feministe: How Blogging Has Changed Me as a Writer

"When I first began keeping a website, some six years ago, I learned pretty quickly that vomiting up personal information was not necessarily a great thing in a public forum. Even masking your friends under pseudonyms and vague descriptive references did not prevent your friends from recognizing your gripes about them. Thanks to my website and blog, I have lost a total of two boyfriends and alienated myself from my parents for a time (this has been rectified with the parental agreement that I no longer voice my familial complaints on the internet). Dooce, quoted in the article 'Dating a Blogger, Reading All About It,' had a radically worse experience. When you get personal on the Internet, scathingly personal, there can be significant consequences."

This is an excellent post - read the rest!