A Weblog is NOT a Journal
Weblogs, refered to often simply as "Online Journals" (to avoid confusing the less technically literate among us) have become a huge craze in recent years as everyone and their brother, aunt, second cousin and dog have started to use them. Look around you in the average HS or Univ campus computer lab, or in the nearby netcafe, chances are a few people are either writing in, their own or reading someone elses weblog. Politicians, movie stars and television personalities have gotten in on the act, posting their thoughts and stances on a variety of topics for all the world to see. However most of us misuse the weblog, especially those of us who post completely in the open, without restricting reader access to only a select few, or only writing for our own personal benefit. We post personal things, personal stories about our families, about our relationships and every other little mundane personal detail of our lives. We treat these pages as if they were just the 1s and 0s conversion of our paper journal kept in a nightstand under lock and key.
Do I say misuse because I think what we write in here is wrong? No, we have every reasonable right to type in this space anything that strikes our fancy, it's the beauty of the Internet as the great equalizer, giving everyone their own private soapbox to stand on, and it's the beauty of our freedom of speech that we can say what we think and feel without government intervention. That said, it is not our own expectations or those of the government that most shape how we write, and what we write. It's the people in our lives that dictate it, especially if you write about personal experiences with them. The fact of the matter is, people will read what you write, and even if you talk in shaded terms as to who it is, and try to conceal identities and all, people will just assume you're talking about them (whether you are or aren't) and they'll take it VERY personally. This is the first problem of personal weblogs.
The second problem is in how people respond and act on blogs. People will say things online about other people and to other people that they would never even consider saying to someone's face. Hiding behind the monitor and keyboard lends most people an odd sense of safety and courage, and when confronted in real life about their online actions, they are often surprised that anyone would care. I have seen friends who are normally mature and rational people turn into little whining brats, spewing forth venom soaked words at anyone who dares to disagree with their thoughts on a particular topic. It seems like people lose the ability to act normally as soon as they sit down in front of a computer.
It's a tough balance to strike, especially if you need a blog more in line with a personal journal in order to air out things that are bothering you. Personally, I've done this by creating my JU account. No one I know IRL knows about this blog, so I can post here as I like without worrying about people taking it the wrong way, or starting a flame war. Here I can say what I need to say and get genuine feedback that isn't tainted by personal feelings towards me or whatnot.