Mitakuye Oyasin

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I participated in a survey about blogging ethics a while back, and surfing around these last few days has placed blogging in the forefront of my mind. The findings of the survey were not at all surprising to me, but I think that there was one area that was unexamined, and that area is privacy.

For me the most important thing in blogging is to be respectful of another's privacy.

The other thing is to be respectful of other blogs and bloggers. I would never go to someone's site and give an unsolicited opinion about their blog appearance or content, unless there was a technical glitch that prevented me from seeing it. But just to go there and snipe at someone? Forget it.

If you don't have anything nice to say, then just leave. (*Yes, there are some blogs where debate is invited. In this situation the requirement to be nice is lifted, but I would maintain that one should still be civil.) I'm not even one to talk about another blog specifically unless I have something positive that I want to share.

Believe me, I've run across many blogs that irritated me to no end, but I generally just try to avoid them. And I don't necessarily mean that it was the content that irritated me. More often then not a blog that's garish or difficult to navigate is going to be the one that I avoid.

I'm not out to trash anyone in particular here, but there are two things that will keep me away-

There are other little things, but those two are pretty much deal killers. As usual, I've wandered from the path here.  Blogs that annoy me really aren't an ethical consideration, are they? But, privacy is.

Contrary to popular opinion, there is no 'right' to privacy here in the US. At least, there's not one formally defined in the Constitution. One could make the argument that the 4th amendment covers this, but I disagree. There's a difference between what applies to the government, and what applies to the people.

Some bloggers use their real names, or at least they say they do. Some, like myself, use a pseudonym. While I try not to advertise who I really am, anyone who knows me and stumbles on to this blog will know who I am immediately.

I'm also fully aware that anyone who really tried could track me down pretty easily, though if they had malice in their hearts they would be very sorry to have done so. Some individuals I came into contact with through my work who did this learned this lesson the hard way.

Robert Heinlein once said that the only proper way to respond to a sentence that begins "It's none of my business, but..." is to place a period after the word 'but'. Politeness needn't be a consideration in placing that period. Some bloggers' families know about their blogs and read them. Only 3 people from my 'real' life know about my blog, and I would prefer to keep it that way.

There are some things in the archives I don't want my wife, or anyone else in my family to read. So I believe it's important to respect the privacy of other bloggers. There are several bloggers out there who I've gotten to know well enough that they've entrusted me with their real life names, none of whom I'm going to mention here.

In the Randomeme Game, if the winner wants a CD they have to provide me with a mailing address. Some of them have entrusted me with their personal information, and it's a trust that I will never break. Myself, I have access to a PO box so I can have mail delivered there without divulging any personal information.

I guess it all boils down to trust. For the most part, all you know about me is what you've read here. In real life you might see me differently. In real life I don't get to go back and re-write.

But I love you all, and hope that our relationship continues to grow.

Mitakuye Oyasin!

~Easy

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