Monday, February 11, 2008

Question of the Week - Blog Etiquette

I'm relatively new the blogging world, especially new to having my own blog although I have been reading blogs for a while. But Girl's Gone Child's recent post about other bloggers using a similar name got me thinking about blog etiquette. I do so love discussions of etiquette!

Which brings us to our question for this week:

Do you have any blog etiquette you would like to share?

My answer is based on GGC's post: Be sure to google your screen name/blog name before using it!

Now, please educate me on manners in the blogging world.

As an aside, I'm 20 pages from the end of Mansfield Park and I'm totally caught up in it! I have NO IDEA how it is going to end, nor am I sure how I want it to end! I'm sure I'll finish it tonight and write something up about it this week.

8 comments:

Karen said...

I think the biggie would be to be a responsible commenter. If someone reads your blog, it's just polite to read back. You don't have to read and comment every single day, but every now and then lets them know that you appreciate that they're at your site.

La folle maman said...

Has anyone approached you regarding this matter or is it more proactive? I've seen someone else posting on your blog with Caramama but since her posts have been amicable, I don't think she minds too much. But of course, you'd probably want to ask her directly.

I think you and I had a discussion about my blog name at our last lunch together (so this explanation is for anyone else reading). The only reason I had searched the internet about my blog name was because I was interested in buying the domain name as well for my personal website.

If anyone should Google "Cirque du Bebe", they'd come up with a link on You Tube and other people's sites referencing that video. It is some parody that Paul Reubens did about Cirque du Soleil but with babies. However, when I did and ICANN search for the domain name, it wasn't taken. So I snatched it up! Too bad, Pee Pee! HAHA! (Watch I'll be challenged for this domain name now.)

As for other blog etiquette, I'd be highly interested as well as to the RULES. I'm fairly certain I've probably offended or broken a few. For instance, can you just put someone on your blog roll? Or should you contact them first?

caramama said...

Karen - I totally agree! I'm glad it's not just me thinking that.

La folle maman - There is another Cara who posts here, but no other caramama (although I will comment on my own post). I'm just curious and asking this. No one has (yet) notified me of any wrong-doing. I hope they will if I do!

Don Mills Diva said...

Definitely the commenting thing I think is important. There are a few blogs that I read regularly and commented on pretty much every post and they never once acknowledged me or commented. After a few months I deleted them from my feeder because it just struck me as rude (even though I liked their writing) - I'm pissy like that...

Two Shorten the Road said...

I agree about the comments -- I try to comment back and keep blogs on my radar once we've had a comment interaction. :)

I've been pondering comment etiquette myself lately, having become the subject of interest for some ticked-off cloggers who recently found my review of their public performance from last summer. I've been deleting their angry comments -- mostly because the first comment implied my husband should have been killed in Iraq, and it disturbed me. On the one hand, it's my blog so I can delete mean comments. On the other hand, part of me thinks I should leave the comments there if they aren't completely hysterical.

Overall, it's an evolving medium, so I would say they etiquette is evolving as well.

Burgh Baby said...

I'm with Karen. I think that's probably the only "rule." But I have to admit, my biggest pet peeve is when people leave a comment and it's obvious they didn't actually read the post. I guess they're either commenting in hopes of increasing their traffic or feel somehow obligated to do so. I'd rather somebody DIDN'T comment back than for them to leave a meaningless because they felt obliged comment!

OneTiredEma said...

I am not sure how I feel about the whole "I read and comment so you should too" rule. I read a couple of blogs (A Little Pregnant and Amalah) who can get hundreds and hundreds of comments per post. Am I insulted that Julie and Amy have never swung by my place to say hi? No. What I am doing is on a totally different scale. If I had some very specific comment or question for them I'd put it in an email and hope for the best.

I love it when people tell me how they find me (google search or through another site), but it almost never happens.

Something I think is very important is to keep other people's anonymity intact. I know the "real" identities, first names, kids' names, locations of etc of several bloggers, but on-screen I always refer to them by whatever nicknames they've chosen to present. And people do the same for me. But I have seen "mistakes" like this on other blogs and it makes me cringe a little. People choose to reveal what they do a reason!

Anonymous said...

I'd say the whole comment thing is a good one. I tend to fall down on that one. Not because I'm not reading others' blogs but often if I don't have something meaningful to contribute I don't comment. It is a very reciprocal thing though.

I once had a fellow blogger ask me for an award. I thought that was a bit wrong but I was fairly new and so was she so I didn't say anything about it.

Just yesterday, because of GGC's post, I went and bought impostermom.com and pointed it to my site in addition to impostormom.com. Couldn't hurt and it turns out either is the correct spelling.

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