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Bad Blog

  • August 29, 2005 at 4:29 pm

    #165829

    Or maybe it's a good blog? We've got blogs at SQLServerCentral.com if you want one. Drop a note to me (sjones @ sqlservercentral.com).

    Your blog could get your fired or maybe hired. It certainly helped one of the guys in the link. But a blog got a guy fired from Google earlier this year. I've heard conflicting reports on whether that was because of financial information, but regardless, the blog entry got someone fired. Probably more than I've heard about. Even Microsoft fired someone for posting pictures some time back.

    A blog is a personal thing. Whatever you call it, it's basically a diary. And while it should be your original work and your thoughts, it's also your responsibility.

    We live in an era where we are struggling to get along with each other. Not necessarily nicely, but we do have to get along and somehow work out the "rights" issues that we have. Your thoughts are your own, but once you start to publish them, then you collide with other's rights, specifically those of your company.

    I know we don't want to think a company has more control over us than necessary, but events that occur in a company, photos inside the company, and more all have an impact on the company. It may seem funny that Apple employees were unloading boxes at a Microsoft loading dock, but that's not necessarily public information. It can affect the company's image, depending on how it's presented, and if you want to post something like that, then you need permission.

    I've always asked for permission from employers on things that I think they might not like, or that I am unsure if I have rights. I've spent the last 6 years ensuring that I bring up my writing in interviews and get permission to use events and ideas in articles. To date I've never had an issue with any employer.

    I think you should be as true as you want to be with your blog and write what you wish to write. However be aware that anyone can and may read it. And once you publish, these aren't just your thoughts. They're a publication that you are responsible for.

    Steve Jones

  • August 29, 2005 at 9:37 pm

    #586039

    steve - your link for "blogs at scc.com" doesn't work...







    **ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!**

  • August 30, 2005 at 8:37 am

    #586158

    Thanks

  • August 30, 2005 at 5:53 pm

    #586324

    I actually sort of ran into this.

    I was working as a temp for over a year at a major company (to remain nameless). We worked in their server/mainframe room loading tapes and such. The night shift was unsupervised temps after training. And the four permanent employees all worked day shift nominally doing the same job as us on the floor. (Yeah, right. They barely ever stepped out of their office onto the floor.)

    So I put something up on the website I had at the time lamenting that I would never getting hired and had they used us as semi-tech scut workers at significantly lower pay.

    During one round of interviews they went to my web site and saw that. They basicallyt told me in the interview that I had to take it off the website.

    I then went and got the quote about Publish and be damned!

    And wrote a little theses on the rights of free speech and the government versus the corporate world. I didn't mention them anywhere. I'm sure they saw it but there was nothing they could do about a piece that didn't even mention them.

    And at the time I was running a sub-site that was getting about a 1000 hits a day. So I'm sure that someone had seen the original and got a clue as to what had happened.

    I ended up moving onto another temp position and then picked up with my current employer. Lot smaller company but much better in the end.



    ----------------
    Jim P.

    A little bit of this and a little byte of that can cause bloatware.

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