Blogging Etiquette

Blogging Etiquette, New Media Ecosystem, Regulations, Ethical Publishing

For many people, blogging is a form of expression. Bloggers blog about their personal life, they share information, interests to others on the Internet. It is a social network, and people are constantly sharing with other people through blogging (Babb 2007). We see many different kinds of blogs; food blogs, political blogs, news blogs, personal blogs, but do we know what blogging etiquette is?

Blogging etiquette is important in the Internet world where plagiarism and blasphemy is common. Babb (2007) stated in his article the ten commandments of blogging do’s and don’ts. In the second commandment, it states, “thou shall not invoke personal attacks”. Clearly, many people are seen arguing on various topics throughout the blogosphere. For example, blogger Aduka Taruna was recently arrested due to an insulting blog posting made against the late Sultan of Johor (Shadige 2010). Babb (2007) further adds that in his eighth commandment, it says, “thou shall not feed the Internet trolls” which means you should not escalate disagreements on the Internet. Using Aduka Taruna’s case as an example, his posting about the Sultan received  more than 1000 comments, all which were expressed disagreement and dissatisfaction against him (Shadige 2010), shows that people were easily affected by just 1 blog post, when they can choose to ignore it. Predictably, if Aduka had obeyed simple blogging etiquettes, then maybe he would not have landed himself into hot soup. 

Though so, everyone is entitled to freedom of speech. Malaysia is a democratic country, freedom of speech and expression is considered as one of the cornerstones of the country’s function (Bashir 2009). Under the Article 10(1)(a) of the constitution, free speech in Malaysia is guaranteed, though in reality, freedom of speech is not prioritized here (Bashir 2009). Indeed, Aduka Taruna had the rights to express his personal opinion following the act in the constitution, but he was penalized for doing so. So does Malaysia really have the freedom of speech? Let’s view a history of cases involving the Malaysian government and restriction of freedom of speech. In August 2009, Malaysia Today’s website was blocked from 21 Malaysian Internet service providers due to the government’s request (Bashir 2009). The Raja Petra controversy also has spread globally when the editor of website Malaysia Today was detained under the ISA accused of causing ethnic tension and ridiculing Islam online (BBC 2008).

Raja Petra - Controversial Blogger who was detained under the ISA for blasphemy (Source : pinkturtle2.wordpress.com)

Though we are entitled to blog to our heart’s content, we need to take a good look at the what message we’re sending to others. What we think might be OK for us, might not be OK for others. Blogging etiquette is definitely important in this day and age. In addition, Malaysia needs to review the rights to freedom of speech for its community.

Reference List

Babb, P 2007, 'Blog Etiquette: Top 10 Do's & Don'ts', PC Advisor June 2, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsId=9550&pn=2>

Bashir, N 2009, 'Free Speech in M'sia: Speakers Cornered', The Sun Online 31 July, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=36381>

BBC News 2009, 'Malaysia Blogger's Joy at Release' 7 November, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7714696.stm>

Shadige, J 2010, 'Blogger Held Over Insulting Posting', News Straits Times 26 January, viewed 11 November 2010 <http://yquake.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/12eiss/Article/index_html>