Do you want respect from your readers? Do you think you should respect your readers? If you read a book or article, I have no doubt you are gratified to see that it's written in an understandable, consistently formatted, and grammatically acceptable (if not completely correct) manner. You don't have to write like that, but people will respect you and feel as if you respect them if you write this way.
(I'd like to reference people who care about the issue of content quality and respect to read my other, newer article on the subject.)
Most blog places, this one included, have a "Preview" option (it's pretty much required, here!). So, no one should go ahead and post their blog without correcting the formatting and grammar and spelling a little.
As a writer, I'm inclined to say it's simple. It might not be, but this is what I wish would happen:
1. Everyone should use paragraphs, instead of one big, long, gigantic entry that's all together and isn't divided up and seems to go on and on and on and on forever and ever amen just like this sentence that I'm sure you're sick of reading by now.
[Edit after a few comments have been made: Paragraphs, bulleted points, numbering, or any kind of system to help indicate separation of ideas -- these are all helpful. If you write one long paragraph, but use words such as "First", "Second", "Then", and "However", that really helps with reading. However, I still advocate the use of paragraphs.]
2. Everyone should support their claims with factual information and/or specific examples. Academic publications, like chemistry magazines, prefer that scientists back up their claims with experimental data. If it's something that people know is debatable (e.g. how many people have died in Iraq so far), people should cite their sources (e.g. which newspaper) they got it from. If it's something obvious, like "Followers of Jesus are generally considered Christian", then maybe it's not so necessary.
3. Everyone please punctuate your sentences properly It is a little strange when people don't punctuate Sometimes I think it is hard to follow when people don't use periods or use, commas in the wrong place Therefore please consider helping me out by ; putting !! punctuation marks in appropriate spots because if you're here you probably passed elementary school grammar
4. DON'T USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS WHEN WRITING YOUR ENTRIES. THIS DRIVES EVERYONE CRAZY. IF I READ AN ARTICLE BY SOMEONE WHO DOES THAT, I WILL AUTOMATICALLY ASSOCIATE THEM WITH MY MOTHER, BECAUSE I WILL FEEL LIKE THE AUTHOR IS YELLING AT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (PLEASE DON'T USE TOO MANY !!!'s EITHER!!)
5. Your entry should not consist mostly of quotes. "Yesterday in Baghdad this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this happened." Oh and here's what I think about it in two sentences.
6. Finally, please let there be a point to your argument. Butterflies are really pretty, and so are bees and flies and spiders and flowers and women and booze. As a matter of fact, you should state your point somewhere in your article, and make it clear that that is your point. I like chocolate a lot, I bet I like it more than you do, and that's all I have to say about that.
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I'd like to add a few things about comments. Please, if you are replying to a certain person in the comments, rather than the blog itself, click the REPLY link at the bottom of the comment.
And please, it's entirely too early to start worrying about people posting just for points. We're not even 3 weeks into the contest yet.
~C
Visit my blog.
I love that one. Some people are so greedy that they take blogs and make them their own.
In no way am I trying to offend you, but I have one question. And that question is: why should someone write a certain way just because some people prefer to read their blogs a particular way? I mean there are plenty of people who have their own writing style and prefer to write all in one paragraph rather than little sentences. While other people, like to write one word. I really don't think there is a right and a wrong way to blog because it is not a thesis style paper or anything. I think writing is a creative process in itself and is developed however a person wishes. I personally view blogs as ideas put together to form a point or story, without having to worry about sentence structure I guess i'm just use to "typical" blogs, where no one is really grading them based on how they are aligned. Just an observation. Hope I did not step on your toes.
Thanks for your thoughts -- sorry if I offend your writing sensibilities. I think that the reason why bloggers should write in some certain ways (e.g. paragraphs) is simply because it is professional and readable. If you (someone, not you in particular) are writing a blog for other people to read, then I think you should consider your reader, and make it as readable as possible. Using paragraphs is one way of doing this.
