I’m a semi-private individual. In that, I will speak of things I am comfortable talking about by my own filtering. Once I let it out and speak of it, it could very well mean that I was comfortable posting that and almost nothing can make me feel guilt or embarrassment of saying it.
One thing I have observed people slipping on is that, people tend to have no filter. So they go on and on and on about themselves, not having a sense of the mind to think that someone out there, anywhere, could be documenting them. Sadly, there are those people that are out there.
On one hand, someone just wants to communicate, project themselves, let others know who they are. On another hand, they won’t know whether or not they’re being documented so that in turn, are re-broadcast to another community or someone else who is gonna just have a field day with some aspects of what you spoke about that could later crop up when you least expect it.
Often times you’ll hear people say that they don’t care what others think. It’s funny how most of the time that is uttered and it is challenged, people end up folding pretty fast at times. It implies that yes, you do to a degree, care about what people think of what you’ve said.
So this is why I’m semi-private. If I have the thought of ‘I don’t think I’m that comfortable talking about this’ then it is simply not spoken of. I think some people need to occasionally think that way.
There is some truth to the unwritten rule of the internet where, you shouldn’t gush too much about all aspects of your life. Reserve that for online journals or blogs.
I’m pretty open. I’ve been using the internet this way for about 25 years and to date it’s never been a problem. I’ve got clothes with my handle across the shoulders, etc. so it’s not a secret who I am. I try not to be too specific about some stuff that I don’t feel are mine to talk about, or that might be professionally problematic (I don’t really talk about my current employment anyway - I’m not ashamed of it, it’s just not very interesting and doesn’t particularly define me so it’s not very relevant).
In various online communities over the years I’ve been one of the biggest fish so I’m occasionally recognised which varies between flattering and a little uncomfortable (usually in terms of " You clearly want something so what is it you want me to do/not do or wish I had done/hadn’t done?" but with socially awkward pleasantries). This has resulted in someone trying to use an FAQ I wrote to argue against me, not realising - meaning I effectively had to dust off the old “don’t you know who I am‽” type of response (albeit minus the diva overtones).
In the past the odd person has been a bit stalky and then been surprised when this information doesn’t intimidate me (I recall a particularly memorable one being “I know what you look like” to which my response was a photo of me with a shocked face). I do care what other people think but disapproval doesn’t bother me all that much. I try to be true to myself so when confronted there’s nothing to use against me - there’s no cognitive dissonance (so if I was an arsehole, no, I meant to be, it wasn’t an accident, it’s what I felt was an honest response to the situation).