Apologia
Oh my! What an exciting day here at AOA. Two posts down things have become rather heated in the comments section. I'd rather not have to turn Comment Moderation on since a) I'd like to encourage comments, b) I'm not a big censorship-type guy, and c) it's a hassle I don't have time for. So I have edited the offending post in an effort to douse the flames, so to speak. To the two of you who were offended by me using someone's first name in a post, I'd like to reassure you by noting that:1. about 12 people read this blog
2. of the 12 people who read it, 11 are either family or friends and would know who my ex-gf's son is regardless of whether I used his first name
3. the 12th person neither knows nor cares who KM in Cambridge MA is, let alone who Mike in Philly or Joan in Calgary or Lance Armstrong in Victoria is.
4. it was meant as a completely innocuous post about something that I thought was noteworthy about my day and I didn't mean any harm by it.
I would invite both of you to go away and never come back, secure in the knowledge that never again will I make the mistake of using a first name without said party's express written consent.
posted by Mr. Apple at 7:02 PM
6 Comments:
You insensitive arse. Leave the kid out of it! I don't know you and I hope I never meet you. I would never date a person who is as insensitive as you are.
You might think that only 12 people are reading this blog, but there's a next blog button right at the top of this screen, which means any bored person browsing can read it--that's how I found this. Don't kid yourself into thinking that what you put out there isn't accessible to anyone who wants to read it. That's why smart people have enough sense not to post the names of people they care about without permission.
a) if a random person in Mexico City clicks the button and reads a blog that references some guy's ex-girlfriend's kid in Victoria by his first name....so what? I didn't give his last name. There's no way he can be identified, unless the person knows me, in which case he already knows who I'm talking about.
b) speaking of not kidding yourself - don't think anyone is naive enough to believe you clicked the Next Blog button and found this site. There are over 3,000,000 blogs on this server - assuming the blog you get when you click the button is selected randomly from those 3,000,000+, on average you'd have to click the button at least 3,000,000 times before you found me. It's far more likely someone (probably not you) was Google-stalking me and found my blog via my personal web page...so please spare everyone the "I just stumbled upon your blog" routine. Now please go away.
I've come across the same blogs here repeatedly, including yours. You can believe whatever you like, but I don't lie, so please don't suggest that I do. And unfortunately, when you choose to air your dirty laundry in a public forum, you also can't make someone go away.
Also, said child's name is an unusual one, and the city in which he lives is a small town. Anyone in this city who was even vaguely familiar with the child and his mother, including myself, would recognize who who you were speaking about based on the details which you casually decided to post here. I think it's amusing that you seem so indignant when it's obvious you've done something wrong. But it's not terribly surprising, since you're really comfortable playing the role of injured party.
A suggestion:
Abandon ship.
Assume a new identity.
"Les bananes en haut de L'amerique de Sud".
You'd probably be suprised how far a polite apology can go sometimes.
Probably too late now, but next time perhaps you should try it right out of the gate, it just might save you some grief.
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