Tuesday, October 31, 2006

What rules do you have for yours?

When I started my blog I made some simple rules. I had read other people's blogs for a while and, whilst I hadn't the faintest idea how my blog would look or how many people might read it, I made some "house" rules for myself:


  1. Keep positive - I didn't want to be a "moaner". I wanted to talk about good things and not whine about bad things. There are plenty of blogs that exist by attacking and criticising others and I didn't want to take that avenue.
  2. Be polite - I have tried to treat everyone with respect. The old "treat everyone as you would like to be treated yourself" adage is one that I firmly believe in. (apart from when brothers are involved)
  3. Stay away from politics - There are some things I can claim to have some knowledge about, but politics is not one of them. There are a few occasions when I have skirted around politics but I have generally steered clear. You political brains will run rings around me anyway.
  4. Make friends - The old blogosphere is a marvellous place full of interesting and very dull people. I have made many new friends and had many conversations with lots of interesting characters. Nice.
  5. Listen - As a young salesperson the habit of listening well was drummed into me. "You've got two ears and one mouth, use them in that ration" I was told.
  6. Publish all comments - I publish every single comment with two types of exception; those that are pure spam and the few occasions when someone has accidentally sent the same comment more than once. Everything else is published. So far.That's it.

So, those are my few rules. Self regulated and I know I have broken just about all of them.

What are yours?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

question: What are RULES? whts your pov about them? is it a line that you draw yourself and test if you would cross as time passes by? or did you at al follow the above rules?

i'd actually follow only a few on strict basis, NO POLITICS, NO SPAM, NO DISRESPECT to fellow spillers. simple aint it?

and try to have fun as well in the mean time..

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

lo$t - I think the answer to your q is in the post. I have broken all my own rules but they are the brief guidelines I have put in place for myself.

Fun is a definite part of it too.

Anonymous said...

You had previously mentioned another rule - "be your self" and "don't take up a seperate blogger personna"

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Anon - yes - it's hard to ascertain whether I have managed to abide by that one. Only someone who knows me in person and reads my blog can answer that. There are a few of those sorts lurking out there!

Sachini said...

Rules....never thought of that before...I had two other blogs before I started this one and obviously this is read more than those two ever were.

Anyway one unconscious rule I always seem to have adhered to is (which I realized after reading your entry) that I never delete a single comment. In two posts I made about my reflections on Buddhism I have been called all sorts of things but they are all left as they are. And I suppose that is what freedom of expression is although some of the expressions are disturbing. lol

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Sach - Iknow what you mean. I was looking for an email today and I came across a comment that I hadn't published. I had deleted it because it consisted of a nasty name calling remark directed towards someone else who had made a comment. I didn't want to publish that but, other than spam, I try to publish everything.

Anonymous said...

I let (almost) all comments through simply because it's the easiest thing to do. One guy was being particularly nasty (slandering Christians) so I deleted him. Then he posted again, and I deleted again. Then he started posting the same comment over and over again, literally every 5 seconds. I realized that I could have just let the few comments sit and saved a bunch of headache. The best thing to do with nasty comments is just ignore them, sometimes attention just makes them grow.

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

True enough Indi. I like the new look Kottu by the way. It's a definite visual upgrade.

R

Anonymous said...

your rules are all very wise and i'm sure they have proved the most sensible and fun way to go about this business...

i'm noy very good with rules; particularly the ones i set for myself, but rules are always necessary. and it's nice to see that there is someone that follows the rules, the most important ones - the ones we set for ourselves.

Anonymous said...

No rules as such, but I try to be - often spontaneously - as creative and as provocative as I can. Sometimes I fail.

As for comments, I publish all comments including the ones that offend me to point of insanity. I believe that I've deleted only one comment.