It took several of my younger clients over a year to talk me into a MySpace page. That was several years ago and all I ever heard was about how much drama there was on MySpace. Which I've never really understood anyway. The concept of online drama. Or cyber stalking. It seems to me that the Internet is one place where ignoring something really does typically make it go away! So hit "ignore" or delete that friend, or tweak your privacy settings, or block that user or whatever the forum offers.

If you're in a forum that doesn't allow you to do that, then just don't respond. And be prepared, if you do respond, you are feeding the fire and it's going to continue. There's almost never any such thing as getting the last word in an Internet forum. Believe me, I'm an expert at not letting a good Internet fight die.

But it wasn't until I broke down and agreed to a Facebook page that I've known what the girls mean by "drama."

Last year I had to deal with some less than tactful comments on my "wall" regarding one of my posts on this blog. Totally took me off guard and I was reminded that not everyone in my personal life has a clue about what I do here.

So now I'm torn: What should my personal policies be regarding adding "friends" on these social forums? Do I really need to go through all those "friends" and decide which category to sift them into? And then, if I do that, I have to change all my privacy settings and decide who gets to see my posts.

What a pain!

My policy thus far has been to just add friends and let them all see all my posts. If someone has a problem with something I say then I'll decide how to respond — if I respond. But last night I got the opportunity to experience something new. A former client posted something very sweet about her new nail tech.

Ahhhhh. That's nice. Except, there is no way I believe it was meant to be helpful to me at all. Which left me shaking my head, at a loss for how to properly respond, and I don't mean respond online. I mean, more like, react. How do I feel about it? Well, a couple of drinks, a long conversation with the BF about it, and a good night's sleep later I've decided to shake it off. But I'm still left with a nagging, "Hmmm, is it wise to be ‘friends’ with former clients?" feeling.