I noticed on a web forum someone handing out advice to an instructor who had asked about starting a blog. The advice given suggests that blogs are “dangerous” because you can “betray a confidence” or “upset someone”.
What made me smile is the fact that the advice comes from someone who is opinionated (no problem with that), often criticises (sometimes validly, sometimes not; after all, that’s the nature of opinions) other people’s and establishments’ opinions and practices (e.g. pupils, other instructors, the DSA, etc.), and has their driving school name plastered across every forum comment they make!
And yet they claim that a blog – particularly an anonymous one – is “dangerous”? It’s not even in the same league as opinionated forum posts where someone’s driving school is there for all to see.
In fact, there are a lot of driving instructors starting blogs now. I’d like to think that this one has inspired some of them to a small degree (I know two, at least, who openly cite this one as their inspiration; and a handful of others who would never admit to it, but who have apparently never heard of “plagiarism”). All a blog is is a collection of thoughts and opinions. The fact that it’s a “blog post” instead of a “forum post” doesn’t make its content any different or significant (mind you, I think having comments turned off has a lot to do with the way some people see that).
A blog is as dangerous as the reader makes it. Read too much into it – or have a poorly disguised agenda when disagreeing with the content – and it can seem (or be made to seem) a lot more dangerous than it is. I’m sure that some people who have only ever encountered this blog through references on web forums have automatically acquired a negative view about it from those forums. And yet the content is similar to what you can read anywhere.
I do the blog because I enjoy writing – it’s the modern-day equivalent of a diary or similar record. I also do it because I can, although it isn’t as hard to start one as people think. I get lots of complimentary messages, along with the very occasional hate-mail from people frustrated that they can’t argue or leave abusive comments. Having comments turned off prevents the blog from degenerating into slanging matches – something forum administrators have a full-time job trying to manage.
I’ve had poorly disguised attempts at trying to get my phone number or address by trying to book lessons (it’s anonymous, and isn’t used for personal advertising) – the best one was some guy trying to book for his daughter (in the message title) and his son (in the main text) using some very bad grammar. Lord knows what these people would do if they succeeded – I doubt that many of them know themselves! Others make contact, but then do not acknowledge my response, and people seem unaware that IP addresses which match closely with driving school locations advertised on messages in forums can hint at a lot of things when they come together at the same time.
As I’ve said many times: this blog is a collection of my own thoughts and opinions. People don’t have to read it. And it’s a lot less “dangerous” than some of what you read on web forums…
And to anyone thinking of starting one: do it! It’s great fun.