Blogging about blogging is, yes, a little strange perhaps, however, as a relative newcomer to this form of communication and writing, I have decided to coin the term ‘blogetiquette’ because I think it needs to be one word – a neologism if you like! (I’m hoping that the annual dictionary re-writers will pick this up and make me famous!)
So, the blogetiquette rules I’ve decided on for myself include:
- have respect for the parents of the blog (in my case, wordpress.com)
- only subscribe to other blogs if you are genuinely interested (not because you want them to subscribe to yours)
- read all of the posts written by your fellow bloggers before publishing your own
- reply, or at least, acknowledge all comments made to you on your blog – again, before you publish your own
- get permission before you reblog someone else’s post (this is only because reblogging has recently become fraught)
- limit yourself to less than 5 posts per day or you might annoy people with the email build-up (the most I do is 4 and that’s not often because I’ve had some negative feedback about overposting!)
- be grateful for any awards or nominations you receive (whether you accept them or not)
- respect your readers and subscribers
- never hit the ‘like’ button unless you really do like the post
- always be honest in your own posts
- never criticise other people’s posts
I’m sure I could think of more but those are the ones I usually adhere to now that I have made the transition from novice to fledgling.
Speaking of fledglings, these two peacocks have nearly grown their ‘King’ feathers …
… whereas poor old King is still mourning the loss of his own (don’t worry, he’ll grow them back soon!)
Of all the birds who live here, it is the peacocks and peahens who have the best etiquette skills in terms of their respect for each other and for us too. When they take bread from my hand, instead of nearly swallowing my arm (as the geese do), they make a soft clicky noise as if they are saying ‘thank you’.
They have birdetiquette down to a much finer art than we will ever get blogetiquette!
If you have any blogetiquette tips, please share them….
Politely yours
Julie
jmgoyder 