7 ms·

Given the mob mentality that's settled into modern social media/the blogosphere, it's actually amazing there are still as many personal bloggers as there are. O

Given the mob mentality that's settled into modern social media/the blogosphere, it's actually amazing there are still as many personal bloggers as there are. One wrong word and ...

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
This is my biggest concern. In the past, I was never afraid to be public about my RL identity online. But now I have to realistically be concerned that in the event that I make a bad joke that's taken wrong, and my username is connected to my real name, and my real name is connected to my employer, someone asks my employer what they think, and I'm potentially out of a job less than 24 hours later. People have seemingly figured out that confronting someone's employer, even about a topic unrelated to their work, is a good way to punish someone for a misdeed. That was never really a concern most people had to be concerned about until recently. I like to thank that A. I'm a decent person and B. my employer would not drop me over an Internet argument, but I think really anyone who communicates online needs to be afraid of this risk.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  Unless you're a figurehead at some company any company that would fire you because of something like that most likely isn't worth working for to begin with. Of course that doesn't offer anything in terms of support or recourse if it should happen, but those employers open themselves up to a particularly nasty form of denial-of-service attack and they should probably be made hip to that. Otherwise one day some group will have fun with them until they have no employees left.
  - macintux 8y ago
    Ok, but in the meantime you’re still unemployed, stressed about health insurance and debts and feeding your family, and you get to explain to every potential employer why you were fired.
    - jacquesm 8y ago
      Yes, it absolutely sucks. But that's one of the things where unions might come in handy.
  - greedo 8y ago
    Tell that to the Marriott employee who got fired for liking a tweet.
    - jacquesm 8y ago
      Totally ridiculous and absolutely despicable. So, if you get fired for liking a tweet claim wrongful termination and sue the bastards.
      - tedunangst 8y ago
        When you run a company's social media account, liking and not liking the right things is part of the job description, and probably out of bounds for wrongful termination.
    - tedunangst 8y ago
      I think that case is rather different. They liked the tweet with Marriott's account, not their personal after hours account. Ridiculous or not, if your job is running Marriot's Twitter, part of the job is liking the right tweets.
jacquesm 8y ago
Anything you do in a public space as large as the internet requires a thick skin. Blogging is (and HN is too) no exception.
- firemancoder 8y ago
  It's not hurt feelings on the part of the blog writer you have to worry about, it's the readers. If you post something super controversial like supporting the president, you could lose your job and any volunteer/community positions or more. There is a pitchfork mob out there just waiting.
- classichasclass 8y ago
  If it were just having to have a thick skin, I'd fully agree with you; there's always going to be someone to disagree, and some will disagree floridly. But these days there can be real consequences to your social circles and in notable cases even your employment, and opinions on what is socially acceptable shift in a hurry. What you wrote a few years ago and is still visible on your blog (and may or may not be a view you still hold) can still hurt you. And you can't claim on your blog you didn't have enough space to express a nuanced opinion.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    I've been physically threatened because of stuff I wrote online, have had a stalker for a couple of years and other pleasantness. Even so, for me that's worth the risk, I can see how for someone more vulnerable that sort of risk would be totally unacceptable. You only need to look at the kind of stuff the griefers on various other websites get up to to see the extent of the menu of real-world consequences. Those things are not jokes. So I totally see your 'real consequences' argument, and it goes way beyond just your employment, in some cases it is your life that is in the balance. But there will always be idiots. Just like there are people using drugs and then driving vehicles I have to share the road with them. But that won't change my attitude towards driving, and neither will the existence of assholes diminish my activities online. But I totally sympathize with those people for whom lines have been crossed that cause them to censor themselves or even to tune out completely. And I'm sure I too have such lines (in fact, I can easily think of several) and if those were crossed I too would bow out.
freehunter 8y ago
As someone who runs a fairly popular "personal" (not corporate, opinion-based) blog, it is an ongoing fear. We have to try to make sure the things we say are as least controversial as possible. But in a way, this is a good thing. My blog is about my city, and there are plenty of things we "can" talk about but probably should't. For example, I don't think the business that's in one of the cornerstone buildings downtown is the right business for the neighborhood. But I'd never say it. It'd be needlessly confrontational, my opinion isn't going to get that business to move, they're paying their rent so they have every right to stay there, and all it would do is piss people off who disagree with me. On the other hand, we generate minor controversies all the time. People who live outside of the city always want more parking, we're pretty strongly against setting minimum numbers of parking spaces when putting in new buildings. We support new higher-density living in the city, many neighbors are strongly opposed to it. As such, we're the target of smear campaigns and any relevant social media post is often swamped with the people who disagree with us. We've also been factually wrong in the past, and some people do their best to remind us of it as often as possible. The trick is to ignore it. Haters gonna hate. Don't be unnecessarily confrontational, and just roll on without acknowledging your public critics. They're just trying to piggyback off your success. It's not really a "one wrong word" situation, it's "one word you really knew you shouldn't have said, but against all better judgement you did anyway" followed by "engaging your critics in arguments", then topped off with "caving and admitting defeat because you knew you were wrong all along". I can't think of a single collapse of a public figure because of one wrong word that wasn't extremely egregious and then handled extremely poorly.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  Could you pretty please email me a link to your blog and let me know what kind of traffic it gets?
- a1369209993 8y ago
  It's more "one word you should say but know probably isn't worth the trouble" followed by "feeding the trolls", then topped off with "giving up because you can't summon the energy to stand up to a never-ending flood of ignorant assholes". It is best to just ignore them.
sarcasmic 8y ago
The reason this is so difficult to undo is because callout posts possess attributes that allow them to bubble to the top of social networks: a clueless subject who can be positioned as entitled, a controversy that garners a strong emotional reaction, and a reveal from a foil with a bit of additional insight. It feeds our need for drama, vengeance, and putting someone in their place, even if the mechanisms of doing so are much the same as bullying. With the Internet having a deep memory, and screenshots and reposts being photocopies, the risks of speaking off the cuff have gone up significantly.

