Blogging is a very immediate medium — when you publish a post, it goes live on your blog right away. In fact, several things happen the moment you click the publish button:

All this happens whether you think about it or not. It's part of the beauty and effectiveness of this format that blog posts are quickly distributed with a minimum of effort on the part of the blogger. Blog software and services are designed to deliver your content quickly.

Of course, you can edit your blog posts after you post them, and many bloggers do this when necessary (see the Making mistakes section later in this chapter for some suggestions about doing this appropriately), but the fact is that the original post might be read or e‐mailed before you make your edits. Editing after you post is a pretty ineffective way to control your message.

Publishing a blog or Web page can have a few other unintended effects as well:

These effects are demonstrated in Figure 3-1 ; a Google search for the phrase what happens when you drink coke turns up not only a blog post, but several references to that same post on other blogs and Web sites, and on the news‐sharing site Digg. Google links to the original blog post, and a cached version archived by Google is also available.

Figure 3.1.  Figure 3-1: Searching for the topic of a post turns up the post, references to it, and links to the search engine's cached version.

I don't want to scare you — after all, publishing to your blog is a good thing! You want each of these processes to happen; each process is designed to bring readers to you and to present your content to your readers. But it's best to be sure about what you're posting before you do so.

If your blog includes controversial, emotional, personal, political, or other sensitive topics, read what you've written twice before you publish!

The best defense, as they say, is a good offense. As a blogger, you should think about what you write before you publish it as well as afterwards.

What I'm about to say might shock you, so prepare yourself: Bloggers have a code of ethics.

Okay, what I really mean is that some bloggers have a code of ethics. As blogs emerged as a new Web medium, they became associated with some styles of writing and types of content, and then a loose set of ethics and standards emerged that an ideal blogger adheres to.

For most old‐school bloggers, the word to think about is transparency. This word is used as shorthand for a whole range of ideas:

The idea that you can use a blog for meaningful interaction is revolutionary for this format. At the core, blogging is about real people talking with each other and sharing real knowledge and experiences.

Of course, that doesn't mean a blog is going to be great literature — and that's fine. But the ideas that being transparent represent are worthy ones, especially if you plan to blog about personal and sensitive topics.

Telling the truth

Being honest on your blog is an interesting concept, especially when you think about the number of people who choose to be anonymous. For many bloggers, telling the truth is first about emotional honesty and second — or perhaps not at all — about revealing who you are.

What it comes down to is this: The blogosphere doesn't like poseurs. If you choose to blog about your life and do so anonymously, be prepared to be challenged about whether you're a real person. If you're a CEO writing a blog, be prepared to defend your writing as your own.

Some blog hoaxes demonstrate the kind of thing I'm talking about. Perhaps the most famous occurred in 2001, when bloggers revealed that the blog of a young teenager who had just died of leukemia was a hoax. In fact, the life and death of Kaycee Nicole was the product of imagination, even though bloggers all over the world followed her blog, chatted with her online, even spoke with her on the phone during her illness. Bloggers tracked down evidence in the real world that she not only hadn't died, but hadn't even existed.

It isn't all about literary hoaxes, however. Bloggers have been slammed for blogging about products and services for money and not revealing that they were being paid. A blog scandal in 2003 put Dr Pepper into the public eye for soliciting blog posts from a group of teenagers about a new product called Raging Cow. The teens were given trips, samples of the product, and gift certificates, and asked to promote the drink on what were essentially personal blogs. Many did so without revealing that they were basically being paid to promote the product, and when the arrangement was discovered, it prompted a blogosphere boycott of the company and a lot of anger against the bloggers.

Interestingly, Dr Pepper also started a blog for the product written, ostensibly, by the Raging Cow herself during her travels around the country, as shown in Figure 3-2 . This blog was roundly criticized at the time (for being fake, of course), but the idea of creating fictional characters that blog has stuck around and been used successfully since then. The format is still controversial, but it is also highly effective!

Figure 3.2.  Figure 3-2: The Raging Cow blog was an early example of a fake blog written by a fictional character.

In general, you should follow these rules about honesty in your blogging:

• Explain who you are and why you're blogging.

