Remember to Blog Responsibly!

OK, I admit it.

I'm old.

You young whippersnappers with your Tweets and your Internets and You Tube and such.....you just confuse me.

I don't Tweet because I don't think anything I'm doing RIGHT NOW is just so damn interesting that you or anyone else would need or want to know about it.

I don't Facebook because everyone I want to talk to is either living in the same house with me or available via telephone or email when I need to communicate.

It mystifies me as to why anyone would want to publish private info like a birthday, likes and relationship status on the Internet. Anyone can see it. Forever.

Forget the stories about employers not hiring people because of what was on their Facebook page. Forget the stories about employers firing people because of pictures on Facebook.

Whatever you put out there in the cyberworld is there forever.

I vividly recall when email became the new "IN" thing in the business world. My employer actually published guidelines on how to write and send an email. I wish I had saved the booklet.

It contained priceless stuff like "write your email formally as if you were writing a business letter" and "never send an angry email; instead, save it and come back the next day to make sure it still makes sense". Oh, and the very important "facial expression and voice tone do not translate well in an email. You might mean to be funny but the recipient might be offended."

I guess no one had invented "lol" yet.

Anyway, there have been some very public disputes lately in the gold blog community. I'm not going to re-hash them or link them here. If you are reading this email I'm sure you linked here at some point from one of these sites.

One blogger is miffed about a program another blogger started that seemed to flame out or fail somehow. Another blogger jumps in to defend one party or the other. Soon after, yet another blog pipes in defending the first one.

The reason I don't get Facebook and Twitter is the very same reason these disputes are so depressing.

Privacy.

My generation believed in discussing things "man to man" (or "face to face" if the masculine image is somehow not PC here).

Have a problem with your boss? Don't email him. Knock on the door, go inside and talk it out. Have trouble with your gf or bf? Don't break up on Twitter--go out, discuss it and if you have to end the relationship, do so with some dignity.

Some things should just be said privately. If I have a problem with a blogger's topic, I really think about the comment process. I still don't "email mad".  (Most of the time) If my comment looks like it is going to rile someone up then I hit "cancel" and send an email. Or, I don't comment at all.

Today I broke that rule and made a public comment on a blog. I thought I was defending a fellow blogger who I perceived had been disparaged by name. I felt a public slight should be called out publicly.

That was wrong of me. I should have handled it privately. I let my emotions get the best of me and only made things worse.

If you are reading this and you know who you are, please accept my apologies. I have already sent emails but wanted to address this topic, well, on a bigger scale.

So, next time you get ready to Tweet or Facebook or whatever you young folks do give it a second. Wait. See if your comment really advances the discussion or only becomes a diversion into a new, unintended and horribly wrong direction.

Had I taken my own advice I don't think this whole issue would have blown up.