PureBlogging

Dubya-bashing is a favorite pastime of many people around the world, not just Americans. King George is a great example of what not to do in many respects (like running the U.S.), but I think we can scale that down to blogging.

1. If you can’t admit when you’ve made a mistake, people will respect you less, not more. Blogging is supposed to be about openness, transparency, and honesty. If you’ve messed up, people will tell you. How you deal with that says a lot about what kind of person you really are.
2. Everything you say is on-record and can be used against you later. Every post you write and every comment you make is findable online and could come back to haunt you later. So think about what you’re saying. Say only that which you will be proud of forever.
3. Just because you can get away with cheating doesn’t mean you should. Bush cheats on everything, in just about every possible way. As a blogger, people will notice your shortcuts if you scrape others’ content or steal their designs. They will notice if you’re kicked off of Digg for creating multiple accounts to try and game it. They will not take kindly to automated comment spam. Just because you can do these things, doesn’t mean you should. The long-term benefits of winning by doing the right thing cannot be overemphasized.
4. If you feel the end justifies the means, and you use any means necessary to achieve your ends, you didn’t win anything at all, but you might lose your humanity. Going for the shortcut, the fast buck, cheating at search engine optimization and social media in order to “win” is not winning at all. It gives you the illusion of winning for a short while, but in the end, you lose. Trust and reputation are paramount on the web.
5. If you’re going to talk tech, get it right. It ain’t “the Google.” Do I really need to say anything about this one? Do not misunderstand or misuse your tech jargon, or you will be a laughingstock. Help others understand, and you become a valuable and trusted resource.

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