Blogging?

Dwight, I liked that post of yours on the US Labor market. That chart showing the gap between recession output and unemployment is amazing. The whole post was really food for thought. I had a question though, how come you don’t have comments on your blog?

I’ve been keeping it as simple as possible for now. Was planning to wait until I have 500+ unique daily visitors to open up comments. Thoughts?

appreciate the feedback, Dwight and newsuper. will change it soon.

Dwight Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’ve been keeping it as simple as possible for > now. Was planning to wait until I have 500+ > unique daily visitors to open up comments. > > Thoughts? Ah, fair enough. Not a bad strategy. How many visits are you getting a day?

Thanks for the feedback… I will change.

I used to maintain a blog until about 5 years ago, basically while I was at school. It is not helpful in many ways for a professional career. A) Your opinions may change and it is hard to remove earlier opinions from a blog. B) Many people are on blogs now, to reach any significant audience your need to be active on your blog and advertise elsewhere. It takes time. C) Writing interesting articles for a wider audience is often much easier using lurid language, which in turn may not reflect well on your professionalism. D) Should any of your clients find your blog, your confidentiality and integrity may be questioned. Seen this happen personally while still at school. E) Your employer may not feel the same enthusiasm regarding blogging as you do, especially when done during office hours. That may have changed over time, but it was a huge issue when I started with my blog. F) Depending on your legal environment, when writing articles at work, your employer may claim that the article is actually his property. I am not saying don’t do it, but one should think about the consequences, ideally get employer consent, and definitely “don’t be stupid” on your blog. I continue to “blog” privately, at home, and only share access to my ideas selectively.

Great points egal. I have considered many of those issues as well, but you make some compelling arguments. 1) Many of your points are mitigated if you are not working full-time. I am currently in school so safe for another year or so. 2) It is also hard to remove earlier opinions from emails, interviews, public statements, etc. Blogging is not special in that regard. As long as you present a balanced viewpoint and speak in terms of probability and well-researched views I think this is not so much of an issue. 3) I feel it is possible to create unique, quality content without being lurid or inflammatory. As evidence, consider some of the premiere posters on this site (without naming names). I agree with your general sentiment around blogging being a potential red flag to an employer. They may simply not have a good feeling for the legal/other implications and just decide to pass over you. >Ah, fair enough. Not a bad strategy. How many visits are you getting a day? About 70 unique/day right now. I wrote for several months, but made it public a month ago.

I don’t know anyone who blogs, but I dont work in the US so maybe a cultural thing. I’ve never heard of anyone doing it at work with the employers consent and don’t really see how that would work. Without consent is a different matter… like posting on AF basically. Also, if I were to do this, I would go down the route of staying anonymous.

Muddahudda Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I don’t know anyone who blogs, but I dont work in > the US so maybe a cultural thing. I’ve never heard > of anyone doing it at work with the employers > consent and don’t really see how that would work. > Without consent is a different matter… like > posting on AF basically. Also, if I were to do > this, I would go down the route of staying > anonymous. Unless it IS part of your job to maintain a blog, then anonymous is definitely the way to go. As I said in my first post I’m not doing it for money, fame or anything else, but more to keep a record of interesting material I come across and also to help clarify my opinions on matters in my own mind.