Wednesday, October 27, 2010

I'm invited!

Hi, everyone! Alright, enough with politics for a few days, at least the ''D'' and ''R'' sort that masquerades as an effective gov't! :-D I think that I've caught up after being away from the web again! I've had something on my mind for awhile now, I'd actually meant to post about this over a week ago, but I got sidetracked and hadn't gotten to it until now.


A couple of weeks ago when I was checking my emails I was delighted to see that I had recieved an invitation to a private blog that's written by a person who's been pretty well known in this corner of Blogistan. I had stumbled onto her blog back when it was still public and I had always looked forward to what she had to say, as many of her life situations have paralels to my own life and I found her words both comforting and helpful in dealing with my own situation. She, of course, knew none of this at the time because this was back in my lurking days and I hadn't even joined Blogger yet. Then, suddenly, she was gone.


She has since explained to me in an email that going private was something that she hadn't wanted to do and that, in fact, it has cost her many followers, but to avoid trouble in her personal life that she'd had no choice. I understand her reasons and I have to agree. We all eventually have to come out of cyberspace and deal with meatspace and anything from here which may cause us grief in the real world must be dealt with aggresively. Some of us live in delicate situations with spouses, parents, and others and the utmost care must be taken. In this world that we live in everything that we do on the internet has the potential to follow us for years, if not forever.


This has made me ask myself if I would ever take my blog private or discontinue it entirely. I don't know. I've been pretty careful on the internet, so, so far, this isn't an issue that I've been too concerned about. I haven't left very big footprints in cyberspace. I don't use my last name here and I have, what I consider, a secondary email account for all of my non-trans stuff. My male name isn't all that Googleable, so making any connection to my activities online, while maybe not impossible, would probably be very difficult. I'm already private in that people that I know in the real world aren't too likely to find my blog unless they know where to look, and most don't. That being said, if it ever started causing me problems I'd have to consider going private or discontinuing.


I do find it very sad when someone has to go private or discontinue their blogs because the community becomes poorer when voices fall silent or can't be heard anymore and their unique stories are lost. I consider myself fortunate to have found her blog before it went private and I'm very happy that she was finally able to contact me and welcome me back to the club so that I can resume following the continuing story of this wonderful, witty woman. Sadly, future lurkers won't be able to, and I consider that to be a great loss for them.

Dani xxx

5 comments:

Amy K. said...

Hmmm! I wonder if it's anyone I know?

I've only been blogging for a little over a year, and I've seen quite a few trans blogs fall by the wayside. I'm always sad when this happens, but I do understand. I don't think I would ever delete mine altogether. The worst I would do is just stop writing someday, or maybe take it up in a new blog. That's very far away, mind you... if ever.

Oh yeah... Meatspace. That's classic!

Dani said...

Hi, Amy! Yes, you may know her, she only went private almost a year ago, probably a while after you started your blog. I was lurking for 2 years before I finally stepped out of the shadows, I've seen quite a few trans blogs go in that time. Sometimes they're ended like Lori D did, often times they just kind of fade away. Fortunately, there always seems to be others who step forward to tell their story. I've still got a long way to go and a lot to say, so I don't think that I'm going away anytime soon!


I think that Veronica may have invented the term ''Meatspace'', she's the first person that I've heard use it. I thought it was pretty cool, so I stole it! :-D

Dani xxx

Leslie Ann said...

Hmmm, this story sounds very familiar...

That's a very kind writeup you've given me, Dani, and I'm happy to have you in Club Leslie. It does seem longer, but I've only been private a hair over six months. That's like seven blog years.

I still have about fifty seats available, people just have to ask.

Amy K. said...

Oh, it's Leslie! I forgot about that little misfit. (Hiya Leslie, hehe!) Yeah, I'm in that club too. Just remember, "Club Leslie" is not an action. ;)

Dani said...

@ Leslie: Yeah, I thought that you may have been familiar with that story. :-D


It's only been 6 months?!? It DOES feel like it's been longer than that!


@ Amy: LOL :-D

Dani xxx