Before you get offended by someone’s blogging, you need to ask yourself three things:
1. Is this post even about me/us?
“It’s a feature of our age that if you write a work of fiction,
everyone assumes that the people and events in it are disguised
biography — but if you write your biography, it’s equally assumed
you’re lying your head off.” —Margaret Atwood
Good bloggers write from experience, but—for the love of good ideas—not every good blog post is a secret revelation of a writer’s life! And before you think the following post was inspired by any recent event or my work as a Guru, please reread the above. What I have done, as they do in many works inspired by reality, is taken the experiences of many, many, many others people and events, edited, combined, and omitted to protect anonymity but preserve the meaning.
2. Is there any truth to this post?
If the answers to both of the above are clear “yes” answers, silencing the blogger is only treating a symptom. The person writing about the problem is only holding a “mirror up to nature”, so to speak. If you want to change something, don’t ask the blogger to change how he or she sees the world; change the reality that he or she is blogging. What do you accomplish by pulling a post? The truth is already out there. The reality of bad customer service, poor morale, a ruined friendship, or whatever, still exists. Why not fix the underlying problem?
3. Is this post completely untrue?
Consider the work and reputation of the person posting it. If the blogger’s work seems to be credible, you may want to follow-up to set the record straight. (Tip: Sometimes it’s worthwhile to submit corrections privately to the blogger and allow time to him/her to self-correct instead of posting publicly. It allows both of you to save face.) However, if the blogger has a reputation for distorting facts or being disgruntled, it may not be worth your time to intervene. You will probably get nowhere with the blogger, and most readers will probably disregard whatever he or she has to say anyway.
Image Credit: writing… by envina
The content of this post is licensed: ©2009 All Rights Reserved
About the author
Nikki is a multimedia specialist with Penn State's World Campus Learning Design unit, creating and editing multimedia for online courses.
Previously, she was technology training coordinator with the Penn State University Libraries, responsible for technology training offered in the Libraries' 20+ departments and 30+ library locations.
Over the years, she's been she served as an interim associate director of instructional technology and multimedia, a programmer, a database specialist, a Microsoft Certified Master Instructor, a continuing education instructor for seniors and adults with disabilities, and a high school English and communications technology teacher.
Her interests are in the areas where technology, training, and communication intersect. She holds degrees in both computer science and in education. She is also an insomniac and an extreme extrovert with an indiscriminate love of language (including expletives).
This post was written by Nikki Massaro Kauffman - who has written 42 posts on .eduGuru
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