When bloggers go too far... just for a story

Hi everyone. I want to thank everyone who read and commented on my last blog post. I can see women don't joke with sensitive issues like this.

I ended up calling my client, and she seems to be doing very fine now. She will resume the new job, and see how it turns out, although from what is currently being said, the new job seems offer a supportive environment to women, and enables them balance career and family. If you haven't read it, please do by clicking here, and lending your voice. This is because my client read the post, and is actually seeing the comments. So you can use the comment section to get to her.

Source

So something odd happened last week after the post was published. I was getting calls from a 'private number', which I kept cutting off because my number was recently used in a spam text, causing so many unknown numbers to call me, including 'private numbers'.

The person kept calling, so I picked, with the intention of cutting it immediately. Alas, I heard the voice of a well-spoken lady, who is a blog reader.
Long and short of the call, the blog post had too much information and description such that anyone who had a little personal information about my client would know it was her.

Yes, she knew who I was talking about, from my descriptions, so adviced that I take out some of the directly relatable details in the post, hence the later edit.

It is a small world indeed!

I felt so bad that I had exposed my client, even without meaning to do so. Now the whole world would know she's pregnant. Of course, I hadn't told my client about the blog post because the post wasn't about her or to expose her, but about her story.

So that leads me to question 1. Do you take permission from people before using their stories in a public domain, even though you are not exposing them personally? E.g "My friend told me a secret yesterday. She said she's a lesbian, and I was so shocked because she always has this holier-than-thou attitude." Do I need to tell her I'm going to put it in my blog even though I'm not exposing her?

What is the ethics guarding this when it comes to the writing world?

Secondly, how much is too much information when writing about other people, especially when you didn't take permission? How do you know when you have gone too far? You know that something might not be ethically or legically wrong, but it might be morally wrong. And when it comes to morals, it is always relative because my morals might not be your morals.

I am asking all these because many of us write and blog without any knowledge of the ethics and guidelines of what we are doing. And many times, ignorance can land one in trouble.

I felt so bad after that call because a random blog reader was able to know the person I was talking about, just by reading my post. It's obvious that they are close. What are the chances that her close friend is a blog reader? Definitely not zero. If one person could have figured it out, how many more could have? The blog reader could have reacted differently. She could have called my client, and told her, or she could have started telling the whole world about how my client is now pregnant (if she were malicicious, and not a true friend).

And so, I called my client. She gave me the update on how she and her family were adjusting to the situation. Thankfully, she was now doing well. I told her about the blog post, sent her the link, which caused her to binge on the whole blog.

Please, can you give your opinion in the comment section.

1.  Do you take permission from people before using their stories in a public domain, even though you are not exposing them personally?

2.  How much is too much information when writing about other people, especially when you didn't take permission?

Things to consider. Ethics, Legalities, Morals