• If you need to hide your identity or those of people you mention, indicate that you are doing so and why.

• If you start a fake blog, make sure you disclose somewhere on the site that it is, in fact, fake. (One would think it's pretty obvious that a blog that appears to be written by a cow is fake, but it doesn't hurt to say so, either.)

• If you're making money from your blog posts, explain the arrangement and how you're allowing it to influence (or not influence) what you write.

• If you mention a fact or story that you got from someone else, explain who. If you can link to it, do.

• Take responsibility for what's on your blog, no matter where else you might have heard or read about what you write about.

Making mistakes

If you make a mistake on your blog, admit it. Apologize, if necessary. Above all, don't try to deny it or hide it.

Mistakes, big and little, are inevitable. And, of course, mistakes upset people, but you can do a great deal to help yourself and your credibility in how you handle the mistake after it's discovered.

In general, most bloggers try to avoid editing posts after they've been published — this is part of the transparency I talked about earlier in the chapter. Sometimes, however, you need to correct the original post when you've made a factual or grammatical error.

Fortunately, bloggers have evolved some ways of indicating corrections in blog posts that you can benefit from.

Many bloggers make corrections by using strikethrough text on the original error and following it with the correction, like this:

President Bill Clinton played his trumpet saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show.

Blogger Darren Barefoot uses this technique on his blog (www.darrenbarefoot.com) in Figure 3-3 , where he corrects a grammatical error that changes the meaning of a sentence.

Figure 3.3.  Figure 3-3: On his blog, Darren Barefoot uses strikethrough text to cross out and correct an error.

Other bloggers use italics, bold, or make notes at the top or the bottom of the blog post to make these kinds of corrections. The strikethrough style, however, has the advantage of letting you indicate the original error clearly.

Making a correction while retaining the error is best (unless it was libelous or is causing legal trouble) rather than simply changing the text as if it was never there.

You can handle updates that you want to make to a blog post in two ways:

• Expand on your original post: If you change your mind about something, or simply need to expand on what you first said, it's sometimes better to do so in the original blog post rather than starting a new one. Updating the original blog post ensures that your first words are associated with the update and also that people are likely to read the update along with the original post.

  Darren Barefoot has two styles for updates. For very important updates that change the intention or meaning of a post, he posts the update at the end of the original post labeled UPDATE. For updates that expand on the original post or for new resources that have come to light, he posts a labeled update at the bottom of the post, as shown in Figure 3-4 . Some bloggers preface the new content with the acronym ETA (Edited to Add).

  

  Figure 3.4.  Figure 3-4: When he has new information to add to a blog post, Darren Barefoot adds an update to the bottom of the original post.

• Start a new post: When you really mess things up, you might also choose to post a new blog post explaining what went wrong and how you might be able to avoid similar mistakes in the future (assuming that's possible!) or just clarifying the whole situation. This isn't always necessary, but if it helps clear the air, why not? Plus, it's a great way to apologize if you need to.

  If you start a new post to explain a mistake, it's a good idea to link to the old post, and to go into the old post to create a link to the new one, just so all your readers get a chance to see all the details.

Handling dialogue

One of the biggest areas of controversy on a blog is in the comments, both in the content of comments that are left and in how the blogger handles them.

Comments are an important part of your blog, and deserve your time, attention, and — when warranted — response. A blogger that neglects to read comments and respond to them quickly loses the community of people leaving comments, who then can get frustrated and leave.

Be sure to read your comments regularly, especially if you have an active blog that receives lots of response. Think of what you are reading as you would a conversation and respond to those comments that ask questions, make you think, or just intrigue you.

You can respond to a comment by leaving a comment yourself. Or, if a comment inspires you to write another blog post, you can mention the comment in your new blog post. Whatever technique you use, don't ignore your commenters.

Unfortunately, not all your comments will be fun to read, or are even remarks that should stay on your blog. When it comes right down to it, you control what comments appear on your blog, whether you moderate them ahead of time or afterward. Moderating is entirely necessary because quite a few comments come from spammers and add nothing to the conversation. But sometimes you'll need to delete comments that are from real people and are even on topic. Every blogger has to make a choice about what kinds of comments need to be deleted.

