Modern rules of blogging

What rules do bloggers have for their blogs to ensure privacy and protect their loved ones?  This is a question I’ve been grappling with recently.

One of the blogs I really enjoy and respect is dooce.com.  I’m certainly not alone.  Heather Armstrong started dooce.com 8 years ago and in that time has won a bunch of awards, been on lots of TV shows, in newspapers, all that stuff.  I’d guess she has the largest read blog that isn’t centered around politics or sports or any other special interest, but just about the author’s life.  I think it’s her subject matter that really draws people to her site, though she is no doubt a good writer. When you visit her site, you’ll find she writes mostly about her husband, daughter, daughter on the way, her two dogs…  Of course there are lots of posts reflecting on the world around her, her past, her family, too, but for the most part her posts are very close to home.

Which is awesome.  I think good writers naturally write about the things that impact them the most, and nothing impacts you more than your family. I just wonder what’s off limits for bloggers writing these kinds of blogs.

Ironically, just as I was bouncing this question around in my head, I noticed a video on dooce.com addressing this very question.

It sounds like the general consensus in the video is don’t write something about someone that you wouldn’t feel comfortable telling to their face in front of a group of people. According to her blog, Dooce didn’t think anyone would read besides her inner circle and as a result wasn’t always careful with what she was writing. She was fired from the job she held and alienated from her family, at least temporarily.

But, as far as I can tell, she also now writes from home for a living and supports her family with all the traffic her blog gets.  That sounds like the life!

I guess it’s just something to keep in mind.  Writing this blog is so different from writing for UU!  Gonna take a little getting used to I think.