Blogging Tacoma - A Review of Etiquette

When Exit133 first launched in its current form, there weren’t that many blogs around town.  As the months ticked by, a few more hardcore Tacomans started writing online. Then, the daily and weekly newspapers began hosting and/or expanding ‘blogs’ as a way to join the daily T-town discussion.  As Tacoma bloggers, we all seem to be striving to define who we are and what we write about.  Finding a unique voice takes some time.  My hope is that we can mature as a group community, work together a bit and also give credit where credit is due.

Cite Your Sources

If you reference a discussion on another site, link to that site.

If somebody tips you off to a story, give them credit…if they want it.

If you see something on another site you like and write your own piece about the subject, reference the origin of your inspiration.

This last line is where it seems our community may have some challenges.  Over the past few months, there have been repeated instances where one site writes about a semi-obscure topic or event and then another website will write about the same topic.

As one print journalist told me, Exit133 has, on occasion, been the origin for story ideas.  While he can’t use me as a source, he can use me as “inspiration”.  It makes sense to me and, generally speaking, that’s cool.  Particularly when I get a thank you! 

The etiquette and rules in the online world are a bit different.  In the online world, we are also supposed to give credit to our inspirations.  Of course, the print media is a different game entirely, but if the print media folks are truly interested in being good ‘bloggers’, this is something they need to get better at.

For example, let’s say that Jamie at ThriceAllAmerican.com writes about a city council meeting that he attended and the discussion that occurred.  I read his posting, find a copy of the meeting minutes, and then write my own commentary.  The good etiquette thing to do would be to use a “(via ThriceAllAmerican.com)” or some other way to show that he gave me the inspiration. To ignore that Jamie gave me the idea is viewed as poor blogging etiquette.

As another example, if James at Tacomaness writes about a friend of mine who is doing something cool in Tacoma and I then write about it, the good etiquette thing to do is give James the credit for inspiring me to put it online too.

Since T-Town bloggers are all on the same listserves, announcement lists, and the writers share many contacts, it is possible that more than one writer could develop a similar story at the same time. This is not a problem at all, although it is proper etiquette to give credit if we read it on another site first.  A problem develops when original ideas suddenly flow from site to site without citation.  It’s rude and we’re a small community. 

I am confident that we can all play well together.  Play ball!