When I started this blog, I had two concerns.
- Would anyone read it?
- Could I make it interesting?
But since I have a very strange mind that I have been told is like a bad neighborhood which one should not walk through alone at night, I began to worry. What if I posted something negative about someone and, some how, they found this site and read it? Then I thought, nah, I'm just being paranoid. There are a gazillion sites out there. What are odds that the one person I don't want to read this WILL read it? But the thought lingered in my mind.
So I started this blog and, unbeknownst to anyone else, I also started another blog. A secret blog.
Pooka Thoughts was my Dr. Jekyll, the tales of the good life, suitable to be read by small children, domestic animals and my mom. (Hi mommy!) But the other blog, that was my Mr. Hyde. There I let loose and named names. I called it like I felt and with no regard to who would every read it since it was hidden behind the sheer number of weblogs out there. I figured the odds of anyone I knew actually finding that journal were worse than me winning money at Vegas. With odds like that, I felt invincible.
So I was surfing around the ‘net today trying to learn more about this whole weblog thing and I come across this article about how to make a good web journal. The information seemed pretty innocuous. Don't have lots of pictures that drag down the load time, use a spell checker, don't posts thoughts that start "I have nothing to post" and, here's the kicker, don't post anything you don't want the world to know. Whoa there Nelly! What was that all about? So I stop skimming and actually read that paragraph. The author said that no matter what you think, if there is someone out there you don't want to read your thoughts, rest assured, they will find them. If you are putting something on a website, it will be read and it will be found. If you want to write intimate or private thoughts, do it in a journal. Don't put it on a public access site.
Now this scared me. I quickly popped over to Hyde and began to read. I counting the number of people I didn't want to read Hyde and when I ran out of fingers, I realized I could be in trouble. I mean, here I am venting about my boss and co-works, complaining about acquaintances and uncovering feelings I thought long dead. If any of this got out, I would never live it down.
So I did the only sensible thing. I deleted it. That's right, no back up copy was kept, no print outs made. I decided a public forum for private thoughts was a very very bad idea. I have decided to write them in my journal which can be hidden safely in my house. Perhaps this journal would be more interesting or read by more people but I'll never know and that's fine by me.
Which reminds me to post about my addiction to snooping. But my stomach is rumbling so maybe, if things stay slow here, I'll get to that after lunch.
(Bye Mommy! Thanks for reading!)