Busted for Blogging, Revisited

I haven't blogged for a while about people getting in trouble because of blogging, primarily because it's getting to be too distressingly common. There are two basic kinds of these stories:

1. People (especially young folks) who blog about their illegal activities (either past or planned), and subsequently get arrested for it.
2. People who lose their jobs or otherwise get in trouble at work because of what they write in their blogs

This is going to be one of those job-losing kinds of blog trouble stories.

Now, there's actually a word that was coined to cover this situation: If you get fired because of something you wrote in your blog, it's called getting "dooced."

(The term comes from Heather "Dooce" Armstrong, who got fired from a technology company in 2002 because of what she wrote about her job in her blog.)

According to Blogebrity.com, blogger Jessa Jeffries [content warning, which is part of the issue here] got fired from her job because of what she wrote in her blog.

I actually know about Jessa's blog (though I don't know her personally), since she has something of a local connection -- she's active in DC blogging circles, even though she's in Philly.

Apparently, she got called in on the carpet because of her blog's content; part of it was because she talked a little about work, but a lot of it seems to be just general discomfort with the personal content of her blog, mostly partying and carrying on and the usual young person stuff.

Originally, Jessa was going to take down the blog because of (apparently overreaching) threats by her now-former employer, but it looks like it's going to stay up.

As far as I can tell, this particular story hasn't made the mainstream media yet, but you can read this Metafilter discussion thread for more information (where Jessa herself tells her side of the story). As is usual with these types of stories, the moral is:

Be careful what you write about in your blog, and assume that people -- the police, your bosses, your parents, your exes, your friends, your enemies -- are going to find out about your blog, and react accordingly.

On a practical note, you should find out what your company's policy is regarding blogging.

And, though it may seem unfair, even if you don't blog explicitly about your job, if your bosses don't like what you blog about, whether it's politics or tasteless jokes or risque pictures or whatever, in most states, they're within their rights to let you go.

Of course, this makes the other moral of this story:

Life Ain't Fair

I will probably bore you tomorrow with some of my personal observations about blogging, based on my own experience.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Busted for Blogging