the dangers of wearing your heart on your blog

blogging at work...bad use of time, or no?

i don't think so. it's like getting up from my desk and taking a quick walk--it clears my mind, cleanses the palate, and lets me sit down to work again. so, here's what's been on my mind.

blogging etiquette is still pretty up in the air, as i understand, but let me run something by you.

being new to blogging and also just tiptoe-ing into writing again, i began by having my privacy settings as restrictive as possible. that, of course, resulted in no one being able to read my blog. after much research (lurking of my own) on how blogs build a readership, and after resolving to try to let go of many of my own fears in real life, i decided to 'go public' and not be so damned worried about what strangers think.

and of course, the result of that move has been mostly positive. thank you to all who have read my posts, commented, or messaged me, etc.

but despite the positive experience, i still had little understanding of the danger of lurkers--that is folks who read, but don't comment or make their presence known otherwise. i assumed, in my own humble and naive way, that surely no one other than the handful of commenters and the close friends i had sent links at one point were reading my public posts. not so, friends. turns out that a number of people--people i know and who know me in real life, though their number and identities are still undetermined--were not only lurking on my blog, but commenting about them in real life to each other and to others. and if you've been reading my stuff, you know that i've been very honest about what i've been going through recently--both good and bad.

you can imagine the fallout, even if i didn't. and that's why i've had to begin using privacy settings for my posts. i'm still not sure i have them right, but i'm working on it. forgive me if you are temporarily blocked from something or other while i figure this out.

so lurkers, keep coming by. i promise to manage my posts more responsibly. this is still a place for you, and now a safer place for me.