Are You Really Blogging?

• By Susan L. Spann

Wikipedia defines “blog” as “a type of website where entries are made, displayed in a reverse chronological order.”

Blogs take many different forms, but good blogs share a few useful characteristics. Take a look at the ones below and see how many describe you!

• Good blogs provide information and resources about topics of interest to the blogger and the reader. Some blogs offer helpful advice from experts on topics like law, education and even homesteading. Others showcase the blogger’s personal recipes, photography or commentary. Still others feature humor and satire. When it comes to picking a topic, the sky – and the law – is the limit. Are you providing a helpful resource to the Internet community? Good bloggers do.
  
  
• Good blogs comply with the law. Cutting and pasting the work of others without permission or otherwise violating copyright law are signs of poor blogging, as are blogs which advise readers to engage in illegal acts or violate the legal and moral rights of others. Are you careful to observe and obey the law? Good bloggers do.
  
  
• Good blogs follow the Terms of Use. Terms of Use provide the “contract” under which host sites agree to host individual blogs and bloggers. If you blog at a host site, be sure you have read and understand the applicable Terms of Use, and that your blog fully complies. For example, the Terms of Use at www.homesteadblogger.com specifically forbid using your blog “to sell or advertise a product or service, including without limitation other Internet websites or businesses, without the advance written consent” of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC and the operators of www.Homesteadblogger.com. Are you using your blog in compliance with the Terms of Use? Good bloggers do.
  
  
• Good blogs support others in the community, rather than trying to tear them down with vicious attacks. Blogs which spend significant amounts of time badmouthing others or trying to bring them down – and bloggers who use other blogs’ comments to do the same – quickly acquire a reputation as “trolls” – and they’re best deleted or ignored. Reasoned debate should always be welcome, but attacks and one-sided negative rants are not the hallmarks of a good blogger. Do you generally support others in your community and argue with the opposition, if at all, in a respectful manner? Good Bloggers Do.
  
  
• Good blogs don’t blog angry. People – bloggers included – often disagree, but a blog is more than a space to air personal grievances. When asked for the best piece of advice he could give new bloggers, a well-known blogger recently said: “Don’t let the send button go down on your anger.” Do you blog about others as you would have them blog about you? Good Bloggers Do.