Mailbag

So you read someone's blog and think it's awesome and want to write to the blog author. What should you do so that you don't make a bad impression?

1. Check your e-mail address. Does it reference in a positive way a mass murderer or otherwise scary person? Maybe you should e-mail from a different account. HitlerRox@ISP.net or GangRapr69@ISP.net is going to give a lot of people pause.

2. Start out slow. Sure, you want to be closefriends with this person whose writing has touched you, but you may not want to mention how it makes you touch yourself until you build a rapport. Remember that even though you think you know the blogger, they don't know you. You may know what kind of underwear your blogger wears, but they don't even know your name. You have to make introductions.

3. Keep your criticism to yourself. Constructive as it may be, most criticism coming from a complete stranger will not be taken well. "I love your blog and I've never commented before and you don't know who I am, but it drives me crazy that you end sentences in prepositions." Yeah, well, bugger off then. This is not to be confused with giving your opinion about a blog post topic...but some bloggers don't welcome debate, either, so know your audience.

4. Ask before sending pictures or other files. A stranger sending an attachment? Swiftly going into the delete file. If you visited a place you think will be of interest to the blogger, offer your awesome pictures but don't just send them without asking.

5. Don't flip out if the blogger doesn't answer you right away or even at all, Stan. Some bloggers are too busy, get too much mail, or simply are too wary to engage a stranger in private conversation. What you see on a blog is not necessarily the real personality of the person, and they may just prefer to interact "in public".

Now, let's say you read a blog and the writer really makes you mad. How should you express yourself properly?

1. Don't do anything illegal. Threatening the blogger's family? Not a great idea.

2. If you actually want to try to "get through" to the blogger, keep it civil. Keep it clean. Keep on topic.

3. If you can't keep to numbers 1 or 2, just click the little "X" up there in the top right corner and don't go back to the offending blog. Get on with life. Easy-peasy.

Posted by Jenelle at July 13, 2006 08:32 PM | TrackBack