Blogging rules

A few days ago I read a post on someone’s blog about ethics and blogging, which made me think. (I’m a bit peeved because I can’t find it again, but I’ll keep looking and add a link when I do.)

There’s a few things I keep in mind when I blog.

1. I try not to name people in such a way that they can be easily identified. Ergo, M is M. Although, anyone who knows me In Real Life knows what CW stands for and who M is (not M). I have great fun talking about The Boss, and occasionally The Uber Boss. The Boss knows he gets mentioned on this blog. Uber Boss on the other hand, doesn’t. Baubles the Cat is not a pseudonym, though.
2. Try not to write anything about other people that could offend them. Sure, this might be boring, but even if Colleague X doesn’t read this blog, I am not about to write that s/he is a Complete Fool, because someone else who knows them, and, more importantly, knows about this blog, might read it and tell them what I think. I guess I try to only write what I would happily say to someone’s face. The day I meet someone I think is a Complete Fool, and feel I can tell them so, I’ll write about it here. I can of course write offensive stuff about myself.
3. No photos of people without their permission. As I don’t often give myself permission to stick happy snaps of myself up here, I don’t appear very often either. I must confess that when I first started writing here and didn’t think anyone read this blog I did put a picture of M up before asking if it was okay. Luckily, it was.
4. Try to be accurate when writing factual stuff. For example I am not going to write that Sydney is the capital of Australia. Or that I like John Howard (ok, ok, cheap shot!). Last evidence of my attempt at accuracy was when I wrote the word dis. I’m still unsure of how it’s spelt – about 50% of the sources I’ve consulted say dis, the other 50%, diss. *shrug* This is a blog, not a doctoral dissertation, so it probably doesn’t matter, in the end. I guess the trying appeals to the librarian in me.
5. I write about things that I know about. This is why I don’t tend to write about things happening in the news or in politics. Especially when it comes to politics, which these days tends to reduce me to a state of incoherent dismay (see comment re the Prime Minister of Australia, above). In any case there are so many other blogs out there that do the job far better than I do.
6. I also write about things I am learning about. For example all the RSS stuff earlier in the year. Writing helps immensely to let me work out what I know, and what else I need to know. I’ve actually started another series of posts on technology and libraries, for the other blog. (For work.)
7. Try to have fun. Easy one.

I can’t think of anything else at this point. What are your Rules For Blogging?

technorati tags: blogging, rules