All forms of etiquette must be considered when blogging. If you’ve taught computer classes to students, you have probably gone through the standard protocol lessons on Netiquette: 1) don’t type in caps because it indicates shouting; 2) be careful how you word your writing as it may be offensive without the sender intending offense; 3) check your spelling and grammar as errors may make your writing unclear or nonsensical, etc. All of these apply to the blog as well. Of further note in our reading today, it was indicated that what you write on a blog may remain out in cyberspace forever even if you remove the blog. Therefore, you always need to be careful of your words. Basically, common sense dictates that we consider the extend of the readership when writing for the Internet. I’ve kept posted in my library a writing by an annoyomous author that showed up in Ann Lander’s advise column years ago:
Be careful of your thoughts for your thoughts become your words.
Be careful of your words for your words become your actions.
Be careful of your actions for you actions become your habits.
Be careful of your habits for your habits become you character.
Be careful of your character for your character becomes you identity.
Anyone writing in a forum setting must be aware of how their writing will affect the reader.
Mac Boy said
I think that is one of the greatest challenges we face in our society– people are not always accountable for their actions. It becomes even more apparent in an online world where anonymity is the name of the game. Teaching a teenager that, even though people can’t see you, someone still could get hurt. Everybody remembers that feeling of invincibility as a teen. Now couple that with the fact they can say most anything online and have no fear of consequences. Etiquette and online safety must start early. If you are teaching these things after they have already been online–you’re too late.
vdbent said
Yes, teens do feel invincible. However, most teens want rules even if they say they don’t. I have found it interesting that my students have not heard the rules of Netiquette until they get to middle school. I would agree with you that we need to start young. We teach our kindergarten children to play fair and nice on the playground. I think that we should also teach our kindergarten children to play fair and nice on the Internet as well. Thanks for your post.