Way back in the day, a year or two after Stephanie and I got married, Steph was having a hard time with one of our friends. To make a long story short, she was frustrated with the level of commitment made on the other side of the friendship, and it made her sad. One day she blogged about it.
A day or two later, a different friend took it to mean that she was talking about her, and over something that had happened around the time of that wedding. It was a sad and unfortunate thing, with the end result being that I lost a friend too. Fortunately we've recently reconnected and intend to eat at Melt soon. Which is awesome.
The point of this story is that if you think if you read this blog frequently you'll know that if I have some issue with you specifically, I'll let you know specifically. As Tim put it to members of my new family, "The thing I like most about Jeff is that he's a straight shooter, he'll tell you what he thinks."
So this is what I think... If I intend to talk about you, I'll call you out by fucking name. Passive aggressive online bullshit is for teenagers.
I am guilty of this to a large extent. I guess when it comes to close friends and family I feel funny using their names, so I'll use their blogger identity (with a link of course to pimp their blog) or another code name. I admit that on the occasion when I do feel compelled to respond to some sort of personal assault, I try to be discreet given the far more public nature of the blogosphere (as opposed to FB for example). But I know this can lead to misinterpretation and appear PA. We're all human. Then again, the occasions in which I have confronted the perpetrators in real time to try to be direct to iron out a problem or gain more understanding, I am met with that cricket chirping sound. I'm still learning.
I agree entirely with Tim. You can always be trusted to give your honest and unfiltered feedback. Why are people afraid to bear this quality? Why is it so rare? I'm grateful for this quality in you and what it brings to Diana and her family.