A good, if draconian, set of guidelines from the EFF to keep your boss from firing you for blogging.
If you blog, there are no guarantees you’ll attract a readership of thousands. But at least a few readers will find your blog, and they may be the people you’d least want or expect. These include potential or current employers, coworkers, and professional colleagues; your neighbors; your spouse or partner; your family; and anyone else curious enough to type your name, email address or screen name into Google or Feedster and click a few links.
The point is that anyone can eventually find your blog if your real identity is tied to it in some way. And there may be consequences. Family members may be shocked or upset when they read your uncensored thoughts. A potential boss may think twice about hiring you. But these concerns shouldn’t stop you from writing. Instead, they should inspire you to keep your blog private, or accessible only to certain trusted people.
It’s certainly something that, in the context of both my employer and my church, I’ve been sensitive to. Work-related …
- I’ve not publicized this blog to anyone at the office, but I also don’t assume that nobody from there is (or will be) aware of it. Anyone who knows my personal domain could find their way here without too much problem.
- I’ve stripped any direct mention of my employer’s name (though there are indirect references).
- I’ve eschewed discussion of anything that might be considered sensitive, either as an employee or as a manager. No trade secrets. No discussion of personnel matters. Nothing that I’d be embarrassed or feel guilty about having published or having my boss see.
I’ve taken a similar course related to church stuff, though events have been such that my parish name has shown up here. I’ve tried not to publicize any info that shouldn’t be public, and I’ve tried only to speak of church/religion stuff from a personal perspective, not as an Official Member of the Vestry or as anything other than just plain me. (I do know that a few folks from church have seen this — it’s been a surprise when they’ve mentioned it, but, so far, no Unpleasant Fallout.)
The EFF article is an interesting one, but I’d hate to have to follow all its provisions to the letter. I’ve considered creating a fully-anonymous blog, but the restrictions that would impose have always seemed like they would seriously crimp what I’d want to do here — talk about my life.
I suppose that as long as you don’t openly discuss company matters you’re ok. I often read dooce.com, she’s been interviewed several times because she lost her job a few years ago ’cause of her blog. She didn’t even say anything THAT bad. I guess one has to be really careful..
My take on it is, if I say anything that, if someone overhead it and put it in the newspaper, would get me in trouble, I shouldn’t say it. I don’t think I’ve violated that tenet, and certainly I have no intent of doing anything to hurt my employer or represent myself as speaking here in any capacity other than as just plain ol’ me (hence the disclaimer at the bottom of the page).