Blog Get A Cat


Remember back to your very first foray into blogging? Remember the very first entries on your blog? Many of us can look back to something similar to this:

September 3, 2003

Hi. This is a test. This is my first attempt at blogging.

September 4, 2003

Hi. Guess no one stopped by to comment.

September 5, 2003

I was late for work today. Why no comments?

September 6, 2003

I forgot to put my garbage pails out by the curb.

(And I wondered why no one commented?)


Remember how you felt as a neoblogger?

I remember thinking: this is my blog and I can write about anything I want.

Then not a single thing came to my mind except things like it’s raining outside and the house smells like wet dogs. I’d purposely put in an anti-Bush comment or a fuck – just to see what would happen.

Would I be arrested by the Secret Service? Would the curse cops come and wipe my blog away for profanity? Nothing happened...it was great – no censorship, at an age when censorship has become more and more prevalent.

I do remember feeling totally free. I could write anything at all because not a damn soul was visiting my site. I had no idea how to comment on anyone’s blog, had no idea what a blogroll was, had no idea about any unspoken or written rules about what to do or not do while blogging.

As time’s gone on, I have started to see patterns of politeness that permeate the blogosphere, have increased my comments on others’ blogs and have had more comments on my own blog.

One day I woke up and felt like blogging was becoming a job. I wasn’t visiting all the blogs I liked; I was forgetting about blogs I had visited in the past because new bloggers were coming to my site, so I was visiting their sites.

I remembered the saying: Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold.

I tried to get up earlier so I could hit more blogs with more comments and not let anyone think I had abandoned their blog.

I was starting to sweat when I logged onto blogspot…oh god, people were now putting me onto something called a blogroll. It was an honor. I would have to learn how to make my own blogroll. Then I wondered: do you ask permission before you put someone on a blogroll? Can you just blogroll like a maniac without telling the bloggers you’ve linked to them on your page?

More questions arose. Um, how come I put Franksfingers on my blogroll and he didn’t put me on his? Hey, doesn’t he like me? Should I feel affronted?

More angst when I realized, Franksfingers was commenting on other peoples’ blogs but wasn’t commenting on mine. Egads, it felt like a middle school popularity contest and I was losing! There were not enough hours in the day to blog correctly and make sure everyone in blogland knew I liked their wit, writing and photos.

Then I saw comments on blogs like this: Great! Ew! Super! – one word touches allowing the commenter to reach more blogs quicker and use less blogging hours. I just can’t do that. (OK, so I do it once in a while but it isn’t my modus operandi.)

I didn’t blog for a week or so, then I came to grips with this whole blogging concept and made my own rules of etiquette for me and my blog – so here they are:

I wish I’d never started a blogroll. It would be much easier to never have linked to a single person than to try to keep up with the many people I am meeting in blogland who write like angels and who have so many interesting things to say on so many subjects.

If you aren’t on my blogroll it isn’t because I don’t love you. If I’m not on your blogroll I won’t be hurt. I can barely keep up with plain old blogging never mind an ongoing list of favorite bloggers because my list is now reaching astronomical proportions.

I’m glad I included my email on my blog because it’s fun to get email from fellow bloggers – except the ones like: Marybishop, you didn’t write a blog entry today. Why? Are you okay?

Or, Dear Marybishop, please don’t add anymore people to your blogroll or I’ll lose points on Blogshares. (Huh, what the heck is blogshares? Why do they care how many people are on my blogroll…I still don’t know the answer to this question.)

My rules say that I can blog at will. I can make five blog posts in one day or one in five days. Right? I mean it is my blog.

Censorship: On my blog you will never be censored even if you call me all kinds of names and accuse me of having sex with my mother. Your comments will stay there forever and ever and live on in caches all around the world.

Commenting on comments: I try to respond to what people write on my blog. I want to respond. If I missed your comment I’m sorry…Unless my popularity soars, I intend to respond to every comment I see…sometimes I miss a few though.

I love it when one commenter starts talking to another commenter and I can just sit back and watch a conversation grow. Anyone can comment to anyone about anything on my blog. (I never realized until lately that this might be a no no in the blogosphere…but not here at Tchotchkes.)

Without the help of winks, and nuances of tone, and facial grimaces or gesticulations, some times the written word can be misinterpreted. It is not my intention to hurt anyone’s feelings but I’m not going to pussy foot around what I want to say either.

Memes: I still can’t figure out if I like these things or not. But, again, if I don’t tag you it isn’t because I don’t want to know your favorite books, for example, but because I put down bloggers names that come to mind immediately or bloggers who I know haven’t been tagged yet. Everyone who comes to my blog and sees a meme is tagged…that’s my rule.

If I haven’t visited your blog lately, leave a comment on mine, then it jolts my memory that I haven’t been to see you recently.

Most importantly remember there are NO rules on my blog;

There’s no censorship; no you don't have to agree with me; I don't mind if I'm not on your blogroll; I don't care if you don't respond to my comments on your blog; you will be just as happily greeted if you visit once a month or 20 times a day at my blog. You can leave a one-word comment if you want – or write six pages – no length requirement.

If you see I came to your site but didn’t comment it’s because I had nothing witty to say or husband was calling me to please come downstairs and spend some time with him, not because your post wasn't commentworthy.

I love you guys. I am never bored because I know I can come up here and with a few clicks on the keyboard read some of the most amusing, interesting thought-provoking and heart-wrenching stories in the world.

Blogging has to be fun or I just won’t do it. I, like all of us, have enough of the not-so-much-fun stuff to do, so blogging for me is 100 percent fun – a wonderful way to spend some of my free time doing something I adore doing, reading and writing. (Notice no arithmetic is mentioned…unless we want to get into Blog Counters!)

And that my friends is my interpretation of proper Blog Etiquette.

Since I let the cat out of the bag on blog-get-a-cat, I’d love to hear what you think about blogging rules…do you have any for your own blog? What’s bugging you about blogging or bloggers?