Guest post by Anonymous
I had originally submitted a post to Erika complaining about my sister’s blog. She wrote me a very kind message advising me that the post came off as a bit harsh and that she was uncomfortable posting it. I appreciated her honesty and realized that I would have regretted her publishing the original post. Because ironically, in the original post I came off as an ass. Which is something that I was complaining my sister did in the first place.
The internet and other forms of electronic communication, like e-mail are tricky. The nuances of spoken language are non-existent here. You can write something and have it taken in a direction that you did not intend. You can unknowingly offend others with your tone. I know there has been a few instances in e-mails where I thought I was joking with someone (a few times, my husband) and the person on the receiving end took it the wrong way. And I spent many subsequent e-mails digging myself out of the hole I dug with poorly chosen words, because my facial expressions and voice intonations were not there to guide the intent. There were only words on a screen. And sometimes words can be horribly misconstrued.
Another form of communication that can be misunderstood is, of course, blogging. It is true that many people blog ultimately for themselves, but many bloggers also wish to have an audience. To join the greater blogging community. The reason I initially contacted Erika was because of my sister’s blog. My sister is a lovely, intelligent person. However, she is confused about why no one reads or comments on her blog. When she asks me for advice, I don’t know what to tell her. Because in all honesty, I find her blog posts, well, boring. And I can see how people who don’t know her in real life might be turned off by how she sometimes comes off as a jerk when asserting her opinions. Even some of my family members have complained to me that they have been offended by things she has written.
So my question is this – how do I gently tell my sister that she, unintentionally of course, may be turning people off by the poor attitude of her online persona? Or do I tell her? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and Erika, thanks for calling me on my own unintentional assedness.
Guest post by Anonymous
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