Blogging Begins to Come of Age

Faithful reader Don Lubach* sent along an article from the New York Times on civility and blogging which describes a proposal from tech guru Tim O'Reilly and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. One of their proposals suggest a "badge" be placed on blogs which indicate what level of conversation is acceptable. The article is definitely worth review and I will be going over their proposals for help on our very own guidelines which I will be editing soon for official placement on the left navigation bar.

There have been a few articles on blogging of late that show old media's reluctance to accept blogging for what it is. Unfortunately, many of these articles do not compare the effects of blog posts with the effects of old media on other people's lives. What happens to the reputation of a priest who is interested in what happens in their community, for instance, when a local newspaper editor says something she did was "snarky"? The difference is right now versus tomorrow morning. Speed. Blogs have similar effect as newspapers but bloggers don't have the experience most journalists have in reigning it in, getting second and third sources and considering what their writing does to the conversations people have about others. This makes guidelines for blogs important and they should also be considered for old media. Another difference is reach -- old media types may be afraid of us but they still have a much farther reach and distribution. It shouldn't be so easy for them to exagerate the influence on a little blog like ours on, for instance, a union election.

The flip side of all of the angst going on in the media about blogging is that some companies are beginning to get that transparency can help their reputation and combat their worst nightmares about blogging. Microsoft -- even with uneven sales of Vista, a lagging XBox and a five-years-too-late Zune player -- allows their employees to video blog on Channel 9. For a good article on this new transparency in Redmond, see this month's Wired Magazine article. Imagine transparency in De La Guerra Plaza....it would go along way towards regaining the trust the News-Press once had from our community.

* Mr. Lubach gave permission for his name to be used in this post.

BlogaBarbara Community Guidelines

As always, my goal is civil discussion about the issues of the day.

Please take them in the spirit of goodwill to which I provide them:

Identity
BlogaBarbara was built around the ability to make anonymous comments and I take that right very seriously. Past legal actions have threatened your and my anonymity; and, I will always do what I can to protect your right to free speech. As with any right we have, however, I believe it comes with some responsibility. Your identity is much more likely to be kept to yourself if you choose to make comments which are socially acceptable and further the conversation that is taking place on BlogaBarbara. That would mean the following:

Added on 2/16/08: BlogaBarbara Community Guidelines ask that you post your comment using a Blogger/Open ID login or the Name/URL option (URL not needed but provides anonymity). Comments Using the "Anonymous" option will not be published. For more info, see our post on choosing an identity.

1. Comments which try to point to the identity of another reader/commenter will not be published. For example, "Bob -- I know that's you" will not be published as Bob might want to stay anonymous.

2. Comments which try to reveal my identity will not be published. Before the recent NLRB hearing, I received a few comments which tried to get all of you to email Nelville Flynn if you knew my identity -- those, for obvious reasons, were not published. Perhaps this was what News-Press lawyers mentioned to the NLRB as their effort to ascertain my identity which only began just days before the start of the hearing. Still, Nelville always has a forum here if he follows the guidelines -- which he generally does, whether or not he wants to know who I am.

3. Speaking of which, there is norm among bloggers to use pun when discussing a public figure within a post. I have mixed feelings about this but generally think if the pun used is used in humor rather than rancor -- it is more likely to be published. You may have noticed that in the last six months or so I have refrained from calling several public figures any kind of pun-related name -- although I had in the past. I am very much open to discussion about this.

4. People who comment are encouraged to take an identity by either setting up a Blogger ID or using the "Other" option and typing a name which they use consistently. The "Your Web Page" area is optional and not necessary. This creates some continuity to your thoughts and help others organize their comments and thoughts -- making it more like a conversation in a room than a bunch of anonymous comments.

5. If you are going to be a flame thrower, you should probably use anonymizing technology. This will be the subject of a future post.

6. 99.9% of you will never have an issue with this, but it must be said. If you become the subject of a subpoena because you are a flame thrower, I will likely go to bat for you if you take steps to help yourself. I will do this because I am a true believer in freedom of speech and internet rights but also realize that there are more than a few poseurs out there.


Content
1. Comments which advocate violence or harm to others will not be published, period. If you question this, please read the NLRB hearing decision. That will never happen again. If it does happen and you object, please contact me directly rather than waiting several weeks and publishing a press release :) I might actually be more likely to help than you think.

2, Please don't send me threatening comments. If you do, at least be courageous enough to send them via email so I can respond to your concerns. Several came across my desktop in January that could have been pursued...I will not be intimidated.

3. Comments which discriminate based on any of the basic federal affirmative action guidelines we all know and understand will not be accepted. If I am not sure you are discriminating or not -- I probably won't publish your comment. For example, if a comment points to someone's sexual orientation in a mean-spirited way -- it won't fly.

4. I, of course, delete "splog" (Spam + Blog = Splog) anytime it comes across my desktop.

5. I also consider marketing efforts by people who host other blogs to be splog UNLESS their post is relevant to the subject matter at hand. Offering a link to your blog when it has nothing to do with the subject matter is no better than a splog which pushes Viagra as far as I am concerned. Give us more information that is helpful, not a shameless plug.

6. Finally, don't drink and blog -- you'll regret it in the morning. If you do, think twice about what you are writing.

Open Door Policy
1. If you have a problem with anything that is written on BlogaBarbara or want to offer a post topic and news, let me know by emailing me at saradelaguerra@yahoo.com.

2. If you offer a community post that I choose to publish, I will not publish your name or email unless you say that it is okay. Otherwise I will say it came from a citizen stringer or a faithful reader...

Community Posts to saradelaguerra@yahoo.com.
1) I will accept community posts from anyone on most subjects assuming they follow the above guidelines.
2) I don't care if you don't agree with me if the topic furthers conversation about an issue of concern to our readers. I would publish a community post from Dr. Laura or even Travis Armstrong if they took the time to request one and wrote a post which was within the guidelines addressed above.
3) My only request is that your post be kept to a couple of paragraphs as that is what works best for reader comprehension and response.
4) Unless you say otherwise, I will attribute you as an "avid reader" or "citizen stringer" (small c!). I will not use your name unless you say that I can.