Mrs. Kravitz called this morning to say, “Did I offend you last night?”

Smartmom didn’t have a clue what Mrs. Kravitz was talking about. Last night at the Third Street Cafe was so pleasant what with the margaritas, which she barely drank due to her diet, and the good conversation.

Turns out that Mrs. Kravitz said, “Don’t mention ____ on your blog.” Afterwards, she thought Smartmom got quiet and looked offended.

Smartmom was not offended. She is perfectly fine when people tell her that things are off the record. Generally when SM thinks something would make a good blog post she’ll say, “OOOOH, this is good. Can I blog about it?”

In fact, that’s her policy.

When people go out of their way to say: Don’t blog about this, it’s clearer than clear that SM shouldn’t mention it. It might sound like a casual thing to her, something worth mentioning. But obviously it’s not and she respects these three words: OFF THE RECORD.

Sometimes people will turn to her and say, “Don’t put that that on your blog,” and she’s very suprised because it would never have occurred to her to put it on her blog; SM has no interest in putting someone’s personal business on her blog. That’s gossip and SM doesn’t trade in gossip.

Have you ever read anything unseemly and unduly personal about someone on this blog? Really. Then again, Smartmom does do slice of life and stories that inspire her. Maybe she’s included details about people’s health and well-being that were crossing the line. Maybe she compromised people’s trust in that way.

It’s a tricky business this being the town blogger. People sort of love to be mentioned on OTBKB but also HATE it even if they are not mentioned by name.

PRIVACY. It’s an important thing. Mrs. Kravitz and Smartmom talked for quite some time this morning. She told her not to worry. She would always make it clear by saying, “Ooooh this is interesting. May I blog it?”

And if Mrs. Kravitz says, “This is off the record,” It’s off the record. OFF THE RECORD MEANS OFF THE RECORD.