Given the mob mentality that's settled into modern social media/the blogosphere, it's actually amazing there are still as many personal bloggers as there are. One wrong word and ...

ocdtrekkie 8y ago

This is my biggest concern. In the past, I was never afraid to be public about my RL identity online. But now I have to realistically be concerned that in the event that I make a bad joke that's taken wrong, and my username is connected to my real name, and my real name is connected to my employer, someone asks my employer what they think, and I'm potentially out of a job less than 24 hours later. People have seemingly figured out that confronting someone's employer, even about a topic unrelated to their work, is a good way to punish someone for a misdeed. That was never really a concern most people had to be concerned about until recently. I like to thank that A. I'm a decent person and B. my employer would not drop me over an Internet argument, but I think really anyone who communicates online needs to be afraid of this risk.

jacquesm 8y ago
Unless you're a figurehead at some company any company that would fire you because of something like that most likely isn't worth working for to begin with. Of course that doesn't offer anything in terms of support or recourse if it should happen, but those employers open themselves up to a particularly nasty form of denial-of-service attack and they should probably be made hip to that. Otherwise one day some group will have fun with them until they have no employees left.
- macintux 8y ago
  Ok, but in the meantime you’re still unemployed, stressed about health insurance and debts and feeding your family, and you get to explain to every potential employer why you were fired.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    Yes, it absolutely sucks. But that's one of the things where unions might come in handy.
- greedo 8y ago
  Tell that to the Marriott employee who got fired for liking a tweet.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    Totally ridiculous and absolutely despicable. So, if you get fired for liking a tweet claim wrongful termination and sue the bastards.
    - tedunangst 8y ago
      When you run a company's social media account, liking and not liking the right things is part of the job description, and probably out of bounds for wrongful termination.
  - tedunangst 8y ago
    I think that case is rather different. They liked the tweet with Marriott's account, not their personal after hours account. Ridiculous or not, if your job is running Marriot's Twitter, part of the job is liking the right tweets.

