As Jon said, people like Alec and Suz have made their weblogs friends-only for the purpose of attempting to hide what goes in in their lives from employers, prospective employers, or the world in general. On the purpose of hiding such things from employers, I think that Claire’s most recent blog post (which talks about openness to employers) fully sums up exactly what I wanted to say. Well done, Claire.
Personally, I’m glad that searching for my name reveals this web site – I’d far rather that my current employer, my current and prospective clients, and my potential future employers see this site when they search for my name than any other, because this site is actually about me: raw and uncensored. Only an idiot (who I wouldn’t want to work for) would assume that just because they can’t find a weblog for somebody means that they must be “clean” and “innocent” – in the end, nobody is. But by being in control of my online presence, I can show off my talent: I can demonstrate my ability to run web sites, my writing style, and my unashamed approach to dealing with all elements of my life (with the obvious exception of things that I’m not allowed to write to the world about: NDAs and the like).
So: please – feel free to read my weblog, which contains accounts of my life going back as far as 1999, whoever you are, and if you find it affecting how you feel about me as a stranger (with reference to other strangers)… don’t forget – at least with me you’re getting the plain truth.
Edit: Incidently, Suz has tried to make some comments about this post, but hasn’t been able to (not sure why), so she’s made them on Claire’s post instead, and so I’ve responded there. The discussion continues…