Bloggers choose to delete comments for these kinds of reasons:

• Comments that are off‐topic for the post they're attached to (a common issue with spam comments).

• Comments that are personal attacks on the blogger or other readers. For example, many bloggers draw the line on comments that contain racial slurs, name‐calling, hate language, or speculation on things such as sexual orientation. People who leave these types of comments are often called trolls.

• Comments left anonymously or with a fake name/e‐mail.

• Comments that include a URL that appears to be included for marketing purposes.

• Comments that are libelous.

• Comments that are obscene.

• Comments that contain private information that shouldn't be public.

• Comments that contain plagiarized material.

Deleting comments is quite a personal decision, and it's one that any good blogger runs into — after all, you want to get people talking, so you need to have opinions that will start dialogue. A milquetoast approach doesn't make an interesting blog even if it does keep the comments from being offensive.

Most blog readers can accept that it's your blog and you get to make the decisions about which comments stay and which get the heave ho. Nobody likes to have their comments deleted, however, and often bloggers are criticized when they delete comments, especially when it isn't clear why they've done so.

Some bloggers have chosen to institute a blog comment policy that outlines for readers (and for the blogger!) what kinds of comments will be removed. Figure 3-5 shows the blog comment policy written by Kathryn Lord, who blogs about online dating and relationships on her Web site Find‐A‐Sweetheart (www.find-a-sweetheart.com).

Figure 3.5.  Figure 3-5: Kathryn Lord makes it clear in her blog policy that she maintains the appropriate level of courtesy.

For Kathryn, it all comes down to having common courtesy for her and for other readers — mud‐slinging comments are history.

On Greg Mankiw's blog for economics students, he asks his readers to simply treat each other with respect: “Please approach this blog with the civility you would bring to a college seminar. Don't post anything here that you wouldn't say to a fellow seminar participant face to face.” You can read Greg's full blog comment policy at http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/09/comments-policy.html.

If you're thinking about writing a blog comment policy, take a look at what other bloggers have done. A quick search on Google for “blog comment policy” turns up some well‐done policies that might give you ideas. And remember, you can add a blog comment policy at any time and amend your policy as needed.

You can blog about anything you want. You spend a lot of time at work. So maybe you're blogging about work. Work is certainly a great source of stories and jokes. In fact, at my office the other day, my partner did the stupidest thing….

Ahem.

Anyway, blogging about work can get you in trouble. Your colleagues and your boss might not appreciate that you repeat water cooler gossip on your blog, complain about the most boring meeting ever, or talk about how you photocopied inappropriate body parts when you were “working” late on Thursday.

If you choose to discuss people you work with on your blog and they are identifiable even if not by name, you can get yourself in hot water with both the folks you work with and with your boss.

And that's all before you reveal trade secrets or stock information!

Some bloggers identify both themselves and their employers on their personal blogs. It's certainly transparent to do so — after all, work is a big part of who you are — but it isn't necessarily wise. For one thing, if you blog about your work place and you name your employer, you might be perceived as blogging on behalf of your employer.

This isn't fair, but it's true. After all, if you blog on your own time (and you do blog on your own time, right?) and don't use company blogging software, how can you be considered a spokesman for your company? The truth is that most people won't think you're a mouthpiece for your company, but they might associate your thoughts and opinions with your employer, and generally speaking, employers don't really want to be identified by the political agendas, family relationships, or dating habits of their employees.

All kinds of bloggers have been fired for blogging about work, or for identifying themselves as employees of a particular organization, or for posting photographs taken at work or in work uniforms.

Flight attendant Ellen Simonetti was fired from Delta Air Lines in 2004 over “inappropriate pictures in uniform” that were on her personal blog Queen of Sky (http://queenofsky.journalspace.com). She turned the experience into a book called Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog that was published in 2006.

Blogging institution Heather Armstrong writes the blog Dooce (www.dooce.com). In 2002, she was fired from her Web design job for blogging about her workplace, colleagues, and boss. Some bloggers now refer to being fired for blogging as being dooced. Her advice:

Most employers today are aware that blogs exist and are fully capable of typing your name, their name, or the company name into a search engine and finding blogs that talk about them or their company. Blogging anonymously — although a good idea if you want to criticize your employer — isn't a real guarantee that you won't be caught, particularly if other people in your office know about your blog.

