Blog News Watch

You know the day’s coming, if it hasn’t come already - the day you fire up the computer, having read or seen something that got you all in a tizzy, full of righteous indignation, and you barrel your way over the ‘Net to your blog - your soapbox, dammit! For today that is just how it will be used - a pulpit to set right this incredible wrong! To make the world see reason (your reason)! To force them all to see the light (your light)! You work feverishly! The words just flow from you, your fingers flying furiously! It’s the best stuff you’ve ever written!

And then, God help you, you hit “publish.”

Even if you came to your senses immediately, it would be too late. Murphy’s Law, the Computer Corollary, states that the likelihood of someone seeing what you just published to the blog is directly proportional to the inappropriateness - nay, the eyerolling, head-banging-against-desk remorseful “Why the hell did I write that?”-ness - of the post.

Yes, you know the day is coming, even if it hasn’t hit you already. It will, my friend. And the question then is - what on earth are you going to do? How do you recover? How does your blog recover after you misuse it in such a fashion?

Allow me to introduce Penelope Trunk, The Brazen Careerist, who showed you exactly how to do just that, and probably even increase your readership in the process. You may not have been watching that particular corner of the ‘Net so allow me to sum up, ever so briefly: Penelope writes The Brazen Careerist, as well as a Yahoo! column on work matters. In this capacity she often comments on recently published books with subjects related to her fields of inquiry. And recently, she read something - it doesn’t matter what, or by whom - that got her creative juices flowing. And then she found what she considered to be a flaw in the author’s overall message - again, doesn’t matter what. The point: she came to a conclusion. She posted that conclusion, in fairly blunt and harsh language, on her blog.

Penelope expressed surprise at what happened next. Instead of scores of readers flooding her comments with “Right on!” and “You go girl!” messages, scores of readers (including yours truly) posted some rather pointed criticisms of the post. Key objections: it was offensive; it was beneath Penelope as a writer and as a woman, to cast aspersions on this author on the basis she did; there were other, more logical explanations for the apparent dichotomy that Penelope pointed out other than the conclusion she jumped to.

Here’s where the lessons start - in what Penelope did next - or rather, what she did not do:

• She didn’t insist on her correctness, and the incorrectness of her commenters.
• She didn’t spin a half-apology (a la “I’m so sorry you misunderstood me”), nor did she make excuses.
• And she didn’t gloss over it as if it had never happened.

What she did do is a step-by-step lesson plan for us all in how to recover gracefully:

1. She removed the offending post, and explained why. While I’m not always in favor of this option, sometimes (and this was one of those times) it’s necessary. When the offending post hits at a level that’s beyond, or below, that of ordinarily acceptable human discourse (say, when it’s personally insulting), it ought to come down.
2. She apologized - sincerely, and profoundly. No exceptions, no excuses, no “but you must understands” - just a simple, heartfelt apology and a promise to try to be a better person in the future.
3. She then did something that floored me - she wrote to me, and I suspect to every commenter who expressed similar opinions, to apologize directly and personally. The email started off (I paraphrase but only slightly) “You’re right, and I’m sorry.”

That’s it. Three very simple steps. And I would not be at all surprised if Penelope’s readership increases as a result of this misstep and her recovery, though I doubt very much that’s why she did it, or that such thoughts even crossed her mind.

Well done, Ms. Trunk.

Penelope Trunk, blogging ethics, apologies, grace