Robert MacMillan, writing a piece called Don't Blog So Close to Me in today's Washington Post (login required), catches up on the story of journalist - teacher Michael Gee, who said online recently how distractingly attractive one of his students was. The word got out about his posting to a journalism-oriented bulletin board (though MacMillan calls it a blog), and Gee was fired.
Still, bloggers are involved in this issue, as we see from the recent responses to an article in the Chronicle about hiring decisions being influenced by the way candidates behave on their blogs. Many people like to hang out at their blogs, smoking cigs, talking the gritty talk, putting their shoes on the furniture, and leaving their take-out wrappers all around the room. Fair enough -- there are times in life when a little bad-boy or bad-girl rebellion says something that a person needs to say. And there are probably communities -- or am I stereotyping artists, poets, certain kinds of hardball politicos, etc.? -- where living on the edge helps make the work possible, too. But most of us don't live on that particular edge.
Most of us have employers, friends, significant others, and we live or work around children. We should have a panel of these folks in our minds as we post, if our posts are associated with our real names. Imagine two or three people you respect from work, the best boss you ever had and the best one you'd like to have some day, the children you have most cared about in life and one or two who may enter your life in the years ahead, and a couple of the soul-mates you've known or hope to know. If your blog is associated with your name, write as if those people might very well read it. Because they might very well read it.
Unless there are some changes that need to be made in society that require teachers, say, to stand up and talk rudely in public, then we shouldn't do it at home, at work, or on our blogs.