Blogging Etiquette Controversy
I’ve been an on/off blogger for 8 years now (yes, I’m including 2007 MySpace and LiveJournal entries in that statement)…
…and I’ve picked up on some stuff. I’m sure you all have too; I’m talking about the kind of weird unspoken rules and etiquette of blogging that causes defensive debates on Facebook Groups and comments sections across the internet.
Below are a list of controversial blogging etiquette rules that I’m either confused about, or just want to spark further debate about, because people seem to be split down the middle:
1 / “You should never EDIT comments on your blog, only moderate.”
This topic fired up on a Facebook Group the other day. I have to say, I had never even considered actually editing a comment left on my blog; I was amazed to see that people were 50/50 split on whether this was okay or not! Some (myself included I might add) were absolutely against editing comments in any way, while some saw no problem with it at all. However, quite a few people thought it was okay when related to the below ‘rule’…
2 / “Leaving a link back to your blog in the comments is RUDE.”
I read this and was astounded to be honest. It had never occurred to me that some bloggers might find this ‘rude’ or even ‘offensive’ – I do it on all my comments! I was shocked to find that many bloggers go in and edit the link out of your comment when moderating.
I mean, what do you think? I kind of feel like leaving your name and a link back to your blog is just like a signature or something, so that the owner of the blog can find out more about you if you’ve left a thought-provoking comment etc. But plenty of people said they considered it rude and ‘like they’re trying to steal my site visitors’.
3 / “NEVER write about politics or religion.”
I kind of understand why people generally accept this as a rule, but it can be done well. As long as you’re not shoving your opinions down peoples’ throats and you’re simply explaining your view or thoughts, I don’t see why this would be a problem.
4 / “Do NOT accept ghost writers; your blog should be written by YOU.”
I’ve been approached by companies in the past offering to write blog posts for The Cornish Life in the style of my writing, pretending to be me, so that they can add some links to some products and I get content for my blog (sometimes they offer to pay me, sometimes not). My response has always been a polite Hell No. Why?
Because: 1) I feel I have quite a unique style of writing that might be hard to replicate. 2) I enjoy writing, that’s why I have a blog. 3) My blog is specifically about my life and my thoughts, so I feel it would be wrong if someone else wrote it.
That being said, if your blog isn’t so much a lifestyle blog about you I can see that this would a valuable way of ensuring you’ve got regular content.
5 / “Only write in small 2 – 3 sentence paragraphs & split up your text.”
This isn’t even an unspoken rule, it’s a very spoken rule. If you read any ‘blogging tips’ type article, they will all advise this. And I get it; as a copywriter I understand that it helps for readability and getting points across. BUT there are absolutely exceptions to the rule…
One of my favourite blogs to read is The Salty Sea Blog, by fellow Cornwall enthusiast, Sarah. Her blog posts are long, with little paragraph formatting, and I love it. She writes in a descriptive, poetic way that feels like I’m reading a beautiful biography about her life.
So my conclusion for this point is: it totally depends on your audience and what you’re aiming for. You can absolutely have a popular blog AND write novel-esque posts with little formatting!
I never knew you could even edit people’s comments – that seems so rude! I also didn’t consider that people think it’s rude to leave your name and blog address? I always just assumed its a nice way of connecting with other bloggers – I love it when someone new comments on my blog and I can in turn browse around theirs – it’s not like a guaranteed follow, but more often than not if I enjoy what they have to say I’ll also enjoy their blog content too, and the best way of accessing that is for them to point me in the right direction! I also think if you want to write about religion and politics (or any other content really!)- go for it, it’s up to your followers if they don’t like it, they can always unfollow you! Alice xx
http://www.woodenwindowsills.co.uk (seeing as you don’t mind ;))
Haha no I really don’t mind! I’m exactly with you on this one :) I love finding out about other bloggers. Totally shocked that some people feel like it’s a move ‘to try and steal page views’.
To be honest, I feel like saying ‘get over it, you’re evidently blogging for the wrong reasons if that’s your concern’. x
How would they even steal page views? Even if they chose to click on someones blog, it would open in a new tab. Plus the person reading must have clicked onto their page already to see the comment, therefore already getting a page view (if that bothers them that much!!) Strange! xx
I guess because they’d be ‘losing’ them from their own website, to someone elses. In which case I’d argue that if they are a loyal visitor they’ll always come back anyway.
HOWEVER – check out Stevie’s (A Cornish Mum) comment below about DA scores – very interesting! x
Gotta say I didn’t know you could edit other people’s comments, although I can’t say I would. I’m okay with blog links being left if there is a decently sized comment attached to it first, more letters in your blog url than your comment and it’s heading for the spam folder I will be honest. I did actually post about religion once in a UK – US comparison post and while people didn’t necessarily all agree with things I was saying everyone was very adult about it and it actually went down really well. I think it’s all about how you handle it and are open to ideas – as in general with all things life.
