Lets talk about blogtiquette, or blog etiquette. Mainly because I am very bad when it comes to this topic. I would classify myself as an amateur blogger. Without a doubt I have overlooked ninety percent of all those pro-blogger tips. And blogtiquette? Outside of common sense I have never given it any thought. So why start now?
Well it settled on my brain after making a short comment over at Me Versus the Blog. The author of the blog post I commented on replied. His reply included a simple compliment about my blog and my brain almost exploded scanners style all over my monitor. Don’t misunderstand me, the compliment was awesome; I love compliments. The sudden brain trauma was a result of my social ineptitude (even online.) How does one respond to a compliment made in reply to a comment? I mean seriously, is there a class for this stuff?
I found two common rules that could come into play:
- Always try to respond to comments on your blog.
- Try to avoid making worthless comments – add something to the conversation.
The first rule seemed invalid since this was not my blog, but a blog I commented on. As for the second rule, I wondered if there was some magic threshold where this became important? Almost everyone I know that blogs enjoys seeing who reads their blog and accepts/enjoys all comments even when they are void of significant content. And should this rule even apply when replying to a previous comment? Maybe it only applies when blog posts start having more than ten comments. Who knew blogging and commenting on blogs could be so tough?
Other interesting etiquette rules:
- Do not plagiarize. (Does this really need to be said?)
- Do not blog about things that could cost you your job, or a relationship. (Again, isn’t this common sense?)
- Be nice.
- Think before you hit ‘Enter’.
- Blog regularly. (I’ve really dropped the ball on this one. I made an October resolution to do better; promise!)
So is blogtiquette important to you? Have any favorite rules? Any rules seem ridiculous? Have any pro tips for this amateur? Check out a few of these links if you want to keep reading about etiquette:
Blog Etiquette or Blogtiquette @ Tip Junkie
i suck at blogging. i dont capitalize anything ever and i rarely use punctuation. i dont double space sentences and i tend to use a style that easily drifts into slang. i generally only respond to comments that are from friends unless one appears that is just impossible to leave alone which is rare since no one much reads my blog for all the aforementioned reasons.
most of this is bc im lazy. yet im a nitpicky perfectionist about my content and how im saying wotever im saying. maybe its time i grow up and correct all of the above but the whole reason i stopped using all that stuff was that i knew no one weas reading except friends and they wouldnt care.
ur blog laughs at mine and mocks it with every new post. take heart. =]
Comment by graceshaker — October 21, 2009 @ 1:13 am
Bah! I dig your blog. It has style. Your consistent, open, honest and inviting. And if only friends are reading/commenting then you appear to have a lot of them.
Punctuation. While you might ignore it, I probably butcher it. Emily had a status update about commas the other day, and I reread several of my posts because I was worried I had gone comma happy again.
Comment by comatosesoul — October 21, 2009 @ 8:19 am