Life Changes

So now it probably all makes sense why my posting habits here have declined to a mockable all-time-low.

If I had posted more frequently, my entries would have most likely been about the amount of stress I was under or how tired I was from working. And, if i posted that, I'm sure a number of you would have thought "what the hell is she talking about? Movable Type can't be that hard to develop."

And, if I had ignore the self-embargo I had placed on myself not to speak about work, I feared that not only I would have said too much but I would have also created a public record of my weaknesses -- something that I was sure would come to haunt me some day.

So I wrote the sort of posts that kept me in a pre-TypePad, pre-funding state of mind. What you see in my archives from the past few months represents almost all thoughts I've had that relate to my for-public-consumption life. The fact that I've forked has been incredibly difficult to reconcile in dollarshort.org and I'm so terribly happy that, with this announcement, I'm living an secret-free existence.

We write weblogging tools because we believe in the medium. At some point, the writer has to choose what they can and can not disclose in public. Some of this has to do with strategy and some of it has to do with legalities. Weblogging is amazing because you can read the thoughts of a newly-minted CEO and understand, with one post, what has been going through her mind for the past couple months.

That's a power that we can't take for granted.

Comments

[Mena]

I've turned comments on because I'm genuinely interested in what my readers have to say about the whole issue of drawing boundaries between your life and your weblog.

[Dave Winer]

One has to have boundaries, or you can't have a private life, and a fully public life is not worth living.

I believe that you only have a responsibility to disclose things that might influence what you write. If you only write about flowers, it's hardly necessary to say where you work, unless that has something to do with how you view flowers.

I have a bit about this on my What is Scripting News? page.

[jenn]

Content is per the writer's discretion.

Always.

In a case like this one, where you have a very wide audience, I think invoking that discretion is neccessary. For your sanity, if nothing else.

That said, I am looking forward to seeing the TypePad product and pricing. I am currently a Blogger Pro subscriber. I would say user, but it is so monkey-wrenched right now I can only access it every odd thursday on an month with 31 days. Go Google.

Hoping to move to your site soon.
Pricing will be critical.

[ste]

I suspected that your lack of posts might have something to do with new developments at MovableType, but wow, this is certainly even more than I expected! First of all, congratulations!! It looks like you've accomplished some really great things in the past few months. :D

I'm sure that it must have been tough keeping the exciting developments bottled up, but it was definitely a wise decision. I hope, though, that the recent revelations will mean at least some return to the whimsically entertaining dollarshort that I've grown to enjoy. :)

[D]

I would hope that all personal sites were considered to contain the proviso "I reserve the right to have a life I don't need to tell you about"

Not because I have anything to hide... like a secret identity or something, just that the nature of weblogs, public diaries, live journals is that you're invariably filling up the web with your own experiences, your own opinions and impressions, everything that defines you as an individual... so much so that sometimes you can forget about the readers and end up writing that one post too far before withdrawing from the web entirely.

In your case though Mena I recognise that the lull is entirely justified since we'll have new tools to play with soon!

[paula]

The fact that a weblog is for public consumption immediately puts it into an entirely different category. While weblogging feels personal and while it may seem as if you are writing directly to an established, intimate audience (which is really the coolest thing about weblogging for me) it is still a very public thing and boundaries become necessary - especially when the content can have negative consequences for yourself and/or others.

Also, it depends on the nature of the blog. If you claim to be a personal site, then your responsibility is to yourself and to the people the content may negatively affect. If you claim to be reporting news, then you do have a different level of responsibility to your readers to be honest and thorough.

I view my weblog as my "online face" - the view of myself I choose to make public. In the same way that I wouldn't divulge everything about myself at a public gathering - reserving highly private information for intimate friends in a private setting - I wouldn't (and don't) make everything about myself known in such a public medium. I see my weblog as a vehicle for personal expression and for establishing online connections that have the potential to turn into personal friendships. Therefore, I don't feel a need to give it all up online.

In any case, I'm so, SO happy for you and Ben. Congratulations!

