I don’t Like [Fill in the Blank]

You know what I hate? I hate people– mostly those new to blogging or those trying to emulate Darren Rowse– deciding what and what shouldn’t be on a blog. They decide what people should be writing about, what pictures they should be posting and everything else in between. They say:

“You shouldn’t have personal information on your blog.”
“You shouldn’t talk about politics on your blog.”
“Don’t talk about sex.”
“Don’t cuss.”
“Don’t censor your comments.”
“Don’t allow others to comment as they wish.”
“Don’t put nudity.”
“Don’t link to anyone other than yourself.”
“Don’t use a header.” (This one is new. WTF?)
“Don’t make money on your blog.”
“Don’t show your personality on your blog.”

Etc, etc, ad nauseum.

There are as many types of blogs as there are types of people in this world. Each person with a blog is doing it for their own reasons. Who is anyone to tell anyone else they’re doing it wrong? If their blogging satisfies something in their life, and you don’t like their blogging, then just move on. Good grief there is no one forcing anyone else to read these blogs that they so disapprove of.

I call these folks the “purity police”. Instead of moving along, they want to make the blogosphere exactly the way they want it. They should probably stop and find something more useful to do with their time. Their complaints have already been written– over and over and over again for years. When they’ve gotten tired of them someone else will come along and tell the rest of us how to do it right. Yay! I can’t wait.

Recently I saw someone mention they had signed up for Twitter with the sole intention of driving traffic to their blog. They didn’t want to network or participate in the community– just drive traffic. That’s fine. Some people do that. I don’t like that. Guess what? I decided not to follow this person. Not very hard, huh?

Guess what else? I didn’t go on and on about this person using Twitter– which I consider to be a network and community tool — not using it in a way I thought they should. Why? Because there’s too many other things to worry about and I, personally, don’t have to worry about that. Much like blogs that I don’t like. I avoid them because I don’t have to worry about them.

See how that works? Don’t worry. It gets a lot easier with time and experience.

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