Sounds rather ominous, doesn't it? In personal blogs, how much is too much when it comes to revealing your life? Some would argue that one shouldn't reveal anything. Others would say it's okay to spew out anything as long as you don't put your home address on your website in size 47 font. But the problem is that personal information is the very thing that gives blogs their authentic voice.
This blog doesn't have much traffic but is ridiculously easy to find. Because of this reason, I don't talk very much about work. For one thing, professionally, I don't want to get "scooped" on research which could mire me in grad school pretty much indefinitely. Another thing is that I don't want to piss off anyone I might have to interact with later. Some people are known to hold grudges for a long time and if they are in a position of power, they can deny you a job or trash your paper.
If I talk about people I know, such as friends, family, and roommates, I do not use their real names. I also only write down things which I am not afraid to talk to them about if we were to discuss it face to face. The weblog is not the online equivalent of a priest at a confessional. The priest is obligated to keep things confidential. The internet is not.
Peculiar Types are occasional fictional entries that are based on real life observations. I make sure everything is masked. I change not only the names, but also appearances, ages, genders, and general situations and settings. My purpose here is not to spotlight one particular person--so that for instance, if you met John Doe on the street you would immediately recognize him--but to point out personality quirks that are in the people around us as well as ourselves.
That said, writing personal entries are indeed enjoyable and cathartic. But I must confess, it also takes a lot out of a person, and I am quite relieved and content that I can mostly blabber about science, media, and other minutia without feeling attention-deprived.
