Welcome back to our ongoing series, Blogging Basics, where we give you blogging tips to create a successful blog. Click the link to view all of the posts that have been published in this series to date.

If you want to enter the world of blogging (whether as a blogger or as a reader), it is important that you understand blogging etiquette. After all, you want to receive an “Excellent” on your blogging report card, not a “Poor,” which is what you are likely to receive if you don’t follow basic blogging rules.

In last week’s post, Blogging Basics: Etiquette (Part 1), I shared a few of the things you should do as part of the blogosphere. Today’s post will address a few things you should avoid doing as a member of the blogosphere. Again, this is by no means a comprehensive list. You are invited to share other blog etiquette “don’ts” in the comments.

Avoid the following:

1. Copyright infringement/Plagiarism -

Unfortunately, there are many copyright myths that confuse people who do not understand copyrights. One of the most common myths is that anything without the copyright symbol is fair game. This is NOT true.

Tangible creations (note that this does cover written materials such as blog posts) are automatically copyrighted to the creator. Linking to another site is fine. Quoting a line or two from an article or blog post is fine, but do give credit to the original source. Don’t copy and paste a whole article or blog post into your blog without permission. Don’t use an image from another site without proper permission.  In fact, the simplest way to avoid breaking the rules is to simply ask permission.

2. Anonymous/Personal Attacks -
The comparative anonymity of the Internet emboldens people. Someone who is polite in real life may be rude, hostile, or arrogant on the Internet. Anonymous commenters are notorious for leaving attacking comments.

If you are going to leave a negative comment, do so politely, don’t attack the person, and have the courtesy to leave your name. (In fact, I’d advise against leaving anonymous comments at all unless you have a very good reason for doing so.)

3. Stalking -
If you are constantly leaving comments on a blog or asking questions that are not responded to, take the hint — this blogger does not want to communicate — that’s his or her right. Never send an e-mail to a blogger unless you are either invited to do so or if that blogger displays his or her e-mail address on the blog.

4. Comment spamming -
Don’t leave comments like, ” Great post.” just to be able to leave your linked name on someone else’s blog. That’s not a good way to win blogging friends and influence people to visit your blog. Relevant comments are the way to go.

Edited at 1:29 pm on April 15 to add: I’d like to thank sell jewelry in tampa fl for providing such a good example of this faux pas.

5. Music that plays automatically -
If you have added a playlist to your blog, please, please, please don’t set it to automatically start playing when someone visits your page. It’s almost enough to give someone a heart attack when they unsuspectingly visit your blog only to be assaulted by your favorite music blaring from their speakers. It’s even worse if they have multiple tabs open and can’t figure out where the music is coming from.

Here are a couple of good posts regarding blogging etiquette:

• Goldilocks and the Three Bloggers – cute and helpful fairy tale adaptation but does have a couple of swear words
• Crash Course in Blogger Etiquette

What is your worst story involving a blogging “don’t”?

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Category: Blogging