I don't mean to say that all people who write in all caps or in one big paragraph have a problem with the way they write. In the end, the most correct way to blog is the way in which the most number of people will understand. I tried to address issues with blog entries that I thought affect people's understandings of the entries they read. (Numbering my points, like the six I have in my entry, is one way in which I try to facilitate understanding.)
Your comment is not very long (it's useful and informative to me, so I am not offering criticism in any way). Therefore, it works well as one paragraph. But if someone writes, say, 8-900 words, then (I believe) it is easier to follow separate ideas if they are given their own separate space on the page.
Her comments are to encourage bloggers to write in a way that is readable. If you have a long paragraph (really long), it gets difficult to read it. If you have run on sentences, it's hard to read. If you follow those steps, generally you'll get more reads and more feedback and a better rating. Of course, no one HAS to follow these suggestions...
~C
Visit my blog.
What the blogger and I have in common is this: we want something we can read without straining our eyes or our brains. Those are six good points; any blogger who wants his or her blog read should follow them.
If you honestly don't care about the structure of a blog, you must be new to the progressive blogging world. Welcome. Once you've read enough blogs around here, I guarantee you'd want everyone to follow these standards as well. I'm not expecting every blog to be grammatically perfect or else; I just want every blog to be readable. Creativity shouldn't interfere with readability, as one can still be creative without insulting another's intelligence. How do you expect us to comment on your content if we can't even get past your writing style?
I'm sorry if I sound impatient, but this website hasn't been at its best lately. I've been having to go through a lot of junk to find a hidden gem. Even the highest-rated, the most-emailed, and the front-page posts are not as reliable as they're supposed to be, although my problem with them has more to do with a personal aversion to hot-button topics than with writing etiquettes.
These are all good points to follow. They make for easy digestion of information. If people want to get creative then fine, but when they get "creative" they need to ask themselves, "How is this "creative" step improving the content of my writing?"
Typing in all caps is a way for lazy people to ignore the shift button and proper capitalization. Ignoring paragraph breaks is more often evidence of a hastily written and posted blog than some kind of artistic purpose. Are these creative writing styles or just laziness? I don't see a whole lot of avant-garde typesetting pioneers around here. Most writing styles won't be crimped by any of these rules.
No one is writing thesis papers, but that is no reason to be lazy and sloppy and throw up trash that is impossible to read. Most people are here to read essay and editorial style blogs with thought behind them, not page long rambling paragraphs and unsubstantiated thoughts and musings.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memor mori, mahalo.
Susana Molina
I completey agree with you pinktaz15, I think people have different styles of writing and they should only go ahead and write whatever they feel or think. If we start putting "rules" for writing, many people are going to be pushed back from doing it or they simpley are not going to be able to express their ideas the way they would have done it if just being themselves. I think that as far as there are no insults to one another and everyone acts respectful, there is no problem on how you decide to write your blog.
As a writer, I agree with your suggestions as to previewing prior to posting. I would like to take your 'respect' issue just one step further if I may. It seems there are many bloggers out there who feel it necessary to insult, degrade, put-down, 'catch', etc. another blogger if they do not agree with one's views on a given subject/content.
Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. I like your title suggesting bloggers slow down. . . this would enable some to get past their initial emotional response and think about the actual subject matter without taking it personally. Hopefully, then, some positive interaction and possible solutions could be gained instead of pointless banter.
I agree with you but you have to have diversity. . .With no grammtical errors and spelling problems this website would be boring because everything is the same. I do agree we should proof read our stuff but disagree on how to break up paragraphs and sentences some people flow a different way!
Scientific journals are plenty diverse (considering they're usually specific to one field), and I highly doubt there are grammatical errors and spelling problems in those. It is diversity of THOUGHT that were are looking for here. People should be able to read what you have to say, and the more these 'rules' are followed, the easier they will be to read.
~C
Visit my blog.
