Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Hump Day Hmm, February 13 2008

I am rapidly becoming a blogging addict, and the Hump Day Hmm over at http://theartfulflower.blogspot.com/ has become a major factor in that.

This week's hump day hmm is whether or not other people should be fodder for blogs. For me, blogging is sort of like a journal. Only the posts that I would keep most private aren't posted. My everyday happenings and the people I come into contact with are part of my life. I feel that people are the most important thing. If we can't blog about people (not in a gossip sort of way, but a positive sort of way) then there is nothing truly of value to blog about. If we blog about politics, we are automatically blogging about other people. The people running for politics are automatically fodder for a political blog. If we are blogging about our home life, then the people in the home and the people around us automatically become fodder for the blog.

That said, we ought to try to respect others' privacy at the same time. If someone doesn't want to be mentioned, we could quite easily say something like, "My friend, or someone I know" to keep them out of problems with identity theft and such. However, in the end, the world is a world about people, run by people, and nothing happens in the world without affecting people. If we have a blog without any person's happenings besides our own, it becomes a very narrow point of view.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So true, who wants to just hear about me me me and no one around me? That being said, you do need to respect people around you if they don't want to be mentioned. As I posted, I never mention full names to maintain privacy. Sometimes it can be a fine line.

le35 said...

I posted some of those guidelines that I believe in last week, so I didn't want to repeat them. I truly believe in respecting others' privacy. I also never post last names unless the other person does themselves. For instance, my sister-in-law's blog address includes her full name, so I link to her with it. Julie uses her full name, so I do, but I don't post my full name or my husband's full name because he doesn't, and I don't want my last name plastered all over the internet.

Robert said...

These are good comments to add to the many other comments from Hump Dayers. Generally, it seems most people in the group agree with each other, so it's hard sometimes to go around and each comment on each other.

Melissa said...

yep. I agree, too. Getting hard to make insightful comments anymore...:)

But DAHLING, I LOOOVE what you've done with the place. It's so fresh and new. I've gotta make some changes at mine....sigh...maybe after the science rodeo. and the next concert series. and lent.

le35 said...

Melissa, THANKS! You are rapidly becoming one of my favorite blogger friends. I think this one was hard because everyone had the same stuff. Maybe it's a testimonial to us that blogging ethics are more uniform than people would like to believe?

Julie Pippert said...

You look different! Have you done something? Had a bit of color added, perhaps? Blue? LOVE IT!

Thanks for the props.

I think you make a good point that other people are vital parts of our narrative.

The next point up form that is also true: therefore we must always respect them as people and treat them with courtesy in our mention.

One can, I think, be honest and share challenges and struggles as well as triumphs and joys without needing to be scathing about others.

le35 said...

I agree that one can share things about other people, even the sad or bad things, without gossiping about them. I don't like to listen to gossip in real life, and I'm not particularly fond of it on a blog either.