Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Oops, I've said too much...

Something we've all known forever, but don't usually think enough about, is that the web is a 'global memory bank'. In other words: Watch what you upload. This, according to Gerry McGovern, an "expert on managing web content," and author of the new book "Killer Web Content." (Thanks to Nalts for the link).

I've heard this warning before, that I say too much, that my words will come back to bite me in the ass, that I really shouldn't make an ass out of myself on YouTube quite as often as I do, etc., etc. But, you know, I really don't care.

I've just never been able to get excited or scared of that possibility, real as it may be. The bottom line is that no matter how careful you are in choosing what you put out publicly, somebody is not going to like it, or is going to misunderstand it, or going to deliberately twist into something you didn't mean.

Favorite example: When Upton Sinclair was running for governor of California (1930s), his opponents used quotes from characters in his books to make him look bad. Every book has a villain, and those villainous quotes were rotten. When his opponents got lazy, they also used quotes from books by Sinclair Lewis. Same effect. Doesn't matter that it was fictional quotes from another writer.

So, you can either refrain from ever putting anything in print (or video or audio tape or etc.), or you can just live your life and deal with the fallout. I made my choice long ago and it's too late to stop now.

1 comment:

  1. Does Lip Synching count? It may come back to bite you but it got you past the 200 subscriber mark. I just made it myself. I think I'll get to 300 by 2008.

    ReplyDelete

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