It’s definitely a lot to think about, especially for those like Chris Brogan, who has brought us into certain aspects of his life w/his kids.

Thanks for the additional thoughts, Tim!

Anyway, it’s crazy when you think about it! Everything we post online will be available to future generations for an indefinite amount of time. When you step back and think about all the people that will consume your content tomorrow, next week, during the next Olympics, when we land on Mars….it’s sorta mind blowing.

Excellent observation.

The most common reason for deletion in length, with some thoughts being rifled away for another place and time. I deleted three graphs just today for that reason.

Other times, a post or portion of a post just might not feel right. Sometimes it might be too snarky or sharp or just too prone to being taken out of context. Sometimes it just doesn’t fit the intent in the first place.

As communicators or writers, I don’t think most of us will ever get away from second guessing the sentence, paragraph, or post. Maybe that’s a good thing. Not everything needs to shared in the moment.

All my best,
Rich

But even so, our passion for that particular topic can come and go in an instant, making us lose any desire we originally had for the post. Ebb and flow of it all, I suppose!

Thanks so much for stopping by, Christina.

I was only recently able to start my blog when I finally finished an entry that I was willing to post online, so I know exactly what you’re talking about. For me, it’s more ‘would anyone be interested in what I have to write?’ than anything else, but half-finished-when-interrupted posts as Christina described above are a close second!

The point thing I question, which ties in really all of your main touchpoints, is whether my community will dig it or not.

Will it hurt my reputation? 1 post certainly won’t, unless you blatantly attack someone for no good reason. But social acceptance, fear of failure and strategy all fall within the scope of that question. We all, for the most part, understand the focus and strategy of our blog – but getting over what others may say, or not say, is definitely important as we continue to grow as bloggers.

Thanks for your killer input, as always

A good way I’ve slowly learned is to write down the main topics of interest for your post. Everything that pops into your head. And then head over to the digital side and put it all together. Helps in structure but also keeps your thoughts on paper, without the ability to edit them.

I think by nature, blogs are designed to be less formal forms of writing, meant of course, for discussion to shape the final thought. I guess if we struggle with a post, it makes sense to write about the struggle. Maybe others feel the same too about a particular topic and it will inspire another round of discussion

Have I dealt with this before? Absolutely. Heck, I’ve addressed my struggle on my blog. I think the hesitation to publish content is comprised of a few different aspects: reputation management, social acceptance, fear of failure and attention to strategy.

This place is public and all we do here is available for the world to see. If we screw up, if we make no sense, how does that affect the reputation we’ve developed here? Could one post hurt that bad?

Of course, the social acceptance side of things plays a big role. The Internet is a social space and, if you get right down to the human heart of things, we play here because it’s another place we can find acceptance. There is a niche community somewhere that’ll love us — and, more importantly, our blog is a niche community WE’VE created, so we can’t drop the ball and alienate our loyal community members.

Fear of failure? Don’t really need to go into that much, we get it. And when it comes to strategy, those of us here who use these tools for professional purposes understand how important it is to remain focused. I think infrequent off-topic posts are great, but there’s a difference between a focused off-topic post and a post that just…fell off its true path.

Being in public = second guessing yourself on a regular basis. It’ll never stop. How do you combat the effects of self-doubt? Try to care less about what others think and find validation from within.