Yet Another Conflict Between Private Life and Work Life

A blog with construction site photos and occasional commentary on construction sites from an employee of a company involved with those sites. Nothing particularly gruesome in itself - but management apparently isn't having any fun with the blog and now wants to shut down the blogger. That's the short version.

Regardless of how one feels about this situation, one thing becomes clear: when you publish something, you have to reckon with the fact that someone will read it. And might misunderstand it (or understand it correctly - depending on the content) and then react to it. Blogging is, regardless of what subject matter you cover - publication. Worldwide publication. With archives and backups. And a pack of sociopaths who have nothing better to do than suspect the worst in every person.

That doesn't mean bloggers shouldn't blog anymore - but it certainly helps to occasionally take a step back and look at your own blog with fresh eyes and think about who might be most annoyed by it and why. At least then you're not completely surprised when one of the above sociopaths strikes. Because unfortunately, what the colleague wrote elsewhere - I don't want to be a business person with journalistic responsibility, I just want to do my thing without anyone telling me what to do. this is private, if someone doesn't like it they can move on. - is simply not enforceable under German law. Public and private are mutually exclusive. Does this herald the end of blogging due to lawyer attacks? No, I don't think so. I do think we should continue to say and do what we want. However, one should assume that the innocence of the Internet no longer exists - if it ever did.

Every action has a reaction. Sure, if you only look at every action from the perspective of possible reactions, then you don't do anything anymore, you freeze in panic over problems. But let's be honest: who refuses to cross the street just because they might get hit by a car? Or doesn't go to the cinema because they might get mugged on the way?

We take risks every day, sometimes completely without being aware of them. But now and then something happens that reminds us of these risks. I live at a busy intersection with potential conflict between left-turning traffic and pedestrians. I'm regularly reminded that we live dangerously. Still, I go outside. It's the same with blogging. There are risks. These risks are real, denying them is silly. But it would be equally silly to let them paralyze us. However, things do happen that sometimes remind us that these risks are real. A blogger gets sued or receives a cease-and-desist letter - we remember that we take risks. But just as we shouldn't refrain from going out on the street, we shouldn't refrain from running our blog. At least not for that reason. Here's the original article.