The Ethics Of Blogging

I don’t talk about a lot of things on this site. I’m sure that if I did talk about some of this stuff, I would be a much more popular blogger. I self-censor constantly. I’ve only ever written something unpleasant about someone at work once where that person might be able to recognize themselves (and if they don’t, I’m sure the people that know him would).

So, here’s a list of the things I probably won’t ever ever talk about on this site:

  • Embarrassing or mean things about my family members and friends. I’m fair game. They’re not. I offend them enough in person to do it for the world to see.

  • Embarrassing or mean things about co-workers. First, I don’t want to get fired. Second, I offend them enough in person.

  • Stupid thing my company does. Again, I would like to keep my job.

That leaves a whole rich palette of things to talk about untouched. It leaves me opinions about stuff (which I’ve been sharing freely the last couple days), cool stuff, stuff I did, cute family stories, geek stuff and… oh yeah, stuff pretty much covers it. Now, the people who talk about the stuff listed above are brave. Maybe not thinking it all the way through, but brave nonetheless. People have been fired, broken up over, lost friends, etc over things said in blogs. Now, if I lose a friend for an opinion, I can live with that. If you don’t like what I think, and can’t handle the thought that I might have different opinions from you, then you’re probably not my friend to begin with. I’m doing my level best not to rag on people or embarrass anyone other than myself. If I’ve failed, I’m sorry. Really I am.

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Categorized as computing

By Kevin Lawver

Web developer, Software Engineer @ Gusto, Co-founder @ TechSAV, husband, father, aspiring social capitalist and troublemaker.