I haven't really done much blogging lately, and the reason is not for lack of something to say. I got stung a while back by a little comment I made which came back to haunt me in the form of an upset email from a colleague, and that somewhat put me off saying what's on my mind, good or bad, just in case it gets taken the wrong way. It's a common problem for people that blog, more specifically people with personal blogs that they tie into their passions (work, hobbies, friends etc). Rory Blythe famously bit a bullet when he slammed John Dvorak's comments on podcasting, and then got slammed himself by everybody that disagreed with him. More famous still is the case of the chap who blogged while contracting at Microsoft and then got fired for posting up pictures he'd taken strolling around the campus, of some Mac's being unloading at a freight bay. Then there's the airline stewardess that got fired for posting pictures of herself posing in an aircraft (fully clothed I might add).
Blogging it seems has become a number of things to a number of people. Used sensibly it's a way for people to share their passions, for companies to be more open and receptive to their customers, and for constructive critisism to be both levelled at and accepted by people and organisations. In fact, I don't think I've come across anyone that doesn't use a blog sensibly, so perhaps I should say "viewed sensibly, it's a way for...". On the flip side though Blogging has become a target. People are asked, or told, not to say things that they feel. I'm not talking about people blogging about super secret inside information about what's going on at company XYZ, their employer, and getting a due and proper slap on the wrist for it. I'm talking about feelings. Blogging is, by and large, a biased viewpoint. It's not the nightly news where you would hope to see a delightfully impartial newscaster relay the days events. Blogging is one person's view on something, be it themselves, their employer, or the competition. Viewpoints will always be biased, that's the beauty of a point of view, and I suspect the attraction of blogs for readers and bloggers alike. It's perhaps because blogging is still, in the majority, an amateur undertaking that it's become something that people and organisations feel they can target. "You can't say that - take it down", "I don't like that, people could read it as a bad view of the company, fix it". If you blog, it seems, people feel free to disregard the fact that you have a right to an opinion, and a right to free speech and thus feel justified in telling you that you are "wrong" to say or do something - fix it, or else.
I like to blog though. I have a strong readership on here and I don't really like the idea of going silent for long periods of time while I figure out whether something I say will piss of this person, or upset that one. I don't like to play blog chess, where I have to assess whether something I do or say on my blog will cause this person to do this, which in turn means I can do that, and so on. I just like to write.
So, here's my disclaimer.
This blog is mine. It's not Microsoft's, or Apress's or Edenbrook's, or PC Pilot's, or any other company I work with or for. It's mine. I paid for it. I produced the content. The domain name that provides an entrance to the blog (www.petewright.org) was bought and paid for by me. No-one helps me with my blog, no-one pays me to blog. While I may from time to time openly sing from the highest hilltop the praises of my employer, Edenbrook, it's not their blog, nor is anything I express in it necessarily a view representative of or shared by the company. Apress are my publisher, and I love them to bits, but again this blog is not hosted on the Apress bloggers site, and they have absolutely no control over it, and I do not in anyway represent them or their views.
This blogging endeavour is mine alone. I am the writer, the editor and publisher. What I say here is my opinion alone, and I am fully to blame for it. If I state an opinion about a company, whether I work with them or not, it's my opinion. I have a right to my opinion, and I have a legal right to express it, within reason of course.
So, there it is. Publish and be damned. Been there, done that, and no doubt I'll be visiting again real soon.
9:23:58 AM 
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