Andreas was kind enough to take the time to write a reply to my post What To Do If Your Boss Reads Your Blog. I chose to disable anonymous comments on my blog long ago because I didn't want to deal with comment spam. For that reason I'm publishing his comments here (with his permission of course).
Here you are, here I am ;-)
The freedom of speech doesn't include the right to shout "fire" in a crowded theatre, if there is no fire. But you may shout "Theatre" in a crowded fire ;-)
Writing a blog is an act of publishing. The same discussion is therefore valid for all other media formats as well, blogging is just a popular occasion. Imagine moderating a late night radio show on IT projects and making mean jokes about your projects (or bosses, of course) - same disposion.
Publishing is like talking in public - only better distributed using a transportation medium. Blame your bosses on Kärntnerstrasse [a crowded shopping street in the heart of Vienna] by shouting out loud; chances are high you'll largely get ignored. But you never know.
You have to decide, what to say or not. But it's not limited to your bosses but to all stakeholders in your current professional and private environment - sometimes maybe there are thoughts which could offend, perhaps, your mother, not your boss ;-) Write it, or not? Every publication needs its own decision I'd say.
Sometimes taking the future into consideration also makes sense. The internet never forgets. You can delete a blog-entry, but it might be saved somewhere (http://archive.org) - everybody can track your contributions, even years after you've already totally forgotten about them.
Cheers
Andreas
PS: I don't agree that you can publish everything about your customers and projects in the title of the freedom of speech: most details are confidential. Of course you *could* write about everything, but it would be against various agreements between you and your company as well as your company and the customer. You would have to live with the problems generated for everybody then (however they are shaped).
I think Andreas mentions some valid points. The internet never forgets indeed, and Pilate's words may come back to haunt you ("What I have written, I have written"). I think his PS is spot on. I could talk about confidential details, but this would have very farreaching consequenses. One of those consequences would be broken trust. By signing my contract, I promised not to go public with confidential data. If I were to break that promise, I would show myself not to be trustworthy. I think trust is a very important basis for any relation, so I keep those promises.