March 30, 2010
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Confessions of a Blogger
Over the last five years, I have had about 20 people contact me after I posted about them from a news article. These people sometimes come from google searches.
For example, a few people contacted me from the Virginia Tech school shooting that were on campus at the time of the shooting. I had made a sarcastic remark about the shooting in a post. (Apparently people are sensitive shortly after being shot at).I had a guy contact me after being arrested for having sex with some animal. I think it was a horse. According to him, the news article had characterized the situation unfairly.
I just received a friend request on Facebook from the woman who was the 17 year old that was dating a 42 year old from the article I posted the other day. She is older now. (I hope she doesn’t think I am as old as the photo in my profile pic).
I am not sure I feel guilt very often but I sometimes feel bad about the things I have said in a post when the people go to read them. It isn’t just what I say but sometimes the comments are a little harsh as I am sure they were in the post about the 17 year old girl dating the 42 year old man. I also felt bad when I posted a photo of an overweight woman and made some sort of sarcastic remark about the woman. Her daughter contacted me. (Her daughter was kind of hot. I am sure me telling her that made up for what I said about her mother).
The only time I really felt guilt about something I posted was when I thought someone had faked his death and made fun of it and then found out that the person was in fact dead.
Have you ever felt guilt about something you posted?
Comments (93)
Not yet, but then again I’m not very controversial.
Only once, but I made amends very quickly.
never. I’ve been bitchy before, granted, but I don’t feel bad about it.
yes! some things are funny because they’re mean. it seems harmless until the butt of the joke stumbles across it…
Um….sorta?. But I just don’t like offending people. I have a link posted on my FB about Gary Ezzo and I mentioned his parenting methods were dangerous (cause they are) and people got all mad. I am sorry people are offended but the guy is a nut job.
no.
Sometimes I do… I mean, so far not YET on this blog.. but I have on others.
yes.
I felt guilty about saying that a popular blogger on here had really died and was really a ghost…
Ok, I lied. I still laugh about that.
@phantomblogger30 - How many other blogs do you have?
Nope. My blog is a journal where I work out my thoughts and record my life. And it’s protected. I don’t blog for reaction, comments or feedback. Nothing to feel guilty about. In fact, working things out in my blog probably keeps me from doing something in real life out of pent up anger or something that would make me feel guilty.
I ranted once about my sister-in-law. I didn’t feel guilty so much… It was more like caught in the act. Whooooops. :0)
Hmm..let me think..hmm..nope. Not all. Thankfully.
Meh no.
All the time..
I have an unbelievable tendency to unintentionally hurt people through text… it’s sickening. Somehow it always gets lost in translation… bunch of bitches.
Ha nope. But the subject content of my blog is much different than yours.
Oh yeah I have.
That said that 17 year old who is now older. I sure hope she has stopped boffing married men, what a tramp. Yeah I was sort rough on her
No, not guilty about anything I posted yet.
No. In the past, when I’ve said something I’ve meant it. That doesn’t make what I say right necessarily, but it’s still what I think. If you don’t like what I have to say, don’t read my blog, be friends with me on Facebook, etc. No one’s making you.
Guilt from a blog I’ve written? No. I haven’t publicly lambasted anyone in my blog thus far.
Comments, though…I’ve been too snarky on a couple of occasions.
Not really
There’s been a couple times when I’ve gotten my facts wrong, or I’ve been a little too harsh with someone.
Yeah, the fake death thing was pretty shitty. Much respect for owning up to it though.
Back when my blog was more personal, I regretted discussing things in a medium that wasn’t as private as I mistook it to be. Nowadays I don’t blog enough to regret anything I’ve posted. And it’s usually about something trivial anyway, like dumbasses who rage ’cause they can’t find the Facebook login page.
wow…
I felt really bad that one time I pretended to be Jaleel White and unintentionally hurt some of my dearest Xanga friends.
99% of my blog is about me/stuff I write/etc. The one time I did have a situation was with a friend. I didnt say anything about him anyway. I was coming back home for vacation & I wrote about what I was possibly going to do with friends (like where to hang & what not) & he got all pissy because I didnt mention him. Whatever. After that I made my posts protected because people love to twist things.
People on Ish/sponsored sites try to make me feel bad when they read something I wrote about & either twist it up or attack me over it. I know I’m not the only one but I dont see why people cant be mature & agree to disagree. They start with name calling & all kinds of shit. It’s petty. That’s partly why a majority of us dislike them. It’s out of control.
