My Social Media Disclaimer

I know a large number of people. Or rather a large number of people know me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no celebrity by any stretch of the imagination and I have no desire to be one.  Lately though, I have been connecting with a number of family, friends, former students and other people I’ve known in various roles throughout my life.  Whether they find me or I find them, there they are.  There you are.  Most of you, my fine readers, know me in some form or fashion, even if it’s just as “guy who writes a geek blog” or something like that.

I’m going to offend you.

Chances are, that at some point I will say something you didn’t expect.  I may offend or even disappoint you.  I know, there’s nothing I can do to offend some of you, no matter how hard I try.  Still, I write things here, and on Twitter or Facebook, that may be shocking to some of you.  That’s why we’re here.

When we use social media, we expose ourselves to a wider audience of friends and strangers alike.  Since the comment that I re-tweeted on Facebook a few weeks ago about liking my women like I like my coffee (for the record, those weren’t my words – I just found the joke humorous and passed it along), I’ve been thinking that I need to clarify some things.  So, in the vein of Wil Wheaton’s “What to Expect If You Follow Me on Twitter” I felt compelled to write a little disclaimer of my own.

I’m Not Who You Think I Am

If you friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or even just read my posts here on Geekcentricity, you may see a side of me you didn’t know about.  Especially if you haven’t talked to me in a long time.  Social media allows us to connect to people we haven’t seen in years, from childhood friends to old Sunday school teachers and everything in between.  At some point, I will say something you didn’t expect.  I may crack an insensitive joke or use some other form of crude or “politically incorrect” humor.  I’m not going to apologize.

I’ve given many presentations, taught many classes, and given many speeches in my life, but the one that was heard live by the largest number of people was all about finding who you are and being honest to that person.  It was all about becoming an authentic person.  Sometimes, I offend people.  I use profanity.  My sense of humor can be crass at times.  My filters are mostly turned off.  I’m not the guy who stood in front of you ten years ago in a classroom and had to keep myself to a G-Rating (okay, sometimes I let it slip to PG or slightly more on occasion).  I’m a writer, a gamer, a geek, a husband, a boss, and many other things.  Sometimes life gets messy.  Sometimes I say some pretty outrageous shit because I think it’s funny.  Or it just came across my mind and I needed to blurt it out.  I can be irreverent and even downright blasphemous at times.

That’s my reality.  If you’re offended, at least I warned you.  I’m not trying to be a jerk, I just want to take those unrealistic expectations and run over them with a 10-ton truck.  To all of my family, this is how I turned out.  Isn’t it great?

Oh, and one last thing:  I’m not “Mr. Miller” anymore.  ”Miller” is still acceptable, as is “Darren”, “Big D”, or “DM”.  I’m just not in anything even remotely resembling a “teacher mode” anymore and haven’t been for a long time, so it’s best just to put those illusions to rest.

Now that all of those unpleasantries are out of the way, we now return you to the regularly scheduled programming.