Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Blogosphere Etiquette

My recent contretemps has led me to ask myself: Is there an established code of behavior on the blogosphere? And if there is, what is it?

Is it appropriate to delete comments without informing the poster or leaving some sign that a post was deleted?

How many warnings should you give someone before considering them a troll and banning them?

Should you inform them there are banned, either by e-mail or in your comments?

When referring to another blog, or a story they are covering, when is it appropriate to tip your hat and/or provide a link?

When someone sends a huge amount of traffic your way, should you acknowledge the fact on your blog? On their blog? Both?

Those are just some questions off the top of my head. What say you?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, you jumped into the deep end of the pool.

What to do?

Just remember what your grandmother taught you.

"Dear, always be polite and when it comes to the fight, a sharp heel on the instep followed by a well-placed shot just under the nose has always worked for me."

"Now, about this Oreo/milk fixation. Fine. Where is your toothbrush?"

Lone Pony said...

Bad Example has some good stuff on this.

Anonymous said...

First thing, that word verification thing is a bitch to read when yer drunk. Unless yer getting hammered by spam, I disrecommend it for a newbie.

Secondly, it's your ship, and you're the Captain. Steer it wherever the heck you want.

Thirdly, if I was on my own blog, the word 'heck' would have been spelt different. I lurk for a bit, and try to get a sense of the rules. The guy who strips naked and cannonballs into the pool, usually gets thrown out of the party. I'd rather stick around and drink.

Trolls? I usually fire a warning shot, unless they are just egregious fools. Even then, I tend to leave their screed up, and rarely ban, as they are mostly drive-by's. By their words, they are known, and it's no skin off my nose.

This Steve/Jeff dust-up bothers me, because I like them both equally, and like I have said, it's like hearing your parents fight.

If you ever, ever, ever blog for anybody but you, you might as well quit. When I hit 'publish', it is because whatever I have just written pleases ME.

I've said this before. When I first started this, I was so naive, I thought it was a private diary. I was actually startled when I got my first email. I didn't have comments for over two years, cuz I didn't know you could.

I always recommend to newbies that they get a paid Haloscan subscription, too, instead of Blogger comments. Some do, some don't. Whatevah.

Thom said...

hey bro, want me to come on over and hook up Haloscan for ya?

I second the idea that you dump the word verification... I don't drink and I hate it...

Gahrie said...

Word verification turned off.

bobgirrl said...

Hi Gahrie, I'm new to this as well. Thanks for posting the great questions. I'm currently wondering if people are less likely to post comments on a site on Blogger since a Blogger account is required. Any thoughts?