I’m coming across a practice online more and more often, and it infuriates me: writers disclosing on their personal website that the content is their own opinion. One example:
The information I share is based on my best knowledge and honest opinions.
When a blog is clearly labelled as personal – the author’s name and the site name are the same – why is it we feel the need to remind readers that the opinions it contains are our personal opinions? Unless you’re writing on a corporate or team-driven site, chances are pretty good that any opinion surfacing is your own.
When commenters flame below a post, lambasting the author’s point(s) because of their position, title, or relationship to a particular company it shows a particular animosity towards independent thinking. The online world can be cruel, and this particular kind of cruelty is dumbing us down.
Today, we’re explicitly labelling already labelled personal blogs as containing personal opinions because, apparently, we’re too dumb to figure that out. This is just as bad as needing to label satire:
https://twitter.com/ryancduff/status/412598536518516736
So, despite my statements above at how pointless and frustrating the practice might be, let me make one thing perfectly clear:
All of the content you see on this site is my personal opinion. It comes from professional experience at a multitude of companies and often results from conversations with other professions both within and without those companies. My opinions in no way express the opinion of any organization, company, religion, club, group, or social circle of which I am a part.
I have opinions, and this is the space in which I choose to express them. You, too, have opinions. You’re welcome to share them in your own space. If and only if you can express these opinions respectfully, you are also welcome to share them in the comments section of any post on this site.