- People who blog often are merely throwing out random thoughts without much consideration. Often, after blogging for a long time, people become so comfortable with this idea that they say things they normally never would, sometimes even saying things they don't even mean. Some of these people, feeling some sort of sense of journalistic integrity, will not remove thoughts once expressed, but choose instead to post again saying "yesterday I said so and so, but today I regret it and take it back." Others simply remove the post entirely. On "Law and Order Criminal Intent" I would be classified as a disorganized serial killer because I do both.
- It isn't uncommon for people to blog when they are upset, leading them to do or say things they wouldn't normally do or say. An example might be a person posting nude or half-nude photos of themselves, either because they are caught up in the moment of other bloggers doing the same or perhaps because they are mad at someone and want to embarrass them. It may seem odd, but it happens a lot. Just wait, you'll start your blog today and be naked all over the internet tomorrow. Oh yes, you will!
- Perhaps the only truly unforgivable sin of the blog is to leave a comment on someone else's blog insulting all the other commentors for no good reason, rather than limiting your attacks to the owner of the blog. Very few bloggers will tolerate this. Usually there is no good excuse for it.
- I know of no bloggers who have editors. This leaves all of us in the unfortunate position of trying to police ourselves. I started blogging simply because I don't have an editor to advise me and help me avoid poor writing. I had hoped blogging would improve my writing, but clearly it hasn't. I still write "stream of conciousness", throwing out comments that are only marginally related to the topic I was trying to write about. If I had an editor they could help me by saying things like, "what is this crap? This isn't adding anything constructive and will only cause problems. I'm deleting this part, you fuckwit."
- The advantage to not having an editor is that a blogger is free to write whatever they please. For example, if Binsk wants to use the word "gay" to mean "dumb" or "goofy" then she is free to do so. When someone tries to criticize and preach to her about it being "wrong" or "sinful" she can respond in any way she pleases, even enjoying the assistance of half a million Canadian friends who come to her defense against the fuckwit. Binsk has good friends. They are all loyal Mapleleaf fans.
- Because this is a blog and I have no editor to force my writing to be PC, I can call the fanatic who attacked Binsk a "fuckwit" and hardly anyone cares.
- Most bloggers don't get paid. Thus, if blogging increases their stress rather than relaxing them they often quit.
- Blogging is time-consuming. Sometimes a blogger may spend 2 hours trying to write a reply to a single comment simply because they like the person commenting. Thus they make a special effort to help that one person better understand what was meant in a post that probably took half as long to write in the first place. But people with jobs can't afford to do this. They are often forced to either not respond at all or else limit responses to statements like, "oh, that's interesting."
- The most interesting bloggers are usually the people who live the most wreckless lives. Someone who sleeps with lots of people, gets extremely drunk frequently, and punches people they see with their exes are far more fun to read about than someone who simply goes to work every day, never cusses, never gets angry at asshats in traffic, and never sleeps with anyone of note.
- A blog is not a newspaper or a magazine. There is no obligation to be fair and balanced or even to allow a dissenting opinion. Blogs are a lot like the New York Times in this way.
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