me; today it worries me. If this is maturity and professionalism, I want to go back to being happily devil-may-care.

I went through my entire journal a few months ago and friends locked the majority of it. I do try to be deliberate these days, and I assume my co-workers are reading everything I put out there.

I like the idea of being somewhat Googleable. It lets a prospective employer learn things about my personality, spirit, and personal accomplishments that I can't get across in a CV.

I'm sorry you're going through a frustrated period right now.

[maffyew]

I've noticed the restraint over the past few months - I've thought it was very sensible, if not quite what I associate with 'you'. Even with a little restraint, this still places you at a level of completely open honesty far above what I think I'll ever be able to achieve.

I suppose one of the best things about being Googleable or as publicly open as you have been is that anyone employing you knows exactly what they're getting - and you can be comfortable in knowing that you're welcome with that knowledge in hand.

Facebook's doing the rounds at work at the moment. Fortunately the worst that can come of that is a bunch of embarassing photos that I honestly have no problem with people seeing to start with.

[madolan]

Those videogame cheesecake photos don't exist online anymore. When I noticed that a GIS on my name brought up my lace-clad bum, I decided to behave a little less like a MySpace teenager. Those were good times, and they're behind me now (ha ha). I like to think that my public blog is now appropriate enough under the auspices of my personal expression yet nothing worthy of a challenge from a work perspective.

If you disagree, I would welcome feedback. I'm just trying to walk a line between enjoying open communication and recognizing that once every three months or so, someone at my company gets in trouble when their workplace bitching gets linked from a major industry website.

Funnily enough, I lock down Facebook good and tight. Only my name, location, and profile picture are publicly available.

[maffyew]

I think you're fine in respects to playing it safe. The key thing that a lot of people forget is to avoid bitching about work in a blog that's publicly accessable. You don't do this anymore, and even when you did it was mild at worst. An employer/friend/whatever that fires or discriminates against you because of your general interests can go fuck themselves.

A GIS for my username used to bring up the videogame cheesecake photos, which I thought was fricking awesome, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do. ;p