Late to the party (again), and I really cannot understand what it is about the people who get their knickers in a twist about having their posts linked to on Tomorrow. I won’t re-hash the arguments that if you put in on a public website it’s free for the linking, but the editors at Tomorrow ought to ask for permission before linking, etc.
Aside from pointing out how fucking retarded the Web would be if we actually had to ask for permission for every single hyperlink we made (and many companies attempted this in the early days, as I recall, I think some still do), maybe Singaporeans need to be reminded that the Internet is a free-for-all. Some sites, according to national laws, may be illegal, and I’d agree with those laws, but you can put anything you like up on the Internet as long as there is someone willing to host it. And whether you like it or not, if you post something on a publicly-accessible website, someone you may not want to link to you links to you.
That’s just tough shit. It may suck, but life can really, really suck. What are you going to do about it?
If you want to write something down that is intensely personal, use a pen and paper, for God’s sake. I do that. No one said you had to publish it on the Internet; follow the rule I have since I uploaded my first website in 1996:
Don’t publish anything on the Internet you wouldn’t say in public.
I suppose ‘the buyer beware version’ is part of the reality.
But the apparent plethora of made-in-Singapore blogs allow many to operate in blissful anonymity- not scandalous or dripping with secrets, but just chugging along happily unnnoticed except by friends and the acccidental visitor.
I can empathise with them – an adult who speaks up in a crowd here is a minority.
When mrbrown and mr miyagi started local blog features, a humble blogger could get sussed out in the spirit of the aortal. Most rejoiced but some were dismayed. Is there a place in the internet for the latter?
Just as aortals encourage some bloggers, they can discourage others unprepared for the attention. Not linking in some cases is as encouraging as linking in another. Same spirt!
BTW, your is a site I dropped in regularly on when I started out. Now on RSS.
Comment by Otterman — 2 September 2005 @ 5:10 pm
Hey, I know your site. The biking thing is cool.
I agree that some people are not happy with the attention, they just want to exist quietly. Unfortunately for them, the Internet, as a platform, does not respect that. It’s just one of those things that life throws up; if you want to be on the Internet, be prepared that you may be noticed. If you’re not comfortable with that, password-protect everything, or don’t publish.
Comment by Andrea — 2 September 2005 @ 5:43 pm
Couldn’t agree more with you. Internet is a borderless world where privacy is nothing but the main comodity to be freely traded around. It may sound harsh and ruthless – but that’s the reality that no law on earth can change. So, if one actually is not ready for this harsh reality – just keep away from it. As simple as that. :)
Comment by Rem — 5 September 2005 @ 12:41 am