BLOG Etiquette

The success of a blog (and of democratic societies) depends on a commitment to civil discourse on tough issues.  In establishing this blog, I am counting on my readers to practice civil discourse, and have intentionally not created a moderated blog.

Regrettably, a number of posters to several other blogs I follow have abused those blogs, their moderators, and others in the blog communities. Those who do have, for the most part, hidden behind the “anonymous” or fake names.  In some cases, comments have verged on pornography, liable, and flat out lies.

Below are some blog etiquette dos and don’ts, put together by Pete Babb several years ago, which should govern posters’ behavior on the blog. I think about them every time I post to a blog site.  

1. Thou shall not confuse thy opinion with gospel truth. There is a strong temptation, particularly when discussing contentious issues, to claim unimpeachable authority on the subject at hand. Yes, everybody is entitled to express personal opinions, but by treating your blog or wiki like a panel rather than a pulpit, the dialogue will more likely be divine.

2. Thou shall not invoke personal attacks. One of the magical powers blogs and wikis seem to possess is the capability of turning otherwise sensible people into bickering schoolchildren. Unless the discussion See more... subject is "Say something insulting about somebody who holds a different opinion than you," leave the personal invective out. Rule of thumb: Argue with the post, not the poster.

3. Thou shall stick to the subject at hand. Blogs in particular can get tangential in a hurry. To some, that's part of the charm - you start with an idea and end up somewhere completely different. That's all well and good, but let tangents arise organically within the context of the discussion. If you've got something wildly off topic to say, start a new thread or keep it to yourself until it becomes relevant.

4. Thou shall cite thy references. As we all know, people can come up with statistics to prove anything; 40 percent of all people know that. So, set yourself apart from the herd by showing where you get your facts. You'll look knowledgeable, honest, and trustworthy. What's not to like about that?

5. Thou shall punctuate and capitalise. We're not saying you should write every post with one eye on The Chicago Manual of Style, but writing several paragraphs as one gigantic, all-lowercase, run-on sentence is a definite no-no. As is writing in ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE SHOUTING! Punctuation is your friend, so use it.

6. Thou shall own up to thy mistakes. Despite online chest-puffing to the contrary, nobody's perfect. You are going to make mistakes. You are going to be wrong about things. Instead of being defensive and denying it, just admit your blunder and move on. If you have the urge to browbeat somebody about making a mistake, refer to the second commandment.

7. Thou shall not use aliases or sock puppets. If you have to invent a separate identity in order to create the illusion of agreement, then perhaps your point isn't as good as you think it is. Although it's tempting to play games with the pseudo-anonymity the internet provides, it's far better to stick with one identity.

8. Thou shall not feed the trolls. When people spew insults, pick fights, or take contrarian positions just for the sake of being contrary, ignore them. Insulting online miscreants or engaging them in arguments accomplishes nothing, it just further pollutes the pages with pointless back-and-forth. 

9. Thou shall resize thy images. Remember, not everybody has screamingly fast broadband connections like you, and not everybody has the patience to wait for that huge picture of your pet iguana to download. Plus, margin-breaking pictures are just plain annoying.

10. Thou shall respect the old adage: What happens on the wiki stays on the wiki. It's wonderful how blogs and wikis can provide you with new knowledge, insight, and perspective, and you should certainly carry what you learn with you when you leave your computer. But all the bickering, arguing, correcting, and other antics it took to get there? Leave those behind. There is no need to bring your wiki-capades home with you. 

Ken Karch, PE