Policies

I have been doing some reading recently regarding blogs, bloggers, and "Codes of Conduct." There seems to be some concern in some circles that blogs may incite or encourage violence and a general lack of civility. At the same time, there is not necessarily any effective way to regulate this, AND you don't want to stifle freedom and creativity.

As I learn more about blogs and blogging, I have been surprised to realize there are quite a few legal as well as ethical and moral issues related to blogs. I am doing my best to deal with the legal issues in what seems to be "standard, accepted" fashion, with a legal notice posted separately from my blog "policies". I will strive to maintain a legal blog.

Though many of the legal issues related to blogs are still being sorted out, copyright infringement is a major problem. Since YOU own any comments that you place on MY blog (unless you have posted another person's already-copyrighted material), you have the legal right to ask me to delete anything that you have posted. Therefore, I have to have some way to identify you, so I will know it is YOU if you ask me to remove something, SO I will have to have some sort of contact information. Since I am new to all of this, I cannot predict exactly how the system will actually work.

As far as general rules and conduct goes, I will probably strive to keep this blog "G"-rated. I personally am not much of a fan of profanity -- I can see where it may have its place, but it tends to get over-used and therefore loses impact.

I have no problem with disagreement and civilized debate. In fact, I encourage it. I believe the world would be better off with more honest and open debate -- but it needs to be an attempt at true communication, and not just blind name-calling. I also encourage people to stay "on topic" -- one of the things that gets in the way of communication is countering a statement with an argument that is completely off topic. (On the Internet, there are also the annoying off-topic references to things like dating web sites and weight-loss products, which I will attempt to keep off this blog.)

I am a big fan of honesty, but there is often no way to determine whether a person is being honest. I am also a fan of privacy and anonymity. The bottom line is that I always encourage everyone to keep their private matters private, but try not to lie. For example, if you don't want to say where you are from, fine, but don't say you are from Colorado if you are from Indiana. There is no way to regulate this, so all I can say is that I hope you do not lie, and that I do not plan on telling any lies. I also encourage you not to violate the privacy of anyone else, including me. If you try to post personal information about someone other than yourself, I will do my best to censor it. This includes just about ANY information about ME, in case you are someone who knows me or knows information about me.

My "Privacy Policy" should be obvious. I will never sell or otherwise distribute your e-mail address, nor will I send you any mass e-mails of any kind, but depending on how everything works out, I will probably contact you before I post anything from you, just to make sure the e-mail address is valid. I do not believe ANYONE should be allowed to sell or distribute your e-mail address without your specific consent. However, as stated in the "legal" section, in cases of alleged or suspected illegal content in any comments you post, I will reluctantly share contact information with any requesting authorities.

This is all uncharted territory for me, and will probably evolve.