indiscrete blogs - classic or dud

though perhaps ILX = a non-discrete blog?

I must write on my blog about the anguish this makes me feel.

It's kind of fun. So CLASSIC.

However, I'd never condem anyone for keeping a personal blog - I mean, better out than in. Emotions are like gas. Some people think it's rude to pass it, and it's probably better to do it in private or amoung people you feel comfortable doing it around. But no one would *ever* suggest you don't pass it.

It does kind of surprise me that people are *surprised* when others read them, or "forget" that they are public. It's easy to do, but I've been burned enough by stuff on ILX that I'd never share *really* private stuff again. It seems the kind of mistake you'd only make once.

Then again, I have an IRL friend who is currently in the middle of a nasty ongoing feud with several internet friends over things they do or don't publish on their blogs. It just seems too much of hassle to me.

other people do this in zines they write. Actually I do this. I must stop doing this, it makes me a de facto blog person, and therefore bad.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/20/MNGBKBEJO01.DTL

For 11 years, Justin Hall was dedicated to documenting his life online. Composing more than 4,800 pages from nearly a decade of constant writing, which he posted on his site, www.links.net, Hall became a pioneer among online diarists and Web loggers.

For Hall, nothing seemed to be too embarrassing or too personal to write about -- with photos and links. From romantic relationships to his father's suicide to a bad case of shingles, he shared himself with a fairly substantial audience. Thousands of people read his site every day.

Then, in mid-January, he made a short film called "Dark Night'' and released it on the Internet. He replaced his ever-changing home page with a fixed red heart filled with question marks.(...)

If people need to blog this stuff they can do it anonymously, surely.

Discretion really has to be played by ear. I think most of us have an inherent sense of what should and shouldn't be said. I blog about culture, and I'm emotionally boringly stable, so it really doesn't come up. Actually, I did annoy some people I stayed in London with a few months ago by telling the world their apartment was scummy. I didn't mention their names, though. And they were acquaintances I didn't plan to keep in touch with. But it put my girlfriend in a difficult position because one of them was her friend. I told her "Just tell them I'm mad."

i post personal stuff on ilx because it helps me be more positive or un-self-absorbed about it. in an attempt to get away from 'wah, i hate myself and want to die' and think things through.

but i think posting really pissy stuff about other people (which i don't think as all that different from political rants or some kinds of social/culture criticism) oftentimes comes from a strong feeling to speak out against some great evil or unfairness or maybe just mediocrity that someone has inflicted on the writer or the world at large. and the writer feels obligated to expose the pure 'facts' to everyone so they re-evalutate their thoughts on that person or thing. which of course can be naive, subjective, passive-aggressive, etc. you basically need a good case and good writing style to pull it off - and a little detachment helps.