When blogs first went mainstream several years back, there were a couple of complete strangers whose blogs intrigued me. Not because we had a lot in common — I don’t know that we had *anything* in common — but because their designs were eyecatching, and mainly because the authors were so intentionally vague. The ambiguity of their posts made me wonder about them, and read more. Eventually, I found answers to some of my more basic questions: age, orientation, relationship status, things like that. But the topics of each post remained purposefully unknown.
I don’t have very many vague strangers whose blogs I read anymore; most of them are either not vague at all (except with given names), or they’ve gone AWOL. One person whose blog I used to frequent has stopped blogging altogether; I grew bored with another’s continual daily two-line ultra-depressed teasers with no informational or emotional payoff. With the advent of friends-locked entries and (relatively) secure social networking sites (and a distinct lack of interesting design in free blogs, which was what drew me to view certain blogs in the first place), there’s little chance I’ll ever completely recapture the odd sort of voyeurism I once enjoyed.
Every now and then, though, I read an intentionally vague entry by an acquaintance or a complete stranger, and I’m reminded of that delicious confusion in putting the puzzle together. “Isn’t he living with his wife? Don’t they have a kid? Why is he mentioning seeking out sexual relationships, then? Who is [insert cryptic name here], and how does he know her?” And so forth.
Many people are more guarded about their secrets than I.