Yeah. I made a couple rants about people a few years back. I was really bitchy in them and knew they had friends reading the posts but couldn’t defend themselves. I feel bad about it now. But nothing that I’ve done recently makes me feel guilty.
No not really.
Not really because I don’t write things that would make me feel guilty, but if I feel guilty then I would take it down.
Nah
By the way, speaking of people in our blogs… you’re mentioned in my newest.
I don’t blog very often at all and when I do it is of no intrest to the general public but instead I do it to stay in touch with family members. That being said, I think that todays blog is the best one that I have seen you do. Instead of just putting up a link and asking what people think of it you opened up and made it more personal and the fact that you finally owned up to feeling bad about spoofing sticks death is worth 100 eprops.
Yes, And I’m sorry they were read. I hope no harm was done. There’s always the delete option.
No, I don’t think so….
Nope. A blog is a journal. A journal is full of thoughts. And thoughts are human nature. ♥
hahahahhahahahaha no.
best blog entry evvar. i nominate this
Guilt? No. Shame? Maybe once or twice.
I just can’t get myself guilty over something I wrote on the internet. It’s silly.
and yet you continue to bust my balls for calling you out on that. You are certainly one interesting guy Dan. I gotta give you that.
Funny thing is you kinda made me feel guilty about the post I wrote about you. That is one of the only ones I can really remember feeling bad about.
yeppp
No, as brash as I can be, even I don’t make fun of people that recently got shot at.
I’ve felt guilty about a couple of comments I’ve made. One on this site, which was unintentionally hurtful and I apologized to the person. The other I thought twice about and was able to delete before the 15 minutes was up. I don’t remember ever posting anything guilt inducing on my site.
Yes, I have. Eek.
Nope.
huh–amazing the real-life impact that comes w/ popular power wielded – to think that something said on ‘just the internet’ -could have the juice to –maybe make someone consider taking their own life or something… be it -fat people or sensitive young women or…hmmm
…deep shit…
not that I recall. but I know people have been offended by things I have said/posted.
I don’t think I have ever been offended by anything you have said. You usually just repeat a story and ask a question… That isn’t offensive.
the negatives of google pics. lol
I post what I feel. sometimes. The funny thing is that I occasionally worry about becoming famous and someone finding my blog, and using it against me, because that’s usually what happens when you decide to make something of yourself.
Nope.
The mean-spirited entries I write are done in cold blood.
HELLZ NO, BEING A THUG MEANS NEVER BEING SORRY!
If someone I had written about in a negative light contacted me, I would have to feel ashamed for a while. But most of what I write are my true feelings and my true thoughts. Are they a bit exaggerated? Perhaps, but my true intention is still there.
i dont think i have
I try not to, but there have been times when I’ve said something that probably annoyed a few people. Stupid, overheated mouth of mine…blah.
sounds like a minefield we are treading in here….
one wrong move and we’ll all get blasted!
Only once.
Nope.
)
Once.
i dont really attack people on my blog haha. but if i did, i would try my best not to feel guilty because i was, in fact, writing what i felt. and i see nothing wrong with that.
except if it involved me making fun of someone who i thought faked their death…only to find out they did die. then i would feel bad a lot.
About comments I post. Not my blog so much. I’ve had to apologize to people for crossing the snarky line and causing them to feel attacked. I went a little Postal the other day about Healthcare and used some language. That bothered me.
I remembered one of my first featured posts” The 30 Year Old Virgin” earned me most hated girl on Xanga for a while. I felt a little bad after people posted accusations about what a cruel, heartless bitch I am, but then I thought “F–it, these people don’t know me, the REAL me, nor do they know the context in which it was written”. It was a good post, but god forbid anyone realized the humour or the hurt behind it. It goes both ways–yes maybe the post was offensive, but it’s YOUR/MY/THEIR blog. People don’t realize the feelings behind the people they comment to or about.
you aren’t a blogger. you just manipulate people into commenting you.
No? I talk junk about people that would NEVER even get close to my blog. Not that I use names anyway.
NOPE. People just need to get off they high horse and get used to the shit I write. It’s not like I write in the favor of Nazism…….YET!
no, not yet. there was one time when I thought I went too far and apologized, but later on I thought that it just weakened the statement. A B.I.T.C.H. never apologizes for what she says. you either like it or you don’t. and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it. people are always going to write bad stuff or say bad stuff, whether we like it or not. the thing is that we just need to learn to worry about things that matter. so what if people think you’re a self-conscious bitch or an overweight cow who should be tied to a pole and starved for weeks? as long as you feel good about yourself. and if you don’t feel good about yourself, do something about it. never let anyone make you feel inferior without your consent… and think before you talk.
