Not familiar with Alyssa Bereznak?  She's the woman who wrote a piece about online dating blasting her date, Jon Finkel, for being a nerd and a creep...on a gadget site.  Unsurprisingly, being judgmental and...well...bitchy about Finkel, who happens to be one of the best Magic: The Gathering players on the planet, touched off an Internet firestorm.  But what can you, the single person, take away from Bereznak?

Naming Names Is a Bad Idea

Bereznak honestly deserves a lot of what she's getting for one simple reason: she had an awkward date with a guy, and then humiliated him in front of the entire Internet for, essentially, not being compatible with her (although Jon, if you're reading, that one-man show was an absolutely terrible idea).  Then the entire Internet humiliated her right back: exhibit A.

Here's the thing: Bereznak made a conscious choice to name Finkel.  She didn't have to.  She could have easily changed his name.  This is a choice the Guyspeak guys deal with all the time: I will never give you the real name of a woman I've dated, because it's a violation of her privacy.

Make this the rule on your personal blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, what have you.  Leave the name of a bad date out of it, and it'll be a lot better for all involved.  Plus you can be catty with your friends in peace.

You Never Know Who's Reading

To be honest, as somebody who's been writing professionally in some capacity for nearly four years at this point, it's kind of shocking just how many mistakes Bereznak made and that her editor let slide.  Seriously.  The entire piece is pure amateur hour in many ways, but the biggest mistake was this: she posted something shredding a nerdy hobby on a website full of nerds.

First rule of any writing is "know your audience."  But with the Internet, you have to assume that every single person is your audience.  Privacy means nothing online: if you post it, and somebody is interested in it for whatever reason, they'll find a way to read it eventually.  Even if you set something to "private", that doesn't mean it's actually private.  Bereznak is particularly baffling because she knew naming Finkel, who is a celebrity in certain circles, was sure to draw a hostile audience.

So, when it comes to your dating life, ask yourself before you post: "Is this something I want the general public to know about?"

Google Is Your Best Friend In Dating

To be honest, despite my dislike of Bereznak's behavior, she does have one good piece of advice: get the real name of your date and Google, Google, Google. In addition, invite them to do the same.

We act more like we really are on the Internet than we do in actual life.  If I were back on the market for some reason, and on an online dating site, I'd gladly give my real name (and explain I'm not the flair bartender or that publicist working at Bose), and let them know they can ask any questions of what they find.