Filtered Opinion

I haven't been posting in this blog very much over the past few months. Largely, that's because i have been so slammed with/at work and have been doing so much traveling as a result that by the time I have a chance to make an entry, I'm so beat I'd rather not get back on the computer. Another reason, though, which comes in as a very close second, is my awareness of the hyper-public aspect of the web. With two huge projects going on (along with a several minor ones) and a lot of time passing there has been several things that I thought about posting. If I personally knew everyone that would have seen the entries, I probably would have posted at least a few despite the ongoing exhaustion. In fact, based on the number of folks I think are actually reading this blog (and I don't track it so I'm just guessing that it's in the tens of people), I could have posted away without any concern. The problem, of course, is that with a public blog there is know way to know who actually IS reading it. Let alone, who WILL read it. I work in a corporate environment. Over the past few months, there have been a few things that I REALLY wanted to post some thoughts about. Nothing intrinsically good or bad. Just comments on the way that some things in the corporate world work and how they're different than I would operate given my druthers. I'd have no problem with anyone I know and/or anyone who is remotely involved in my projects reading what I would have posted. The trick, of course, is everyone else. Don't get me wrong. I highly doubt that anyone who will ever read this would comment outside this forum or use it in a way that brings fallout to me or my employer. No matter how small though, the chance exist. Shoult a friend of mine mention this blog to a friend of theirs who happens to work for a press outlet and then they mention it to their editor in passing who happens to check it out and notice that I complain about some random everyday fact of corporate life (not that I would complain, I live in corporate utopia) and next thing I know there is a below the fold, but still front page, article pulling quotes from the blog taking out of context that causes a poop-storm. Of course, they could also comment on my run-on sentences, but I'm a tech guy, so that probably won't get them much play. Regardless. Suddenly, I'm not regular ol' Alan. I'm "a TOUR employee". As "me", no one other than people that know me give two shakes about what I say. The potential though, is that someone decides to identify me based on my employer and uses the fact that I complain about my laptop to create a brouhaha about the TOUR being unsatisfied with a corporate technology provider. (I'm going to pause here to mention that that's completely hypothetical and that I actually had to take some RAM out of my machine because it was so bad-ass I was afraid it was going to become self-aware.) Even more wild is that this could happen from a post that I made months ago. All this is a little sad, but only a little. It's just a fact of internet life that I'm probably more aware, and therefore more wary of, than most. The good news for me though, is that even with this potential negative aspect, this new medium exists now and has provided another outlet for the thoughts that I feel comfortable posting and has provided me with a ton of insight from the postings of others. Even as cautions as I am of the medium and my participation in it, you'll not here me say that the overall ability to distribute personal thoughts/perspectives/opinions is anything less than amazing.