Nico’s „How to Blog“-Compendium

There’s an interesting compendium on Nico Lumma’s blog Lummaland where he describes his basic ideas on how to maintain a blog. I have the nerve to copy his work to translate it into english. I believe it’s quite a valuable resource especially for those who are at the beginning of blogging. The more you get to used to blogging, the easier it is for you to get comfortable with the usual netiquette.

1. A Weblog is no Forum neither Email.
– don’t use „Hello, it’s me again“ phrases to introduce each entry.
– don’t sign with „Best regards, XYZ“ or „Sincerely yours, XYZ“ as it appears obstrusive and strange.
– to order your entry with paragraphes aids in the reading process.
– some correctness of spelling and grammar should not be forgotten.

2. Sources.
– sources are compulsory and/or to be linked.
– link to the exact source and not just the main domain „via cnn.com“ unless you link this reference to the exact URL.
– fancy users speak about the Permalink, the permanent habitat on the source’s server.

3. Comments.
– the weblog is yours.
– if somebody is molesting in the comments, you may simply delete it or close the comments.
– you don’t have to acquiesce everything.
– a reply to comments is often appreciated.
– anonymous comments are simply uncool.

4. Trackbacks.
– you inform the readers of another weblog-entry about other topic-related articles in other weblogs.
– choose trackbacks wisely and not „just so“.
– mutuality is important to trackbacking as you should refer within your article to the trackbacked entry.

5. Images.
– many images are copyrighted, please validate their use.
– images should fit into the entire layout of the blog as 1024×768 for an image is way too large.
– keep PG-13 rating for your images or password protect the blog for special visitors.

6. Music.
– don’t let the music start upon visiting your blog.
– links to MP3s which are copyrighted and are not royalty free should not be placed except if you like to consult your lawyer.

7. Content and Topics.
– write whatever you like to write about.

However I believe that the deletition of comments is not always the right choice as it might result in a flame war between you (the deleting side) and the comment’s author (the flaming side). Sometimes a tough discussion requires value based argumentation, but spamming and a wordwar of insults is not acceptable. Over all, you’ll get better and better in time the more you use your blog.