A few years back, I was pulled into my boss’s office.  Sitting there was my boss, her boss and a representative from human resources.  I was told in no uncertain terms that the only way I was going to be “allowed” to continue the blog I had at the time was if they saw and edited every post before it was published. That blog was not much different from this one, except for the fact that it focused mostly on admissions. Originally, I was going to let them do it…I loved blogging about this subject matter and wanted to keep doing it.  Upon further reflection, however, I just got pissed off at the notion. That night, I had a few cocktails and deleted the blog entirely, rather than let them edit my words. It wasn’t too much longer before I quit that job, because of this and so many other reasons.

And that’s why I feel so much for Tony Dunn.  A blog is a labor of love, and yesterday Tony was forced to shut down Tales From Redesignland because a few people he works with didn’t get it.  There’s no other way to say it - it sucks. Not just for Tony, but for all of us who looked forward to each and every TFRL post with giddy anticipation. Not only was it one of the best higher ed blogs out there, but I would go so far as to say it was one of the best blogs I’ve ever read on any subject matter.  It was smart, witty, and presented in such a way that you just couldn’t help but smile when you read it.  When I was lucky enough to have a cameo in one of the cartoons, I printed it out and it hangs on the door of my office to this day.

Unfortunately, what both Tony and I have gone through are anything but isolated incidents.  I’ve heard of far more incidents than I’ll share in this post, but it always makes me sad.  If you write a blog and work at an institution, brace yourself because I would bet all the money in my pockets that you will go through this at some point. Some people would argue that the bloggers bring it on themselves by writing things that touch a nerve…but isn’t that the point of all of this? To provoke conversation? Typically, I find people who make this argument are biased in the sense that they have a really narrow view, and fail to understand that there is a larger context to all of this than what goes on at any one institution. Tony wrote about things he had experienced, but they were things that every higher ed web professional who read his blog could relate to - that’s why it was successful.

Stuff like this will only happen when your blog gets popular.  Why? Because that’s when people start to get jealous of you. People start to talk, and maybe something you write gets emailed around the office (when people may or may not realize that you were the one who wrote it), and all of a sudden people start to realize how respected you are in your community.  Not only is it unexpected, but it’s threatening.  To me, it’s the silliest thing in the world - I sit at home on my couch with a computer most of the time.  What’s there to be jealous of?  It’s certainly anything but glamorous.

So, if you’re going to do this, be prepared for that day where you get pulled into your bosses office.  Do your best to insulate yourself.  Don’t associate yourself with your institution publicly.  Don’t blog at work. Put a disclaimer on your blog.  It may seem paranoid but these are things that will protect you in the long run.

And to all you supervisors out there, if you have an employee doing this, sit back and think for a minute before reacting.  You could piss your employee off and completely demotivate them…or you could embrace and utilize the insights they have and write about.  Whenever I go to conferences, I talk to person after person that are just overwhelmed by all this web stuff…and they don’t know where to start….and they don’t have someone in their office they can turn to.  But if you have someone writing about this stuff publicly, then you have one of those people.  Do you realize how lucky that makes you? People who do this sort of thing do it because they love writing about what they do, or wish they were given the freedom to implement.  Instead of discouraging it, utilize it.

Thank you Tony, for all of the work you put into Tales From Redesignland.  It was the only blog that I would read every single post…and it would be spot on every single time.  You’re a real class act and your nuggets of wisdom and humor will be sorely missed.

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