I hadn't intended on writing a second blog post this month, but the recent storm that has hit editing circles has highlighted what I call a hidden trap of the internet. And this one is one that would seem as obvious as the nose on my face, yet there are fools who just don't understand it.

Nothing on the internet is private. Not emails. Not personal messages. Not even chat room conversations.

If a computer or electronic device is involved somewhere within the process of passing information from one person to another, then there is a very real possibility that the information could be leaked and made public.

On November 12, 2021, Victoria Strauss released a blog post on the Writer Beware blog about an editor and their shady practices. Within the editors' circles, there is concern about this particular editor's practices and how it might reflect on editors as a whole, but most of the conversation I've seen centers around the shocking nature of the editor's emails and communications.

I don't want to get into the disconnect between client expectations and services provided by this editor, because that's not the hidden trap that I want to highlight. I want to focus entirely on the fact that the whole world now knows exactly how this editor communicates. And the reason we now know this is because a screen capture of email communications was shared as part of the Writer Beware blog post.

And that is the hidden trap.