But for a different reason. If we didn't have diversity, noone would win or lose.
Some people make it simple to say no to because they just can't conform to the simple ideals of professional writing. I know it makes it sound cold, and maybe you just wrote this so you can better enjoy others' articles, but my point is this:
All the better for you if the idiot can't write legibly... It IS a computer document.
I think that blogging is all about contact, getting your ideas out to other perople. I don't think that people need paragraphs, but the blog does need to be easy to fallow.
Random yet insightful?
Personally, I do not have the patience nor time to read a blog that is confusing or grammatically horrendous, no matter how valide or interesting the points of discussion. I believe I am not alone here, therefore if you wish for people to pay attention to what you have to say, write it clearly! If, on the other hand, you are writing for yourself, to rant, write however you'd like and have fun expressing yourself through creativity of punctuation.
Personally, I do not have the patience nor time to read a blog that is confusing or grammatically horrendous, no matter how valide or interesting the points of discussion. I believe I am not alone here, therefore if you wish for people to pay attention to what you have to say, write it clearly! If, on the other hand, you are writing for yourself, to rant, write however you'd like and have fun expressing yourself through creativity of punctuation.
Thank you, seriously.
No kidding. . .too many immature bloggers out there just wanting to criticize, complain or just plain argue. . and dont' bother to leave votes. If that's all you want to do. . go somewhere else or start your own "I want to Whine" blog.
Thanks for putting the message out there.
*If you leave a positive comment on a blog, leave a positive vote.
*If you read it and have any slight opinion of it, leave a vote.
*If you thought it sucked and have already criticized them, leave a freaking vote!!!
People want to know how they did on a scale. And it is also nice to get feedback just so you know what you did right or wrong. Just so you know. :]
I completely agree - it is only about the blogger but readers need to leave feedback too - hate it or love it, just comment & vote, then move on! It is the feedback that makes blogging different from any website that writer wanted to put up instead.
Haha. In other words, vote people!
I try to vote on the blogs I post a comment too. However, if I just read the blog or attempt to read it as the case often is, I may or may not vote depending on if I was actually able to read the blog or not.
Halfway through a 900 word one paragraph blog, I usually say screw it because I'm so aggravated about the fact that it's written in a single paragraph that I can't concentrate enough to absorb what I'm reading.
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the warm rays of the sun fall upon your home."
Nicely said. You've got a lot of points. I know I break a lot of those rules myself, but yeah. I try to make it pretty readable!
~ Godz Desert Kat
http://www.progressiveu.org/134526-grow-up
Thanks -- I don't want to criticize people who are imperfect, I want to encourage people to take their time and try to write quality stuff. ;)
--Princess Vera
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Love and charity are the basis of all that is good in this world.
I agree with the whole paragraph thing but i can not spell for anything so my blogs have lots of errors that I wont catch.
Conformity is the jailor of freedom and the enemy of growth!~JFK
Get Firefox. There's a neat little plug in that checks the spelling of everything you type in.
~C
Visit my blog.
Firefox is great for spell checking. Now, if they'd just add a grammar check we'd be half way there!
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the warm rays of the sun fall upon your home."
Everyone should have their own style as some of the comments here were mentioning but there are ways to develop your own style and still follow some of these basic writing techniques. I mean, you don't have to follow all of them but over all if your blogs and comments are more grammatical and you take more time to make sure they are correct and easy to read, then it makes the blog seem more credible. Credibility is not always important but when it comes to writing blogs about news issues and trying to create intelligent debate, credibility is essential.
And now these three remain: Faith, Hope and Love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
I usually write my post in Microsoft Word and then transfer it to this site. That way, I know if something is misspelled, or if the sentance is a fragment, and etc.
Great points! =]
This is a blogging website where we are able to express freely. Just because we all aren't gramatically correct all the time mean we are wrong. If we all wrote perfectly in paragraph form is would be BORING! But we should cite our information :)