[Geof]

If I wouldn't tell acquaintances about it, it doesn't go on my site. Period.

I can understand why you've "hidden" this. You wouldn't tell everyone you knew about it, either.

[adam]

I recently heard an interview on NPR with some author. She had a character in her novel who said, "the only way to write the truth is to assume that no one is going to read it". Interesting comment to be sure.

They went on to discuss the validity of that statement and I came away with the conclusion that while total anonymity gives one freedom to disclose anything, the practicality of this is extremely limited.

The dichotomy of weblogging is that every word released into the blogosphere--whether it begins as a secret whisper, a quiet reflection, bold pronouncement, or wail--ultimately has the potential to be heard around the world. So then, what might start out as obscurity for the author, incredibly can become celebrity, which in turn contributes to diminishing truth in future writings in order to "protect the innocent" or one's self-interests. Webloggers who strive for the truth inherently walk a fine (and sometimes dangerous) line.

Your site, Mena, and your tools most certainly fall into the celebrity category and therefore absolute truth and total disclosure cannot be fully expected or achieved.

Keep on doin' what you're doin' and congratulations!

[AG]

Doesn't it get harder and harder to define "work" and "life"? I used to be a 2 or more posts a day blogger, now I'm lucky to get one a week. I work for a recording artist and most of our daily lives are kept under wraps. Where does "work" end and "life" begin? Or are the two one in the same?

I am a massive fan of the medium though, and find myself wishing that more people in my profession would implement MT into their online communities. Congrats on the new project and maybe soon we'll see more and more or your presence in the entertainment world.

[wednesday white]

You were in your own personal NDA. You did what you needed to enforce it for yourself. It's setting boundaries and holding to them. That's totally cool.

A cessation of traffic under those circumstances, IMO, is somewhat preferable to "iamunderstressBUTITISASECRET!" type entries. The former just indicates hyper ultra mega busy. The latter feels manipulative, regardless of whether or not it's meant to be.

[colin]

Screw all this intellectual through provoking stuff. Mena, you rock. You rock the world and you rock the world's socks.

[Mary Duan]

What Colin said. You rock. And so does Movable Type.

Having said that, here are my thoughts on public vs. private in the world of weblogging.

Words mean things. It's a simple thought, but consider it: words mean things. I learned this early on, through 5 years as a journalism school undergrad/grad, and 14 years as a working journalist. I spend my days writing about other people's lives, and my blog is something I do for myself. I wouldn't write anything in my blog that I wouldn't be prepared to defend or say in real life. (And if you read my writing, you know that I'm pretty much an abrasive curmudgeon.)

Nobody has to read my blog, and I make no apologies for the things I write. But words mean things. I don't tell people I have one, but real life friends have found it and read it. That's alright by me.

[Daphne]

First, foremost, last and always - you must do what makes you most comfortable... or at least, happiest. I can't even imagine how you do it all.

While I blog for myself and for a sense of extended community I find myself forever haunted by imaginings of what might haunt me in the future....

[James]

Ooh, comments are on! A big fat hug and kiss to you and Ben (and Anil!) on all your great news! Congratulations and Godspeed on making the web a more exciting and creative place! Can I be Business Development guy for SARS-infested Toronto? ;|

[Patty]

Do you just declare yourself a CEO? how does that work? Please explain for a non-business oriented person like myself.

[Jason Wall]

When the Lawyer files the paperwork he asks you... "who wants to be the President?" and "who wants to be the secretary?", as those two positions are necessary to form a corporate entity.

[Adam]

Mena for president.

[Gina]

There are always those personal safety issues... I worry about giving too much information and having someone deduce my address from what I think are scattered details. Also, I can't write anything about my sex life or my family problems because my family reads my blog. I usually tell people that whenever an impersonal entry shows up, I've probably had some deeply scarring or deeply pleasurable experience that I just can't share on my blog.

