Personal Technical Websites and Blogs, Worth the Risk? • Hacker News Board

Post by CaptG » Tue, Jun 30, 2015, 12:27 AM UTC

I wanted to know what you all thought about Personal Technical Websites and blogs [1]. I see them as an opportunity to create a known public persona, work on improving my writing and technical communication skills, and possibly create opportunities for public speaking at conferences and suchlike. These are all in the hope of increasing my personal brand for networking and for future job hunting.

However recent events [2-7] have suggested that having a public persona linked to an actual identity is perhaps not the wisest course of action.

A negative example is what happened to Ben Noordhuis. [2] Or the aftermath of the donglegate controversy [3]. Another chilling example is Anita Sarkeesian's experiences [4]. She gets legitimate death threats for speaking about her ideas.

I could go on with the remaining references, but there seems to be a trend that if you have a public persona that people can find [5, 6, 7] and if something goes wrong you can be at the center of a controversy.

One option that I've considered is to create an alias. A public persona for the sake of professional interaction that acts as a firebreak between my actual and public identities. This has been done by technical people in the past, but doesn't seem that common. [8]

However in the age of the Internet, I'm not sure how to create such firebreak, or would it be enough / useful?

Please let me know what you think, are blogs/technical websites a good idea and worth the risk?

[1] Personal Technical Websites http://bit.ly/1Hrc9ob http://bit.ly/1vcL9Ct

[2] Node.js and pronouns http://bit.ly/1zfKrs9

[3] Donglegate http://bit.ly/1oD0pVw

[4] Gamergate http://bit.ly/1DbDSp2

[5] Doxxing http://thebea.st/1KlNIJH

[6] Being in public is hard http://rol.st/1culmyJ

[7] Germanwings http://bit.ly/1RNHGlM

[8] _why http://bit.ly/1Nr8Xd1

Post by drchiu » Tue, Jun 30, 2015, 12:57 AM UTC

I think it depends on the kinds of things that you post online.

If you make the assumption that whatever you post online can be linked to your real life -- even when you're posting anonymously -- then you'll act responsibly just as you would if you were in a public place.

Another way to look at it is that the internet -- and by extension your blog, etc -- can act as a testament to your maturity and insightfulness. And like everything else in life, you wield this powerful resource responsibly.

Does it suck that we can't state our minds without the possibility of backlash? It's just part of life that if you want to attract controversy, then you have to be prepared to deal with everything that comes with it.