Employers who regard their employees as representatives of their businesses might even institute a company blogging policy that dictates whether you can identify your employer on your personal blog or even requesting that you not blog at all. This is especially true for certain types of employees — those, for example, that are the visible face of an organization or who speak for that company in other situations.

I encourage you to blog about whatever floats your boat, but if you want to blog about work, you need to do so safely. Here are a few tips you can use to protect yourself:

It goes almost without saying that if you can lose your job over opinions you express on your blog, you can also damage your personal relationships with friends and family. I'm saying it anyway.

Many bloggers have gotten caught up in the confessional mood and posted content that they later regretted, though perhaps not as much as a friend or relative regretted it.

Successful blogger Heather Armstrong alienated her family early in her blogging career when she posted her views on the religion in which she was raised, and the post was read by the parents who were still firm believers in that religion. The post also hurt her extended family and the community they lived in. (I'm sure she also received plenty of e‐mail from people outside of family who also felt strongly about their religion, too.) Heather calls herself a poster child for what not to do on a blog, though in fact the process has resulted in Dooce (www.dooce.com), a blog that is one both well‐known and profitable online today.

Nonetheless, in an interview with Rebecca Blood (who studies blogs), Heather cautions that criticizing others might make great posts, but the chances are good that they will read what you've written and be hurt:

You can read the full interview on Rebecca Blood's Web site at www.rebeccablood.net/bloggerson/heatherarmstrong.html.

Even if you never criticize others, you might possibly reveal information about others — their conversations with you, the date you had last night, the disappointing sexual encounter — that your friends and family will find disturbing.

Call it the Mom test: Will your blog post get you in trouble with your mom? Sure, you're an adult, and so is she, but she's the most likely person to call you on an inappropriate blog post. Your co‐workers might be appalled when they read about your love life, but they probably won't ever tell you that your blog is a problem. Your mom will.

In some ways, all this is common sense:

Before you hit the publish button, stop for a second and put yourself in the shoes of your reader: Are you writing for the reader, or are you writing for yourself? If the answer is the latter, you might be better off keeping a real diary in a format that isn't publicly accessible to the entire world.

Your blog might not reflect your employer's viewpoints or your family's, but it certainly reflects your own. Don't lose sight that what you put on your blog today might stick around for a long time to come, and that the reader might not always have your best interests at heart.

Never put any personal identifying information online that exposes you to possible identity theft or physical confrontation: Don't post your Social Security Number, home address, birth date or place, mother's maiden name, passwords, bank account numbers, or any information you use as password reminders or identifying information with financial institutions. Most bloggers prefer to keep phone numbers private as well. Don't reveal this information about other people either.

Many bloggers solve the issues discussed in this chapter by choosing to blog anonymously or by using a handle — a phrase or moniker that doesn't identify the writer.

Don't forget that many of your online identities are linked or are easily linked. For example, if you use a nickname when leaving comments on other blogs and then use that same nickname on a bulletin board or when signing up for a social networking service, it won't be hard for people to connect the dots. In fact, many of these services already work together.

For example, on one of my blogs, I display my Flickr photo stream, my blogroll maintained with Bloglines, and my latest Twitter messages. My FaceBook profile pulls in my Amazon wish list, my music playlists, and my horoscope. The point is that if you've identified yourself on any of these sites or tools and then tied them together in some way, it won't be hard for others to follow the trail back to you.

Anonymity is a great way to protect yourself on your own blog, but it won't keep you from showing up in other people's blogs or Flickr photo streams. If your friends and family have blogs, consider setting some ground rules with them about situations and topics you want excluded as subjects on their blogs. Be willing to accept the same kinds of requests about your own blog writing.

One of the best ways to take charge of your own online identity is to start a Web site or blog yourself. If other people are mentioning you online, having an “official” Web site with the right information on it can help supplant or downplay less desirable material.

If you want to find out more about controlling your online identity or protecting your privacy, I suggest you review some of these great online resources available: