As vocal and opinionated people, bloggers by nature are more likely to tell you enthusiastically about the things they love the most…as well as the things they hate the most. While everyone’s writing style is different, I am asked frequently about where I personally draw a line in the sand when it comes to what I will and will not blog. With that in mind, I set out to make a case against complaint posts in January. While there are times that I, too, need to vent on the pages of my blog, including my Open Letter to the Traditional Media last December, I firmly believe that tactless venting comes at a cost, and bloggers need to weigh their words and choose their battles carefully.
Last month my family went on a one week vacation to Walt Disney World. We had fabulous service at parks, restaurants, and our hotel, enjoyed countless rides and entertainment, and even found something exciting to do during two days of rain. On our final day, we waited patiently for theMagical Express to pick us up at our hotel and take us back to the airport for our flight home. What followed can only be summed up as one hour of misery. As I sat on that bus on the way to the airport, I mentally wrote a blog post about the experience. I noted the date, the time, the driver’s name (which I still remember…it was that bad) as well as every detail of what transpired.
But then I let it go.
I could have done what many in the blogosphere do and written all of the details of this terrible experience. As a writer I am fluent in the language of hyperbole, and the picture I could have painted for you of our trip to the airport would have been vivid, detailed, and memorable.
It would have been memorable.
When bloggers sit down to write a negative post lambasting a company, a former friend, the PR industry (their child’s school, the weather, an estranged relative…really, this could go on forever) they almost never weigh the impact that might have both on them and on the object of their wrath…