The Great Change: Turning Cathy into a Lawyer

back·date   (bkdt)

tr.v. back·dat·ed, back·dat·ing, back·dates

To go out with an old flame

No, not really. (Or at least that's not the way I mean it here.)

I've been wrestling with the dating of my posts, and I think it may be time to rethink my policies. I've been trying to keep them spread out, partly because I think it makes the blog look better maintained (and not undeservedly so), and partly because I like to fully populate the calendar on the side (that may be a silly reason, but my blog, my silly reasons). All that may be well and good, but I'm wondering if it's getting out of hand. For one, since I tend to post several things all at once, most of my posts are getting date changed notations on the bottom. It's possible that those notations should be the exception but I think they are becoming a rule. And then there's the problem of the accuracy of the record I'm trying to keep.

On the BlogEthics site I almost posted an answer to another of the questions, "When making decisions about your blog, do any of the following values or duties cross your mind?" And then he listed several values including transparency and factual accuracy. I started writing this as a response (although I didn't post it):

I find myself very caught up in the transparency aspect, although it manifests itself in logistical details. Since I hope my blog will be a record of the time in which it was written, I find myself wanting to ensure that it be as reliable a record as possible. The catch is that I'm trying to create a fixed record in a malleable medium. I can always go back and make changes. I often want to, particularly if I hadn't quite been able to make the point I wanted with sufficient clarity at the time I wrote it. But if I make changes retroactively, I run the risk of undermining its legitimacy as a record. So I find myself pursuing all sorts of conventions to try to reach a happy medium. I have posts outlining my editorial policies on edits, and I leave tons of markers at the bottoms of my posts noting any changes. I don't think I've achieved nirvana on this point, but I'm trying...

Of course, what is it really doing for historical accuracy if I keep changing the dates on my posts?

So I think I'm going to tweak my policy. There are many times when the idea has struck me earlier and I've mentally drafted (or actually drafted) the bulk of the post on an earlier date than when I post. In those instances, I think I will still backdate because it is ultimately more accurate to represent the dates when the mood struck. But for posts that have only been vaguely brewing in my head until the one day when the muse lets several out, I think I will let them all be posted for the same day. It won't break anything. Lots of bloggers have lots of posts on the same day. And in telling the story about my law school process, it does tell it accurately to show which were the days that I felt more prolific.

Of course, we'll see how this goes. Old habits die hard.