Rules of the Blog

[stacia_kane]

So a number of things have happened in the past few weeks/days that have got me thinking about this blog (No, relax. This is NOT a “I’m not blogging anymore” post). One, my decision to let the set schedule go. I’ve actually enjoyed blogging more lately, and if you notice, I’m still doing about two posts a week. The difference for me is I can now

Comments

[tom_gallier]

I wish more bloggers and facebookers followed your rules. I know I have had to 'unfriend' a few FB friends because of their "politically insulting" posts. I don't care what your politics or religion is (are?) as long as we agree that the Dallas Cowboys rule. Oops, I dragged SPORTS into the fray! LOL

[stacia_kane]

Thanks, Tom. I just...you know, people are entitled to believe whatever they want to believe, and they're entitled to speak of those beliefs as often as and wherever they want. But for me it's rather jarring to have those subjects come up, and while there are some issues I speak about or take a stand on in general I like this to be a relaxing place, a fun place. :-) I don't want anyone to feel unwelcome because they don't agree with me, you know?

I do like the Cowboys, but, um...I'm a Dolphins fan. *ducks*

[tinachristopher]

Sounds great!

[stacia_kane]

Thanks Tina!

[mardelwanda]

I'm one of those lurkers. I just want to say it's nice to know you want to protect the feelings - I'm not sure if I'm wording this right

[stacia_kane]

I totally agree (and thanks so much for breaking the lurk and commenting! Feel free to do so as often as you like--but like I said, hey, if you just want to lurk, that's totally cool too). The world *is* an unpleasant place. You never know when someone will misinterpret something you say or do, or if they're just having a bad day, and they turn on you. And it is worse online where people feel less inhibited. But why? Does it give people a sense of power to be rude and nasty to others? Would they say that in person? There's nothing wrong with disagreeing but does it have to be so harshly, and turn into a pile-up? And what's wrong with disagreeing but just sort of shrugging and saying, "Well, I think she's wrong, but there's no need to get into a big discussion about it

[mardelwanda]

I agree! It's supposed to fun, entertaining, or a way to learn things.

on another note, I've had your book Personal Demons, for over a year, and read the first quarter of it. Because of a move, and other books coming out I never finished. Well, this weekend I"m on a second round of antibiotics for a stubborn bronchial infection (used to smoke, paying for it now) and decided to do nothing but read. So I finally finished Personal Demons and I'm wondering now, why did I wait so long? Now I have to remember if I bought the second book already (I was planning to), and if I did-where did I put it, cause, of course Now I want to read it. I'm also waiting for Unholy Ghost to come out, which I have a feeling I'll like even more. (read the excerpt).

I do enjoy your blog and your points of view. (and your cute new wigs)

[cheesebk]

great post, thank you!

The 'promote this and that'-thing really has gone overboard. If I choose to promote something on my lj or via my twitter account, fine. but I would never even think about posting links into comments on another blog just to promote something. *shakes head* if it somehow tied to the initial topic of the post, fine... but otherwise it really is incredibly rude.

I'm part-time lurker on many blogs :) ... if there is such a thing :D sometimes I'm a bit in a hurry and instead of leaving just a short 'YAY!' or 'Oh, NO!' I don't comment at all...

When a topic really speaks to me - as this post did - I like to voice my opinion. And as you said, everyone has an opinion and should not be ashamed to speak up... as long as it is done in a respectful way.

[stacia_kane]

Exactly. It feels to me like there's not as much respect in the world as there used to be. And I don't mean respect for authority, I mean just plain respect for other people, and the belief that although you may not agree with them they might have good reasons for believing what they believe, you know? It's a shame, and I don't like it.

And yeah, who in the world would decide that a good way to promote their contest or to make people enter their contest is to force others to go spreading comment spam all over the place? A horrible idea. Sigh.

Thanks for commenting!

[jongibbs]

Interesting. I don't have set rules, but like you, there are things I don't (or wouldn't) allow.

That said, I've only had to act on two occasions: once when someone used the 'f' word in a comment - I want anyone to be able to read my blog and while folks can do what they like on their own journals, I don't want swearing on mine. The other was when someone made a spiteful comment about a politician.

Both times, I sent a polite message asking the commenter to change or delete what they'd said, which they did, and since they both still visit and comment on my blog, I know that no offense was taken.

I've not noticed any spam in comments (aside from a few Chinese ones a few months back), but I agree with you about it being rude.

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you're enjoying blogging again :)

[stacia_kane]

That's good to know, about swearing on your blog. I don't worry about it on mine (obviously, lol) but I do tend to draw the line at offensively graphic comments. Luckily I've never really had problems with that here either--and fwiw it sounds to me like you handled the comments left on your blog perfectly. Why shame people publicly, you know? When they didn't know what the rules were. I wouldn't have taken offense either.

I honestly think I'm extremely lucky with the people who comment on my blog. And it's my job to make sure everyone enjoys commenting here, and continues to do so. :-)

Thanks!