17. February 2009:

Are You Cut Out For Blogging?

If you are going to start a blog, or interact on social networks for that matter, you do need to cultivate an ability to listen to other people's views.

In other words, just because you have found a platform on which to broadcast your thoughts to the world, you cannot expect everyone else to agree with what you have to say. Dynamic websites have made it possible for all of us with an internet connection to have our say - forums, blogs, social networking sites, article directories, wikis and more.

So, where is this post leading?

Well, I run a review site for hosting companies and the site has two aims. The first is to provide a useful resource for visitors and the second is to earn an income. It is a review site and I feel I owe it to visitors to give them as much information as I can about the companies listed, even if I am an affiliate for the majority of them.

This means publishing negative feedback about those companies as well as positive. Unlike many review sites there are no "top ten" lists that companies have paid to be on. To my mind that kind of thing would do my site and my visitors and subscribers a disservice (even if it might be very profitable). Nobody can tell anybody else, at least not with any authority, that there is a "best" company for their needs, as every webmaster and blogger has a distinctly specific set of requirements. People come to my site for information, often during the course of their purchase deliberations and I believe they are entitled to have access to balanced opinions about anyone they might be thinking of doing business with. I may draw the line at rants which might have legal implications for the poster, but I will always email them to explain my editorial decision.

With that in mind, let's return to the subject of the post. Most people who have blogged or used social networks will have come across people with whom they disagree. Sometimes such disagreements can get quite unpleasant as many people are emboldened by what they see as the anonymity granted by the internet (grin). Others are just downright rude and seem to have few qualms about social conventions or niceties and with that group there is little point engaging with them. However, if you publish anything online, there will be times when you will have to engage in debate and how you go about it on a public forum will say a lot about you to the people who read said debate.

When people resort to name calling and cussing, it suggests to me that their social skills are lacking and that their maturity and intelligence levels are perhaps not what they should be, but that's just me.

The point is this - you cannot expect everybody to agree with you and if you do, you are probably not cut out for blogging. If you blog for commercial reasons or with a view to making money from your efforts, you need to be prepared to accept occasional criticism. It's a fact of life and how you deal with it will say a lot about you to those who are standing on the sidelines.

Moving along, if you are going to run a "review" type site, you have to learn the difference between "review" and "opinion" and be open to those of others. The other day I commented on a blog where a writer had written a review of a company of whom I have been a customer for many years. The review was more "opinion" as the reviewer seemed to have no direct experience but, despite that, it was well written and some of the criticisms were fair. Overall, his opinion was negative. The post had one comment, from someone who went further and made several complaints about his experiences of said company. As a satisfied customer myself, I added my own comments to the thread detailing my own experiences. Rather than publish the comment and answer it, the owner of the site decided to nuke it.

I don't know about you, but this suggests an ulterior motive, an axe to grind or a hidden agenda and is a disservice to people who read this guy's blog. How can such a blogger be expected to be taken seriously? I don't dispute anyone's right to write about what they wish but to engage in outright censorship of anyone who posts a contrary view I find quite annoying. Ultimately it is any blogger's right to publish or decline to publish whatever he or she wants, but it is still something I think you need to think about if you want to engage your readers and visitors and have any kind of credibility, regardless of what you blog about.

Ultimately I believe that anyone who believes they are always right, who is not prepared to engage in discussion or who is not big enough to stand behind their own claims is not worth talking to, or about. Anonymous blog comments that attack or criticize others have to be taken with a pinch of salt too as far as I'm concerned. If you have an opinion you should have the cojones to put your name to it and be prepared to defend your mouth.

In my opinion, if you are not, maybe you are not cut out to be a blogger.

So what do you think? Have you ever found yourself being censored by another blogger (this excludes anyone who engages in spamming and the like) or forum owner for example? Have you ever been frustrated or annoyed by someone who prefers to delete your considered input than publish it and enter into discussion? How do you feel is the best way to deal with people you don't agree with?

Photo Credit Marco Wehe



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