When you start a blog, you become a publisher with responsibilities to your readers and the online community. Maintaining blogging etiquette is fundamental to developing a positive, thriving blog. Here are seven blogging etiquette tips.
- Give credit. If you reference someone else’s blog post or use an image, give credit with a link.
- Don’t steal content. Copying and pasting long portions of someone else’s article is bad practice. You can paraphrase, but always include a link to the original post.
- Keep it legal. – Don’t slander or liable someone or post your company’s trade secrets or you may find yourself slapped with a lawsuit. Check out the EFF’s Legal Guide for Bloggers for what you can and can’t do.
- Keep it civil. – While you may wholeheartedly disagree with someone about something, attack the subject matter not the person. Very few people have the patience to read two people telling the other that “he/she sucks.” It’s easy to forget that there’s a person behind the typed text.
- Respect people’s privacy. – There are some things that shouldn’t be published on the internet. If you want to publish someone else’s comments or personal information, ask them first. Assume that once you publish something, it will stay on the internet in some form for a long time (via other people’s blogs, the internet archive, etc).
- Moderate comments. – Having a bunch of spam comments makes your blog look unprofessional. If you accept comments on your blog, moderate them. Comment spam is a big problem, but with filters like Akismet and comment moderation, you can get most of it under control.
- Create a comment policy. – If you write opinionated posts, your readers may leave heated blog comments. Create a policy that states what you will and won’t allow, and how inappropriate comments will be handled.
Keep in mind that whatever you post or allow others to post on your blog directly impacts your reputation. Be respectful of others’ opinions and take responsibility for keeping your side of the street clean.
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