At the job I just left, one of my regular duties was to blog. I really enjoyed the process and the interaction it provided. I would sometimes share personal details, though because it was a professional blog, I was limited in what I could say. I enjoyed blogging so much that I began this blog a few months ago as a place of personal expression.

While I’ve had lots of fun with this blog and many of the conversations it has started on BrazenCareerist.com, I am also starting to become concerned about where the lines should be drawn with it. It’s obviously personal instead of business-related, but how far can I go with it before I start upsetting people? And if I do upset people, is that OK, because I’m inciting conversation, or should I truly be worried about offending strangers?

Here’s what got me thinking about this. In the last few days of my job last week, my editor asked me to go through all the resumes for my potential successor and sort them into piles for the good and the bad. I had never done this before and really enjoyed getting to see what stood out, both good and bad — I felt like this provided a lot of personal insight for me regarding what people must think when they read my application. We received quite a few stellar resumes and cover letters, but we received many by people who seemed to have never been taught how to properly write them.

Sure, I’m no HR expert, but after being at that job for a year I knew precisely what experience I came in with and what the position required, and as a professional writer, I quickly noticed typos, major lack of experience, and other questionable things. Many of these things immediately turned me off and made me not want to consider that person, and it made me sad to realize that so many of them probably had no idea they were committing no-nos.

Because I felt like I learned so much from this experience, I wrote a blog post about it. I also listed brief details about some of the most odd and problematic resumes and cover letters I received, explaining why they turned me off. Each description was no more than a sentence or two and I never mentioned the name of the company, the name of the person, or any truly personal details. Additionally, when I wrote the post, I wrote the disclaimer that I wasn’t trying to make fun of these errors, but rather discuss them to show what types of mistakes can cause someone to throw your resume in the trash can.

I only received one comment on this blog, which said, “Well said,” but I received many on BrazenCareerist.com, where it is also posted. Many people commented that it’s unfortunate how people are so judged based on these pieces of paper, but that it was a fact of life; others agreed with what I said, and a few told their own experiences sorting through resumes. But several people wrote in with comments that worried me; one guy said I was mentioning so many personal details about people that they could be discovered and I could be sued for privacy, even though I was not specific at all. Another told me that I was not an expert on this and should back off. Another said I was really ignorant and that my next job will hopefully humble me. And so on.

I got concerned and deleted the post here, and just asked one of the Brazen Careerist guys to trash it for me on their site if possible. I know that when you have a blog, you need to have tough skin because there will always be mean people out there, but I don’t like being threatened with “tortious conduct” and potential lawsuits. I never claimed to be an expert; I was just observing what I noticed and how I reacted to it. I would never want those people to be found out; that’s why I mentioned no names and few identifying details — just the errors they made and why other people should try to avoid them. But who knows what could happen; some people take offense very easily.

What if someone somehow found their way to this blog, saw my masked description of them, and freaked out on me? I didn’t start this blog to cause controversy or upset people. I wanted a place to write outside of work. A place where I could share my views and experiences. I have read so many other blogs where people talk not so positively about other people, but often nobody makes comments about how the person they’re writing about may take offense. When is it OK? Perhaps you could say that I should tell my workplace that I was blogging about them, but if I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to blog at all.

What do you think? Where should the line be drawn? What should be off-limits? I’m confused.