I’m not going to lie, hearing feedback from locals about your blog for the first time is very unnerving. Especially since I’d been online with my blogs and sites for years before it ever finally happened. We can thank facebook for that lol
I was asked how I deal with the anonymity issue and any of it getting back to him at work. And I guess that’s easy for me to answer, I don’t. I don’t deal with it that is. He does, and I always have to remember that.
As those locally will attest, I’m an open book. If you want to know something just ask. I keep it easy here. I don’t talk about anything that I wouldn’t talk about with someone in person, face-to-face. That could be up for interpretation if you read earlier posts, but it’s true for the posts from the last couple of years.
I don’t post about actual calls with details. I don’t post about exact situations or issues that come up. If I do talk in a general form about an issue, I set the post ahead months or even a year ahead so we’re not directly in the situation and it’s easily tracked back to people. I never post about things hubby has told me and risk his job with even a hint of a HIPPA violation.
I post about how the firelife affects ME. I post about MY feelings that take place.
If you have the personality that you do worry, even slightly, about what others think of you, it is probably not a good idea to start a blog. If you blog about personal issues, then you are just leaving the windows, doors and roof wide open for others to comment. I think that goes for both people in the relationship, not just the one blogging. It’s my husband that has to hear about it and he has to be ok with it. If he’s not ok with it then it would become a problem in our relationship and there are enough issues to contend with than to add something superficial like that.
That said, facebook was actually an issue that DID come up and annoyed the hell out of us both. To the point I almost deleted my account a few times. I have been on twitter for years and it’s a totally different animal. On twitter you can post often. I didn’t know facebook wasn’t the same. OR WAIT, that wasn’t the case, it was the fact that people who are new to being online wanted to push how THEY felt facebook should be. Hubby was constantly harassed at work for how much I post. SERIOUSLY?! Hit unfriend then if it annoys you moron!
I’ve gone through quite a few periods of no posting because of it. Now if I find out there’s a complaint, I unfriend them myself, that easy. Because my REAL friends get worried and annoyed if I’m not posting on there. lol Facebook can definitely be another blog post. Probably a few blog posts.
I think my biggest recommendation about starting a blog that will post anything personal is to go in with full disclosure with your husband. Mine doesn’t care because I’m careful about boundaries. It probably doesn’t hurt that I’ve also been online blogging and building websites for over a decade. It’s not something new that I’m picking up.
I know there are quite a few regular bloggers here, how did it come up with your husbands? Did you talk about it before you started or ever talk about it at all? How do they feel about it and even more odd to me, do they read your blog? While writing this it dawned on me that I’ve never asked him how he feels about my blog. Hopefully I’ll remember to bring it up tomorrow.
Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Twitter: firehousecrafts
says:
I feel the same way. If I wouldn’t shout it from the rooftops then it wont go on my blog. I also do not post about the fire department directly. I post about our life as a fire family and how we deal with it. I try to keep my blog upbeat. I’m mostly focusing on my craft blog because when hubby is at the station it seems like the boys and I are always crafting! We may be a fire family but my passion is crafting so I tie that in with what we do around the fire schedule. And, yes, my hubby actually does read my posts. He says he does plus I post a link to them on his facebook page!
amy recently posted..Kindle Fire Cover
Mine refuses to facebook. But he gets all the info from me anyway so he really doesn’t need to lol
Twitter: theefirewife
says:
My hubs doesn’t read my blog. People told him that he should, that it was funny. So he read a few posts, about our life and funny thing he’s said. Didn’t think it was funny. I don’t know if he’s read it since. I try and keep private things private, and not blog about feelings of mine that he doesn’t know about. But other than that, I don’t think he’s much concerned with it.
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I think my boo and I may be a rarity here. We just don’t care what others think. We are a too honest for our own good, heart on our sleeve, put it all out there, I don’t give a BLEEP if you don’t like it, we are who we are kinda couple.
Besides, my sweet super supportive boo gets a kick out of my blog…no matter how personal I get. In fact, lately, whenever something funny happens, he turns to me and says, “you should blog that”. Only once has he ever said to me, don’t FB or blog that.
Don’t get me wrong, we have had our bumps along the way. Once, Tom was told, by a commanding officer, “you need to teach your wife to keep her mouth shut.” He said, “What? You think it’s the 1800′s? She has a first amendment right to say whatever the hell she wants. I won’t stop her and neither will you. You just don’t like that she speaks the truth, which makes you look bad.” And once, they tried to write him up for something I wrote. Yes, we may have avoided all that if I had clamped my trap shut, but I think thats giving “the man” more power than they deserve. You have to stand up for your rights, sometimes. You know?
AND Boo’s really handsome too! Hubba Hubba! I love that cute little dimple butt in bunker gear too! Are you ladies drooling yet? I’m a lucky gal, ain’t I?!
BUT
Mostly, he’s had good feedback about anything I’ve done.
With all that said, I do have limits. For example, I NEVER blog or FB about my students. EVER. I don’t feel I have the right as I am not those children’s parents. I wouldn’t want someone to blog about my kids without me knowing, so I won’t do it to another’s child.
As far as FB goes, we have a joint page, because Tom doesn’t really want a page of his own, but he wants to see what his family and friends are up to every now and then. But I’m the only commenter. It’s also a convenient excuse….no one can ever “prove” who wrote what comment.
We also never post/add pics of any calls he’s been on – We let the news do that…
Happy Tuesday, Y’all!
Amber, it doesn’t seem like you post about department stuff, what in the world were they saying you should “shut your mouth” about? I’ll go out on a limb here and say that they had never met you? Cause I know no one that has met me would ever think I’d shut my trap because someone else said so. Sounds like you are kindred spirit in that regard
I don’t post about department stuff now, but a few years back, in the wake of the Sofa Super Store fire, I was rather – how should I put this – outspoken. That’s putting it mildly. If I’m honest – screaming from the rooftops at anyone who would listen – would be more accurate. But You’re right, that particular person had never met me.
Believe me, they learned that I will not be silenced…
Amber recently posted..Toddlers and Testicles
We both blog about the department to some degree, but any sort of identifying information is altered – age, gender, race, that sort of thing. My husband’s crew will read a post about a call they went on and second guess whether they were there, lol! Just the general concept of the call remains. and any identifying information about what department he works for is obscured as well. That said, his chiefs know about our blogs and keep a watchful eye. We’ve never been asked to take down a post or anything like that. Most guys on the department get a kick out of it. Some have started their own blogs, in fact.
And yes, we read each other’s posts.
firewife katie recently posted..Living Room, Re-Re-Arranged. With Curtains.
I don’t know of any guys at the dept that blog at all, which is weird. A couple of them I’d expect to. Maybe I better ask around lol
“If you blog about personal issues, then you are just leaving the windows, doors and roof wide open for others to comment.”
In my opinion, people who write about personal experiences on blogs (especially the anger, hatred or other negative emotions) just needed a shoulder to cry on or are just simply craving for attention.
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Yes, that’s why I have my personal blog separate from all my other stuff. It’s just too easy for me to blurry up the lines and I don’t want some of my blogs/sites going that direction. My personal blog is just to get it out so I don’t blow up lol
I try not to post about the department at all. I do talk about how I feel about living the firelife, but I do it in a way that is respectful of his job, and that wouldn\’t cause any raised eyebrows at work. I had a similar facebook issue. Apparently I talk too much too.Oh well!!!!
Good thing our hubbies probably already knew that, right?
lol