98% of my blog is about my insane life. I have it private so family members don’t read it because i’ll catch shit about it. If they read it it’s the truth, and how I see it. If they don’t like it they can potato sack them self.
I have yet to feel guilt on Xanga and lets hope this never changes!
But on a side note, I have always assumed that you were an older
man based on your profile picture. I’ve learned something today.
Only in the aspect that it got featured, which was far from what i wanted.
speak your mind always.
No. If I would feel guilty I won’t post it. Likewise if something were to happen (like the person who you thought faked their own death but turned out actually being dead) I would not feel guilty. I’d apologize if it was in order, but I shouldn’t feel guilty about being misinformed.
@trunthepaige - that’s a surprising comment from a
“christian”. i’m sure if she reads what you and others have called her,
she will run to the nearest church to be saved….. then again, you
never claimed to actually be a representative of jesus – so i guess you
have no care in the world for how your words might affect someone.
no, i tend not to post ignorant ass things that i know nothing about.
I’ve always known you’re a soft-hearted man, Dan.
Sometimes I feel bad, but most of the time I don’t write the kinds of posts that require guilty feelings. I’m sarcastic too, but I can’t pull that off very well in writing, only IRL.
Not recently. I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that even “delete” doesn’t always make those words disappear (thanks Alexa and google cache), so I’m much more careful about what I post.
Not about posting blogs. But my mouth gets me in trouble sometimes when I don’t filter what I say.
When your Facebook, Xanga, Twitter, and Formspring connect, you will make posts that you’ll regret.
Eh… not really. I mean, I did set a few entries to private afterwords…. so maybe a little. But they were entries about certain people in my life who treated me wrongly… so should I have felt guilt at all? Probably not…. I don’t know.
@The_Female_Essence - If you recall Jesus called a woman out for being a tramp. If someone is acting in an immoral way, you are not showing them love by just accepting what in true is self destructive.
not really…if people dont like it they dont have to read it…thats the way i see it at least…
no.
No, I would not post anything I will feel guilt afterwards.
No.
Yes, twice. One time I deleted everything, the other time I defended what I had written.
So you didn’t know the death was real, that’s what I thought you had thought.
No guilt…yet. With my track record of saying insensitive things sometimes, that could change very soon, lol.
No. If I’m going to feel bad about it, I don’t post it.
I have said some incredibly insensitive things, Even to the verge of being criminal. I have never felt guilty about it though. People deserve a hell of a lot worse than they actually get, why should I feel bad for them.
and no I do not allow exceptions, regardless of how un-PC it is.
Yes. I kind of felt bad about getting pissed at someone enough to bitch about it, and later learned more about their mental disorder. In retrospect it was like getting pissed and yelling at a kid with a bad case of down syndrome for not acting right in walmart.
You bet I have. On an old old Xanga, I had some post from when I was upset at my best friend at the time for not hanging out with me anymore and for not coming to school and all. It really made me realize what a bitch I was. We’re not friends anymore, but for different reasons. Right after we apologized and realized that our friendship couldn’t be salvaged, she moved and I haven’t spoken to her in quite a while. Sad, sad story. I’m sorry I wasted our time of friendship with petty nonsense.
we queens regret nothing.
Hmmm so that is what the back-story to the faked death thing was…
“Her daughter was kind of hot. I am sure me telling her that made up for
what I said about her mother.” LOL
And nope, not that I remember. I was a little hesitant to post my Veil post, but never guilt.
@trunthepaige - jesus didn’t call a woman out for being a tramp! the towns people called her out and were going to stone her. i imagine they called her terrible names like “tramp” or whatever they called people back then. jesus spoke LOVINGLY to her and instead of saying “yep, you are a tramp” he told her to not sin any more. the crowd was disappointed, i’m sure. so are we part of the crowd or are we as believers supposed to adopt an attitude of WWJD?
@The_Female_Essence - You have the wrong event “Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have
no husband’; 4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have
now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”
Yep that is calling her out she took it well
@trunthepaige - ok. i see where you are coming from. thank you for clarifying that.
Xanga is my confessional. It is where I am completely honest and I wouldn’t change a thing about that.