How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
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This will be my final entry on anything even remotely related to the CZ issue.SingaporeAngle provided an excellent summary of how it started and how the issue have ballooned out into the Singapore blogoshere.I think thus far, most of the bloggers, have been reasonably fair in their entries, with most of us expressing disdain and anger against the VERY distasteful, shocking and discriminating comments Cheng Zhan made on his “private blog”. Rather it is the comments by others and in SPUG that borders on witch-hunting.Ever since my entries got picked up by google and yahoo, I have been linked from multiple blogs around the world. >400 people found my blog by searching “PSC Scholar”, “Cheng Zhan racist”, “chua cheng zhan” etc etc.
As such, my blog has now come under the radar and while most of the comments made on my blog has been decent enough, I have had a friend of CZ email me and call me some pretty unkind stuff.
I am not too bothered by it because I know where I stand and my self-worth in God will not be determined by that email. 
Apart from the ill-advised use of the word bigot, I think I have been pretty fair in my comments about CZ.
Back to the intent of this entry.
Should a blog be private?
CAN a blog be private?
I think that recently, bloggers have been thrust into the limelight all too often as the “old media” have pounced on this new rich source of newsworthy information. Computer Times even has a blog of the week section!
AcidFlask (who himself came to limelight recently on the issue of scholarship bond breaking) and SingaporeInk talks about the power and influence of the blogosphere.
Is it scary? You bet it is.
Not as scary as a Casino in Singapore but scary nonetheless. 
I think what people need to realise is, blogs can never be private.
It goes against the very concept of a blog and the underlying technology that makes blog such a powerful tool of communication in today’s society.
It is no hidden secret that google loves bloggers.
I have had friends complain why people find their blogs through words like “sex toys, S&M, kinky baby etc etc”.
Just say a single F-U-C-K in one of your entries and soon, people who search for that word will find your blog.
THAT is the power of the internet. You do not have exact control over who reads your blogs.
Tools like technorati makes it all the harder to keep your blog private.
The concept of blogging is like Friendster - well connectiveness.
It is built on the foundation of technology and protocols that promotes this.
With the sudden push towards “tagging” as the next big thing now, the influence of blogging will only increase.
So what does this mean for the average blogger who wish to just have an online PERSONAL and PRIVATE diary?
Go offline OR implement proper password protection. (even the latter is no gaurentee of privacy).
The internet is not a private medium. If you wish to say anything that is not suitable for public consumption, hold that tongue.
After all, the bible tells us that our tongue can be a venomous snake (paraphased) and that we should rein it in.
I have seen blogs by lawyers who spout so much vitrol in their blogs that I fear it will come back to bite them one day.
It will be a matter of time before your prospective employer might do some investigative work and find your blog. I think it can be so much more effective than psychological testing as a blog can be the window to a person’s soul and character.
Recently, a student on attachment with my company got me in trouble with a client when she blogged about that client. Private thoughts in a public domain just does not work.
I lost that client for being unprofessional. ANd I agree with my client.
I get resumes sent to me by people looking for a job. The amazing thing is some of them proudly put links to their blog in their resumes.
So i thought “He must be trying to show me he is a good writer or he is a witty and sharp intellectual”. Imagine my horror then when I start reading blogs filled with grammatical errors, angst-filled thoughts, vulgarities and just show off their immaturity.
Trust me when I say that your prospective employee will not be impressed by how you wax eloquent over your heartbreak of losing your gf, nor by how high you score in lame online quizzes or tests.
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It is gonna be some time before the whole CZ issue blows over.
Everyone wants their pie of the attention and their own 2 cents worth.
Whether he loses his scholarship or not, I think it will be equally a tragedy if he does not change and learn. THAT should be the focus of concern here.
Well, this will be my last two cents worth because I think I have made my point and I think CZ and his family should be left alone now for them to sort out their son’s problems.
I think that we can all learn a lesson from here.
testing comments