4 posts tagged “blogging”
I started using Vox as work blocked livejournal and I was addicted. I now use multiple blogging sites, at least 2 microblogging sites plus a couple of picture sites and keep trying out new things! If you don't see me here much you can try find me via my wordpress welcome page that has a list of other places you can find me on the left hand side:
http://bluecatonline.wordpress.com/welcome/
I also use Ping.fm to post / blast a single post to multiple locations ~ I notice the formatting comes out a bit poorly but I can come back and re-format.
Also, in case you think I don't read you, I have a number of Voxers on my rss feed ~ OK, if I don't log in then I don't get to see any neighbourhood only posts etc but.....
Hopefully I will get around to coming back here properly every so often. Work and life is busy and I keep going 'OOOOh! Shiney!' at new websites.
OK, I scavanged the above story from Dee's twitter feed. But it got me thinking. I have had a blog of one sort or another for some years now and... what responsibility to I have to moderate comments on my blog, or indeed permit others their opinion?
My blog, my choice.?
Of course. However there is a line. Where it is may depend on my personal predjudices or my mood on the day.
I would prefer to leave things, but may choose not to. At what point am I censoring someone?
Still my blog, my choice.
I have deleted or screened comments based on content:
The announcement of the death of one of my beloved kitties on my cat-blog (not currently active) received a response along the lines of 'good, lets hope the other one dies to and you will stop writing a stupid blog as if it is by your cat'. Deleted.
Friend accidentally using my real name online. Screened with a polite 'please don't' attached.
I like the ability of some blogs to 'freeze' a set of comments so no one else can post, just in case I want to use it.
But yeah, I guess my blog is less the wild west and more a hippy-type place: things are cool, man, just chill. Peace & Love.
Vox works in a different way to Livejournal, but some aspects may carry over. Due to a discussion on a LJ community I was thinking about the rights & wrongs of community posts, and who owns the posts, and what the non-virtual world manners mean in a virtual world.
OK, This is my blog. Now who owns the comments? Does each individual own the comments they make on either this Vox blog, or on my LJ or in any community?
The physical world equivalent is paper. Now if I send a letter to be published in a newspaper, it is in the public domain. I cannot be surprised to see that people have written to the paper and the paper has posted them in response. What right do I have to demand that the paper not publish, or remove, responses I don't like? I suspect in the main the newspaper would tell me where to go unless the comments were defamatory or libelous in which case they may not be published.
If I post a round-robin letter to a select few of my friends I would not expect it to be in a newspaper, or to get letters from people I have never heard of, or find out that the information within was the subject of public gossip. OK, I may happily accept that Auntie Jane told Cousin Max about the contents, or let him read it, but not down the pub. Having said that, what if Auntie Jane knows I fell out badly with cousin Max & she still shares the information? I get hurt, angry & rant I guess. And don't send Auntie Jane anything I need to trust her not to share.
The equivalents are posting in a community / public blog posting or restricted blog posting.
Now some of this doesn't quite work. Bits of paper can more easily be shared around or accidentally left where someone else could read it. Restricted membership of a newspaper/publication doesn't restrict it to only those people.
We think the virtual world is 'safer' in some respect as when we call ourselves something patently not our 'real' name we expect privacy from people in our physical world (unless we tell them our alias) and get shocked & horrified to find out that we have been 'outed'. equally we think that if a post is locked to a specific list of people (friends only / Neighbourhood only / community membership only) that the information will not spread. mmmmm. Well, it is certainly bad manners to do so: like gossip ~ I tell you something in strictest confidence but you have to respect that confidence.
Blogging Etiquette ~ the modern minefield.
In the online world, some of the subtlety of our real life networks is lost.
"The real problem with Facebook," he messaged me, "is that there are no gradations. So all my friends are now in one virtual space, whereas in the real world they are carefully grouped and separated."
~ Taken from The etiquette of networking
I think this is an interesting one. LJ has custom groups that you can use, down to including only 1 person (which I do do) and just a few people (Like people who already are regular visitors to your home) or share a hobby. Vox doesn't. Neighbourhood (akin to LJ Friends), then 2 separate sub-groups: Friends or Family. You can post public, Neighbourhood (including friends & family), Friends only (NOT including Family) or Family only (NOT including friends) or to both Friends & Family.
I like the Vox terms. I also like the fact that posting to a vox group is a form of cross post from your own blog: the post stays on your vox, but is seen within the group.
However I like the flexibility of LJ. I also like that I have a real social network here :)
But I recently joined Linkedin ~ a networking site for jobs & colleagues. A facebook for work. Eek! Especially as I have about 50 colleagues / ex colleagues there. Including the company president.
It is a question I have had a bit, with online identities. Do I want everyone I know to have the same information about me? I know my brother reads this journal occasionally (*waves Hi*) plus other friends who may / may not have an LJ. But when it comes to sharing stuff..... yeah.
It is less 'I don't want to tell you' as 'I want to use different words to different people'.
This just goes back to the Masks issue ~ we all have masks we wear in different situations and get rattled if they slip. Even if it doesn't matter that much.
