Passive Aggressive Blogging (PAB)

I have been trying to figure out how to blog about passive aggressive blogging without being, well, passive aggressive. I've decided that it's impossible and I should just bite the bullet and PAB away.

Someone is PABbing when they use a blog entry to say something that they actually want to say to a single individual but lack the nerve. (This entry is an example, which is why I haven't written it for months even though it has been on my mind. So I would like to emphasize that my point is not that I am above PABbing. I am only noting it as a phenomenon.)

Example of PAB: You go to a party that is really over-the-top, and then you blog afterwards about people who throw over-the-top parties. Or you have a friend who says something catty to you and you blog about people who make catty remarks instead of saying, Hey, dude, that SO hurt my feelings.

I think you are only PABbing if you know the person you are blogging about stands at least a 50% chance of reading your blog. If you (think you) know for sure they won't read it, then you're just diarizing dangerously.

I don't think good bloggers can/should try to avoid PAB, because not everything obnoxious that someone does is worth causing conflict over but some of those things are still interesting enough to write about.

From a personal mental health perspective though, it's worth being aware of when you're engaging in PAB, because there might turn out to be something that really needs to be aired one-on-one instead of seasoned lightly for Internet humor value and served to the world.