When is holding back better than posting?
Clive posted The world's a safer place today (talking about the Obama victory), took some flack about posting something political, so he wondered if things were a bit too serious.
One anonymous reader commented that he or she was "close to dropping you from my feed list, as I've had about enough of the irrelevant political commentary. Please get back to online learning, instead of pretending to be a political pundit."He mentions something that I just felt through my poor choices with Little Sandwiches. A time when I should have held back. Clive tells us:
But the response to my Obama posting has made me think that perhaps the situation does change once you get a wide readership, and that this probably does places an extra responsibility on you, the blogger. Having a readership gives you power, not to influence voting in an election of course, but certainly to influence buying decisions and choices as far as e-learning is concerned. If you don't take that responsibility seriously, you can hurt people that don't deserve to be hurt.What that gets us to then is having to decide what we can/should write. We need to censor ourselves. Dan Roddy talked about the issue of holding back:
There are posts that I've started that I've never published since they run contrary to my employer's position on the matter, or pieces that I've re-read and dropped since they could be interpreted as a critique of work by colleagues and clients (or even my own) that some people may not interpret as being helpful. There posts where I've simply not been comfortable with the way that I've articulated by point and I've left them with the intention of coming back to edit them and, well, they're still waiting. Heck, there are even comments that I would like to have made on other people's blogs that I've pulled after typing.My guess is that most of us have gone through a bit of transformation learning when holding back makes sense. I probably suffer from not self censoring enough. But hopefully I'm learning to hold back.
When do you find yourself holding back?
9 comments:
Hold back? Restraint is not in my repertoire. But I recognize this is a complex issue so I'll shoot off at the mouth now and revisit the topic after some reflection.
On Internet Time Blog, I write about anything that interests me. It's a smorgasbord of essays, travelogue, outing lame institutions, jokes, venting, interpretation of events, reflection on learning, art, and notes. My topic is me. I hope it helps the world in some little way, but that's not the purpose. For a while, the header was "Watch Jay Learn."
The informal learning blog began with publication of my book. Back when I naively thought that traditional publishers knew what marketing was, I grabbed the URL and wrote it into the book. The blog began with observations tightly tied to informal learning. Now that I see informal learning as a major part of life, my focus there is more diverse.
Most of my blog posts are stream-of-consciousness. I pick a topic and let it flow. I feel no obligation whatsoever to stay on topic. If people are looking for narrowly defined, specialist discussion, they'll quickly learn my blogs are not for them. If they are seeking thoughts without borders, they may find my writing appealing.
Blogs began as personal statements. Corporate blogs probably need to hold back, but were I to do so, I'd feel like a phony.
Well the freedom of speech includes the right to shut up - or hold back.
I, for one, find myself holding back quite a lot. I look at my blog just the same as any other conversation I might have, with two crucial caveats:
1. I have no idea who is listening.
2. Once you put something out on the Internet, you can never take it back.
Jay - thanks for the thoughts on this. Like you, I have a tendency to say what I'm thinking. But once in a while that turns out to be damaging to someone and then I feel bad.
Ole - good point.
Byron - it's funny because I was just saying how I think about my audience in terms of this singular prototype. I also need to think about everyone as an audience. And everyone for all eternity. And boy will we all seem stupid in a few years. :)
My employer reads my blog, so the times when I hold back are the times when the situation makes everyone look bad and there is no silver lining.
If there is something educational in the situation that I would like to share, and it potentially makes my employer look bad, I vet it with them first.
I'm also very careful to disguise the players - good and bad.
In my mind, it is a respect thing. I wouldn't want people saying nasty things about me behind my back. Do unto others....
Hi, I hold back a lot because I know people involved may read my blog. But I try to push it too because the attractive thing about learning through blogs is opening up honest thoughts and feelings!
Kia ora Tony
This is a question I've asked myself many times. I even posted about the related issue of 'When To Post'.
I must admit that I'm with Jay, for it's not my style to hold back either.
But as an aside, the post I've linked to here was very popular and still is. I'd predict that you've hit a winner with this one on a similar topic.
Catchya
While NSFW, R rated, and inappropriate (maybe I should hold back on this), I finally remembered what your post reminded me of. Chris Rock had a short bit about self-censoring related to "power" in his stand-up act, Kill the Messenger. Here's a link to the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V5oShfmllQ#t=2m21s
I hold back alot. I never blog about the specifics of what I am working on. Sometimes I am developing content for a product that is not GA, so I have to hold back. I also hold back if I can't decide if the post would expose some strategy I shouldn't expose.
I also hold back if I think its something my mom would not like. I call it the mama rule.
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