In What Will You Not Blog About? on the Blog Herald, I asked readers to tell me what line they will not cross when it comes to blog content. What will you NOT blog about. The responses have been very interesting.
A few bloggers take a no-holds-barred approach, blogging on everything and anything they want. However, even they have lines they will draw. Jeremy Steele admitted that he won’t report on conspiracies, other than poking fun at them.
Paul of the Opera Blog admitted that he avoids the negative:
I will generally avoid writing negative reviews about performances or recordings. I’ve only made one exception to this rule over the years. I figure there’s no point in discussing how bad something is, especially when there’s so much good stuff out there. I’d rather save my writing effort for worthwhile projects and simply ignore the crappy ones.
Chris Garrett agreed. “I would rather be a positive than destructive influence, like a ‘do no harm’ thing.” Many agreed with his Star Trek Prime Directive philosophy, including Barbara Ling (aka Owlbert):
I will not blog about anything that is meant to bring another person down. I’m a big believer in treating others the way I’d like to be treated myself.
The concern over the impact a blog can have on a worker’s life and position was brought up by Shortshire and Rhys who both agree that anything that involves their jobs or fellow employees isn’t worth the risk.
Almost all agreed that they like keeping it clean, avoiding offensive, abusive, and offensive language content from their posts as well as their comments. Richard H said, “And no foul language. It’s just not necessary to get a point across, in my opinion. A wise man once told me, ‘a foul mouth is a sign of a feeble mind trying to express itself forcefully.'”
Big Fella, like many, believe in sticking to the main focus of their blog without stepping over any moral boundaries:
I do not do gossip, I don’t like to use gratuitous profanity in my postings, I am not a shill for anyone. Just a guy sharing my observations on what piques my interest at any given time and creating commentary reflecting my values, and exercising my activist urges.
Graeme Hunter summed it up very nicely:
I tend towards the maxim of “If it will cause me or others trouble, don’t write it”. I don’t mind a good argument over opinion on a topic, but I see that as different to actually causing trouble. I have both a personal blog in my own name, and write on a work blog, with links between, so I have to be on my best behaviour.
We all have lines in our blogging sandboxes that we won’t cross. What about you?
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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.
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8 Comments
Hello Lorelle.
I haven’t really given this one much thought as I don’t really write on topics people would ever really have a problem with.
But I suppose I’m with Graeme Hunter and if I come across a topic that’s going to cause me a lot of heat, why write it? I got enough problems in my life and I don’t need to set my blog on fire. Hmm…maybe I’ll think a little more on this one and come back to it.
It’s hard to say. I don’t think I could really come up with a hard-and-fast rule of things “not” to blog about. If I’m inspired to blog about something, I’ll blog about it. If I’m not, I won’t. Even if there’s things that I once thought that I would never blog about, there have been cases where those opinions of mine have changed.
I won’t blog about work because it might get back to me, and though I’ve been sorely tempted to do otherwise, I don’t post about people I know unless it’s in a positive light. I think it’s a real turn-off to find a blog that’s obviously being used as a rant-space against another person.
I won’t blog directly about work anymore – got smack on that one. But, I will generalize things that bother me at work, like bad phone habits, etc – but usually within the context of a “How Not To etc” post.
I do not post much about family either. Hubby spent a year in Afghanistan, but that is about all everyone that reads my blog knew.
I do blog about me, my diabetes specifically and our dog, but generalized.
For all the years on the internet, I’m still shy of putting way too much out there.
I am fairly open on my blog, but there is a line I won’t cross. For example, I will not discuss my sex life. That’s not something that I should talk about as it doesn’t involve only myself.
I also won’t air my problems with other people before talking to them. I would hate for someone to find out that I’m upset by reading my blog before hearing it from me first.
I won’t discuss personal issues that belong to other people. Their problems are theirs and they can do what they wish with them. If they ask me to bring something up on my blog, I will.
I always feel uncomfortable if I read a woman ripping on her husband or vice versa … marriage and relationship stuff feels too private to blog for me — but I know lots of people don’t mind going there.
If I wouldn’t be happy for my parents/partner/friends/boss to read it then I don’t post it. Totally agree with the other commenters that if you have a problem with someone, then perhaps plastering it all over the internet is not the best way to go about it.
Hey Lorelle,
First off – i’d like to say thanks for the mention. Secondly – I’d like to apologize for not responding to your comment on the blog herald and for not responding to this post for a while. Long story short – I haven’t touched an RSS reader in months and my personal life has really killed my blogging time. I’ll be getting back into the blogging game again soon (real soon!).
Thanks again!
Jeremy
P.S. Sorry if I seemed rude for not responding before now. Hopefully you can understand.