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One danger of blogging is that people you know will recognize themselves, even if you fictionalize details such as name and location. Whether you are posting in your own name or under the guise of a persona, the blog can catch up with you.

One such notorious example was the Phantom Professor, an unidentified part-time English and creative instructor at a prestigious university. She wrote anecdotes about her students and the faculty. Many students and faculty at Southern Methodist University were able to see themselves in the Professor's entries. However, some characters, such as the Ashley's (fashionable, anorexic clones), were composites. It didn't help that an student's e-mail was quoted. After her identity was revealed, the instructor's contract was not renewed for the following semester.

One of my friends from the graduate school read my blog series about my experiences in the MFA creative writing program at an unidentified university and wondered who he was in the stories. I never posted anonymously, but I fictionalized names to protect the innocent and the guilty. Somehow, when my friend read the blog, it didn't occur to him what I wrote about him was about him. I'm inclined to think he wasn't attentive, but there is another issue - he did not see himself the way I saw him. He wrote me a few messages on MySpace about it. Once he knew his fictional nomenclature, my friend was shocked to know some of my perceptions about him, especially my observations about his writing.

Blog stories can be a lot of fun to read. Lots of creative thought is out there that isn't being put in print. There is also a lot of juicy material, whether it is confessional, gossip, or both. That many people have seen their lives as material to put out for the world to read is so easy with the blog. Keep in mind it's easy for the world to read it as well, and that world may well include the boss, colleagues, and friends and family. Their reactions may not be so fun.

Learn more about this author, Shinichi Evans.
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