I just spent the last 30 minutes or so editing my blog.

I was going through and removing any references to my place of business, my co-workers, etc. that would specifically identify them. Luckily, I don't post a lot about my work, and there was only one post that I had to delete in its entirity. I felt I had to do this because a friend of mine almost got fired from her job yesterday for blogging about her job.

I'm of two minds on this. Unfortunately, I understand where the company is coming from. The things she was saying were all in jest and all fairly harmless, but when taken out of context, (or not understanding her sense of humor) they could be considered defamatory. She probably should have been a bit more circumspect about using real names and details, but honestly, I don't believe she thought she was doing anything wrong. Her intent was never to hurt anyone or to defame her company.

On the other hand, I can understand why she did what she did, as well. Her job requires that she be "on" all the time -- smiling, polite, efficient, etc. I can tell you from experience that it's not easy to do that, especially when faced with rude customers, demanding coworkers, etc. I'm lucky that I get to hide in my cube and grumble when I have a bad day; she doesn't have that option. So, I understand why her blog was, for her an outlet, a place to rant, a safe place to express her feelings. Only, it wasn't safe.

Luckily, she wasn't fired; she was placed on 30 day probation. Unfortunately, this whole experience has caused her to question if this is really the type of place she wants to stay, and it's also going to undermine her relationships with her boss and her coworkers.

I feel sad that the lesson in all of this is that one has to censor oneself, even in an inherantly censorship resistant medium like a blog. I feel sad that I felt the need to go through just now and censor myself. I feel sad for my friend (whose name I am deliberately not using) who had to learn this lesson the hard way.