jacquesm 8y ago

Anything you do in a public space as large as the internet requires a thick skin. Blogging is (and HN is too) no exception.

firemancoder 8y ago
It's not hurt feelings on the part of the blog writer you have to worry about, it's the readers. If you post something super controversial like supporting the president, you could lose your job and any volunteer/community positions or more. There is a pitchfork mob out there just waiting.
classichasclass 8y ago
If it were just having to have a thick skin, I'd fully agree with you; there's always going to be someone to disagree, and some will disagree floridly. But these days there can be real consequences to your social circles and in notable cases even your employment, and opinions on what is socially acceptable shift in a hurry. What you wrote a few years ago and is still visible on your blog (and may or may not be a view you still hold) can still hurt you. And you can't claim on your blog you didn't have enough space to express a nuanced opinion.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  I've been physically threatened because of stuff I wrote online, have had a stalker for a couple of years and other pleasantness. Even so, for me that's worth the risk, I can see how for someone more vulnerable that sort of risk would be totally unacceptable. You only need to look at the kind of stuff the griefers on various other websites get up to to see the extent of the menu of real-world consequences. Those things are not jokes. So I totally see your 'real consequences' argument, and it goes way beyond just your employment, in some cases it is your life that is in the balance. But there will always be idiots. Just like there are people using drugs and then driving vehicles I have to share the road with them. But that won't change my attitude towards driving, and neither will the existence of assholes diminish my activities online. But I totally sympathize with those people for whom lines have been crossed that cause them to censor themselves or even to tune out completely. And I'm sure I too have such lines (in fact, I can easily think of several) and if those were crossed I too would bow out.

freehunter 8y ago

As someone who runs a fairly popular "personal" (not corporate, opinion-based) blog, it is an ongoing fear. We have to try to make sure the things we say are as least controversial as possible. But in a way, this is a good thing. My blog is about my city, and there are plenty of things we "can" talk about but probably should't. For example, I don't think the business that's in one of the cornerstone buildings downtown is the right business for the neighborhood. But I'd never say it. It'd be needlessly confrontational, my opinion isn't going to get that business to move, they're paying their rent so they have every right to stay there, and all it would do is piss people off who disagree with me. On the other hand, we generate minor controversies all the time. People who live outside of the city always want more parking, we're pretty strongly against setting minimum numbers of parking spaces when putting in new buildings. We support new higher-density living in the city, many neighbors are strongly opposed to it. As such, we're the target of smear campaigns and any relevant social media post is often swamped with the people who disagree with us. We've also been factually wrong in the past, and some people do their best to remind us of it as often as possible. The trick is to ignore it. Haters gonna hate. Don't be unnecessarily confrontational, and just roll on without acknowledging your public critics. They're just trying to piggyback off your success. It's not really a "one wrong word" situation, it's "one word you really knew you shouldn't have said, but against all better judgement you did anyway" followed by "engaging your critics in arguments", then topped off with "caving and admitting defeat because you knew you were wrong all along". I can't think of a single collapse of a public figure because of one wrong word that wasn't extremely egregious and then handled extremely poorly.

DoreenMichele 8y ago
Could you pretty please email me a link to your blog and let me know what kind of traffic it gets?
a1369209993 8y ago
It's more "one word you should say but know probably isn't worth the trouble" followed by "feeding the trolls", then topped off with "giving up because you can't summon the energy to stand up to a never-ending flood of ignorant assholes". It is best to just ignore them.

sarcasmic 8y ago

The reason this is so difficult to undo is because callout posts possess attributes that allow them to bubble to the top of social networks: a clueless subject who can be positioned as entitled, a controversy that garners a strong emotional reaction, and a reveal from a foil with a bit of additional insight. It feeds our need for drama, vengeance, and putting someone in their place, even if the mechanisms of doing so are much the same as bullying. With the Internet having a deep memory, and screenshots and reposts being photocopies, the risks of speaking off the cuff have gone up significantly.