Bloggers are a funny bunch of people because despite the fact that you are your own boss, work in an unregulated industry and really have the opportunity to say whatever you like whenever you like we still like rules. Namely webiquette, web- etiquette or netiquette. Call it what you will I’ve seen the sands shift and change in this area so rapidly over the last year not to mention three years so I thought I’d take some time to reflect upon just what makes us get along online. This post is aimed at common courtesies I’m seeing left out, forgotten or just done in a way that annoys everyone from the reader to the blogger.

Link Bombing or selling yourself in comments

The comments section of blogs is a place for conversation with the blogger and other readers. It is not a space to advertise your blog or company so don’t leave a link to whatever it is you do or are selling. Most comment forms allow you to add your website as well as your name (which then becomes a link) and this is how bloggers and other readers can share further what you do. Link bombing or leaving irrelevant links in the comment body however is akin to spam in my opinion and even if you have left your comment with the best intentions, it should be removed by the blogger.*

Don’t complain

Unless you are masterful with humor or pride yourself on sardonic observations on the world around you, nothing is duller to read than someone else’s complaints. People have taken time out of their day to come and read your blog, so you should ask yourself, ‘Am I providing content with value?’ Just because you self publish does not mean you have an automatic soap box, and to put it quite frankly- who cares if you got a parking ticket or the train was late?

Give credit where credit is due

The biggest sin you can commit in the blogosphere is not to credit images and text, particularly if it is from another blogger. Even worse is passing the content off as your own. Bloggers are content creators and so it is critical that if you have used someone else’s content you rightfully credit it with links back to their website, and say so on your blog. In academic circles if you copy it is plagiarism- why would you steal someone else’s ideas online?

Don’t spam the network

It’s a tough and over saturated market out there in the blogosphere, and hard to stand out if you are new. You will quickly develop a reputation as a ‘network spammer’ with other bloggers if you hassle them for links, link bomb as mentioned above or do outrageous things to get attention. If you content is quality you will be noticed.

*this point has been edited for clarification