[Gina]

... of course, some things are too good not to share. :)

[taxi]

Choosing what is revealed and what is left in the shadows is a writer's prerogative. Your concerns about striking an acceptable balance between disclosure and reticence could be any weblogger's problem; what's interesting is that an apostle of the medium admits to wrestling with it.

Editing onesself is a business that nobody appreciates; i.e. you could've typed one hundred variations of roughly the same sentiment and you settle on one; you're now *on record*.

Eh, I could prattle on about this, but instead I'll wish you luck. :)

[Brian]

Thorny subject - discretion. It is the better part of valor, the lion's share of ethical behavior, and the entirety of many business arrangements. What is interesting is the conflation of the discretionary requirements of business when imposed on the shadowy, semi-private/ultra-public medium of the weblog. Your silence in the face of terrible strain and the equally powerful compulsion to write is admirable.

That said, I am glad the announcement has lifted this burden from you and that Typepad is coming into the world. It also bolsters the heart to see that good ideas are sometimes rewarded, even in these days of austerity. Congratulations! We await the full unveiling!

[Sanford May]

That's all well and good, but your grammar has gone to hell.

[Phillip Harrington]

Please, keep your secrets.

[san]

I'm not sure how I feel about eliminating barriers in communications. Some barriers have a valuable role in separating the wheat from the chaff. While TypePad is certainly a commendable achievement in the communist style of information exchange, are we not perhaps better off with a limited set of barriers, surmountable barriers, in place? At what point does restriction become too little, causing the information pool to become so muddled that even the most avid wader stumbles?

I believe one of Movable Type's strong points is its technical barrier to access. It's not an insurmountable barrier: Learn a bit about the process of installing the software and creating templates, and you're well on your way. But there is an incline before reaching the mountaintop. Yes, I suppose this hill can be dissolved with money; one can pay Six Apart to install the software; a designer can be employed to create a functional, elegant set of templates. But there still remains an essential set of elements that must be collected from disparate sources, even when using money to lubricate the process. At a time when news sources are suspect due to ratings concerns and access to timely information -- accurate or otherwise -- is unprecedented, do we really want to make it easier for just about anyone to further flood a seemingly infinite capacity for communication? Make the case that unrestrained information encourages a healthy amount of skepticism in the audience, and I will counter that as sources of information grow exponentially, the ability of the audience to verify that information becomes ever more difficult. Eventually the task of distinguishing fact from malleable fact from fiction may become so great that large portions of the audience either believe everything or believe nothing. This won't contribute to a well-informed audience; rather, to the contrary, it will develop an audience that is less aware of accurate information than they were before the great self-publishing revolution.

Prior to the advent of the Web, especially before the development of software like Movable Type, public access to the mountaintop was greatly limited by the editorial departments of publishing houses and news outlets. Perhaps that layer between is not entirely fair and certainly far from perfectly objective, but still a collectively valuable filter in distinguishing inaccurate information from the real stuff. Do we wish to become a society of Flat Earthers, accepting only those bits of information -- no matter how unverifiable -- that support our preconceived notions?

This is not to discredit Movable Type, an exceptional piece of technology in its own right: Software that allows, with a modicum of effort, one to become one's own online publishing house. Yet that modicum of effort makes for a lovely filter. But TypePad? A further reduction of those already negligible barriers to access. A wonderful accomplishment for Six Apart, a company that I believe deserves validation for their innovative efforts, but perhaps further incursion into the sanctity of a well informed population.

[juby]

I actually maintain two weblogs, one for public consumption and one for my closer friends that I don't get to call as often as I would like.

When you have a smaller blog, like mine, you deal with the same issues from a completely different perspective. I know virtually all of my readers, and so I have to pick my words carefully as to not offend my friends and family. Sometimes, this leads to a (relatively) long time between posts, because there may be something I don't want someone to know about.

It's another wonderful thing about weblogs, in that you can be as public about your life as you wish. I may have no problem broadcasting things that others would keep quiet about, and that's okay. As I always say, "This is my weblog. If you don't like what I have to say, don't read it."