That’s awesome Rachael – glad that post went well for you! I’m absolutely with you; if people can’t be open minded and adult about a conversation, then their opinion really isn’t worth noting anyway! x
Hmm interesting topics! Personally I think editing comments is a no no but I love it when people leave a link back to their blogs! Normally the blog is quite similar to mine so I like finding like minded people that way! In terms of your latter points, to me my blog is my own corner of the internet. I can write how I like about what I like there but it’ll always be my writing unless I specify its someone else!
Really interesting piece – I love your blog!
Laura – lalathroughlife.wordpress.com
That’s precisely it Laura! One of the main things I love about blogging is the community aspect and making friends with people who are similar to you. If there is no link back to someone’s blog, how can you find out more about them and show you appreciate them??
It’s madness haha x
Such a good post, You touched on some areas that a lot of people would ten to just shy away from talking about all together!
Andrew | thatmck.com
Thanks so much Andrew! Yeah, sometimes I just get so frustrated with these things so I thought I’d just blast it out in a blog post haha!
Damn. This was amazing Anna! Couldn’t agree more, and I had no idea that editing comments was even a ‘thing’
http://www.ohjanuary.co.uk
Me either!! I ended up getting into a full on discussion about it on this FB group and was gobsmacked at how many people do it! x
When you comment on a blog and fill in your URL in the form part (on wordpress especially) the blog owner already then knows your blog address to return the favour and come and visit you if they wish, therefore to add your URL in the comments as well does look to most bloggers as though you are link dropping and also means you’re more likely to end up in their spam.
I use comment luv on my blog that allows bloggers to attach a link to their most recent blog post, but still some just insert their blog address in to the actual comment, which sends them automatically to my spam and I have to dig them back out again – if I find them sometimes they probably get multi deleted with the other 50 spam comments.
Also being linked to from a blog with a higher DA than yours can be beneficial to your own DA, as by linking to you in any way – comments included if they are set to ‘follow’ the blog site is seen to be endorsing you and giving you ‘link juice’.
If you have a high DA and have sites link dropping on you who have a high spam score according to Moz and google, then that can affect your own spam score and DA – something that is hard to build up so not something people want to lose as it affects your position in search results.
Ha sorry that was very long, but hopefully you see why some do get annoyed?
Stevie x
Thank you for such an in-depth response! That’s really interesting – I had no idea about the links affecting your own DA score etc. I can see then in that circumstance that it’s not so good at all.
You have enlightened me :) x
Ha I was trying to think of a short way to explain it! Obviously since I have comment luv I’m not one of the ones who get annoyed, but it is best to use to comment luv not leave a link on mine as my spam protection is a bit overzealous! x
This is really interesting, though I do find commenting on blogs who use comment luv far more irritating than those using Disqus,which I think is a far better commenting plugin. I’ve never had any problems with spam comments – it might just be that my blog isn’t yet big enough, but I don’t ever have to go through and check through comments for spam. I’m guessing Disqus is good at blocking them? x
Ha see and for me I often find Disqus a complete pain as if I clear my cookies it randomly won;t let me log in for a week or more sometimes whereas comment luv you literally just have to type your url in, the same as you would with most forms of blog commenting :) I moderate all my comments as I get hundreds of spam comments, and a lot of it is pornographic or people offering to cure my son’s type 1 diabetes – I can’t risk that being published on my family friendly blog nor will I give the satisfaction to anyone who spreads health lies.
I use Akismet a plug in that decides what to spam for me and mostly it’s brilliant but does pick up comments with links in for obvious reasons and protects my site.
Stevie x
Oh, oh at number 1. I would never, ever edit someone else’s words. I edit my own comments, using the edit function in Disqus, because I have an inability to proofread, but I wouldn’t touch someone else’s. I would delete them if they were spammy or incredibly rude – but I’ve not had any like that, rude ones. Spammy ones gets filtered by Disqus anyway.
I never edit out blog links either, I like it as a way to be introduced to new blogs. I’m with you, I (try to) always leave my blog link after I’ve left a comment, but I don’t go for the “great post, here’s my blog” thing – that I think, is a little rude. But if someone has gone to the effort to leave me a nice comment, I always go and check out their site whether they link their blog on I have to find it myself, linking to it is just easier for me :)
For 3. I don’t mind, people can write about what they please. It’s up to me whether I choose to read it. If I choose to read something and get offended, that’s on me, not the person that wrote it. Unless they wrote it to purposely offend people, then one: they achieved their goal, and two: I don’t have time for people like that and probably wouldn’t be reading it in the first place.
4. It’s not for me, given that I run a lifestyle blog, it would look weird for others to write things. I don’t even do guest posts, although I write them for others. Ghost writers are a definite no no.
I like long posts that I can really get something from, I like being able to comment and the longer the post the more I can comment on :) At the same time I like a mix for my own blog, sometimes I just don’t feel like writing. For me, my personal choice is lots of text and lots of photos, because it’s more fun to tell stories :) The blog you linked to, is perfect for me, although, I admit, I wouldn’t say no to some spaces between the paragraphs, but I’d still read it all the same :)
Blogging rules as a rule (in my opinion) are stupid.
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