Principles of Blogging

Posted on July 25, 2003 in Blogging

When I go to other blogs, I strive to observe a few simple rules of decorum:

• If I disagree with a sentiment expressed by a blogger, I say so once and do not dwell on it. It is enough that I state my opinion. If they wish to respond (and respond and respond) they are entitled to do so on their own blog.
  
• I do not ask my friends to gang up on people with whom I am having a dispute.
  
• I question no one’s right to manage their blog as they see fit. I will back them totally on whatever rules they choose to set.
  
• I will not persist in visiting blogs where I am not welcome.
  
• I do not try to drive other bloggers who I happen not to like from other blogs. It is not for me to decide who may or may not visit other blogs, including that of my wife.
  
• I do not carry wars from this blog elsewhere, no matter how big a jerk the person has been on my site. What happens at this blog stays at this blog.
  
• If my comments get long, I will take them here and use trackback.
  
• I apologize to the point when I am wrong.
  
• I do not call people names which belittle their intelligence or their right to participate.
  
• I attempt to handle private complaints in email before I take them public.

As for this blog, I reserve for myself the following rights:

• The right to end conversations when I am tired of them. It’s my bandwidth, my space.
  
• The right to choose my own friends.
  
• The right to have my own views and the right to criticize the views of others.
  
• The right to declare who is and who isn’t welcome here.
  
• The right to tell people to fuck off when they are getting on my nerves.
  
• The right to delete comments. I will never edit comments. If they bug me, they go. I will delete comments that are plainly libelous, written only for the purpose of vulgarity, repetitive, off-topic, or when requested to do so by the poster.
  
• The right to judge a person by the way they treat me.
  
• The right to expect that your personal problems with me be handled by private email, not in the comments.
  
• The right to declare that a commentator is getting too hot and to site-ban them for as long as I see fit.

Keys to getting along with me.

• Understand that we can still disagree on a few things and still have a friendship.
  
• State what you think and leave it at that.
  
• Share positive experiences to balance the negative ones.
  
• Don’t just respond to my political and cultural commentary. I’d like to hear your thoughts about my short vingnettes and my photos. Tell me about your kids, your cats, your dogs, your iguana, etc. I crave that kind of stuff. Share a poem.
  
• If your comments get long, take them to your site. Use trackback, please.
  
• Do not repeat yourself in comments.
  
• Do not call me or other commentators names.
  
• Accept my apologies. When I give one, it is worth something. Do not mistake my willingness to apologize as a complete capitulation.
  
• Apologize when you screw up. Believe me, it will not reduce my opinion of you. It will raise it.
  
• Respect my expectations of behavior for this blog.

There may be contradictions between these sets of rules. I can deal.