Is it feasible to have a publicly accessible journal style blog?

When creating a blog or any type of documentation publishing system, the question of user access permissions is one that inevitably arises. For an online web blog, this is an especially important question because information that is placed on the internet is very difficult - if not completely impossible - to remove, once it has taken root.

So the question is this:

"Do I want to place my thoughts, fears, beliefs, and ideas online for all to see, and can I be accepting of whatever may come of it?"

Some possible effects on me include:

Rejection?

Ridicule?

Or perhaps even ultimate acceptance by others...?

The question of possible rejection is a big one, because it is not only a question of social rejection – which consists of the rejection of your ideas by your peers and the eventual affect their rejection has on your reputation and social capital – legal rejection could be a potential consequence as well. This legal rejection could come in many forms, from suppression of your ideas and beliefs by those who do not agree with them to the potential libel suit that could arise from the words that you publish.

Although I don't know the correct answer to this question – or if there even is one –  I'm certainly not the only person to have pondered it. I would venture to hypothesize that most of the people that have ever written anything for public consumption have considered the possible consequences of their actions.

When contemplating this topic, one quote in particular comes to my mind:

“I would rather people hate me for who I am than love me for who I am not.”

This statement is very powerful as it allows one to accept the rejection that could possibly arise from their actions. No matter who you are or what you do, not everyone will like you, not everyone will love you, and certainly not everyone will understand you; thus it’s much more desirable to be true to yourself than false to yourself for the perceived sake of others.