Bletiquette

An esteemed colleague of mine once made the observation that the cosmetics industry is peppered with made-up words and phrases (what exactly IS Vitalastin?). It occurs to me that the same observation can be about about the technology industry and its many offshoots.

Bletiquette, n: Blog etiquette.

I thought I had brilliantly coined a new phrase - until typing it into Google and realizing that several people, perhaps more brilliant than I, had already used this "word".

So are there etiquette rules for blogging and, if so, what are they? According to one website, blogging about blogging is strictly a no-no (oops - looks like I've already broken that one). There seems to be no universally-accepted "code of conduct", however, there are several common-sense guidelines available:

Deborah Ng's Blogging Etiquette Rules:
http://www.bloggingtips.com/2007/11/25/blog-etiquette-the-rules-are-quite-simple/

Kevin, aka DigiKev's advice:
http://www.digikev.co.uk/blog/home/13_february_2008.aspx

If you are considering entering the Blogosphere on an organizational level, you may want to consider drafting your own organizational Blogging Code of Conduct, especially if you are considering multi-author postings on your blog.

My own piece of blogging etiquette advice? As with face-to-face conversation, focus on the interests of the person/people you are addressing. That's just plain good manners.