This blows. Krystal over at Give me Back my Five Bucks has been publically outed, and as a result is shutting down her blog.
She’s going to start a new one, which is great, but it’s sad that the PF blogosphere is losing one of its most honest and frank personal money stories. I think everyone who writes or reads PF blogs drops by Krystal’s blog every now and then; and even if you don’t always agree with what she writes or the decisions she makes, it is great to see such an honest representation of a journey out of debt.
Krystal has had quite a big problem with people leaving nasty comments on her blog, and has always chosen to let people have their say, rather than deleting them or instigating comment moderation. While she says that every now and then it gets her down that strangers can be so rude when leaving horrible comments, for the readers, it presents an amazing opportunity to see the whole spectrum of responses to one person’s financial decisions – I think it reveals fascinating things about the world of blogging. Those things are lost when comment moderation is turned on, and I admire Krystal’s decision to let people have their say – even when they are belittling her own right to have her say.
Krystal making the decision to close her blog throws up interesting questions about how much personal information you should reveal about yourself when writing a blog. PF blogs either fall into two categories: people like Krystal who reveal every aspect of their finances, but retain their anonymity in order to do so; or bloggers who make no secret of who they are, and as a result probably keep a lot of things back. It’s very rare to see someone who is revealing every little detail about their finances, while blogging under their own identity.
It’s a shame that there are people out there who will go to such lengths to destroy someone’s anonymity as someone has to Krystal – and for what? What has been achieved? Other than a lot of people who are supported and encouraged on their own personal money journeys losing an inspiring resource.
I have been a long time reader of Krystal’s blog and while I’m not a big commenter, have enjoyed watching her progress and success, and the way she deals with setbacks, and I think the PF blogosphere will be worse off for the loss of Give me Back my Five Bucks. I’m wishing Krystal all the best with her new blog, and hope I stumble upon it one day!
Just a nuts situation. I also had to do what Krystal did and move my blog when I found out that not one, but THREE (all friends) of my coworkers were reading it behind my back.
I’m still exceptionally paranoid about the whole ordeal and even though I have a new blog, on a new server, I still don’t write ANYTHING that they could “judge me” on. Before I used to write about work scenarios without knowing they were reading. Now I only talk about my future career rather than specifics of “at work” just in case they are still reading.
I know that Krystal will do fine, but it does suck that she will lose so much of her “casual” reader base. She has one of the most popular truly personal PF blogs out there.
I had a friend who sent my personal online journal link to multiple friends of ours. Ruthless.
Now I don’t think I’d mind so much. I think my blog would be really boring for someone who knows me to read – I don’t reveal much about personal or work relationships.
Well, I don’t blog anonymously, and I can think of only one thing that I ever held back on. That had nothing to do with finance. It was a rant about a friend’s gf, but he reads the blog so…
That said, I wonder if people blogging understand how easy it is to find out information based on even the smallest comments. Things you’re not even aware reveal something.
My opinion, and I know it’s a harsh one but here ya go, is that you shouldn’t be blogging if you don’t want anyone to know who you are. Realistically, you will be found out. Maybe I’m especially cynical because both parents are journalists, but it’s true.
My hope would be that no one would out a blogger because it’s pretty vindictive and stupid. Nonetheless, you should never put anything in a blog that you wouldn’t want the whole world (including friends/family) to see. Because there’s a decent chance they will, at some point.
Still, I’m sorry Krystal feels she has to give up her established base. I think the best move would be to say screw it and stay out in defiance of the people who do such rude things.
wow, how did i miss that??? scary man…going over there to see what’s up. WE LOVE YOU KRYSTAL!
Hi! Thank you so much for such a wonderful post. After much thought about closing my blog, I decided to keep it going. But with security. I moved my blog over to WordPress, and am hosting it myself so that will definitely cut back on spammers and just plain jerks.
I have also had to put on comment moderation – something I never wanted to do. But after what happened, it’s the only way I feel comfortable continuing blogging. It’s just so harsh someone has to be so cruel as to go out of their way to find out who I am, and then spread that around the internet. Who does that??!?!
Also I just wanted to point out that I never EVER write anything down that I would deem inappropriate or out of character for me to write. If anyone I knew (and there are some out there) found out about my blog, I’d have nothing to hide. I’m completely myself on my blog, I never write anything harsh or negative … but I just … I like being anonymous. It gives me more freedom to write everything that I want to write, under the mask of the internet.
There have been times where I’ve wanted to just reveal myself, but I think it’s come to a point where if someone finds out who I am? As long as they aren’t vindictive about it and keep it to themselves, I’m not worried. I trust in most PF bloggers out there.
Hearts to you FruGal. You’re the best.
@ Krystal, really glad you decided not to shut down! And love the new blog design, btw
It’s a real shame that people can’t let those who want to stay anonymous just keep it that way. I like that my blog is clearly about me but you’re right, it does make me a bit cautious about what I write. Even though all my family, friends and colleagues know about it, I don’t feel comfortable with them knowing EVERYTHING.
Ah blogosphere, it’ll never be quite right will it.
By the way, I still keep up to date with all your posts but I’ve gotten really slack at commenting. Hoping to rectify that soon!