community

My Comment Policy

One of the things I’ve been considering for a while is having an official comment policy.

It’s not because I feel I need one, per se – the community here is one of the best on the web.

I feel incredibly lucky to have you guys come here and share your views, because you always treat both me and your fellow commenters with respect when discussing something I’ve written.

That hasn’t changed.

So why a comment policy? Simple – it keeps everything upfront, so if anyone ever does “step out of line”, they’ll know why I either edited or deleted their comment.

Again, I’ve probably only had to do that 4-5 times in the 14,000+ comments made here since this blog started. That in itself goes to show what a great community you are.

I also want to make sure that you, the reader, feel safe and comfortable when sharing your views. As my comment policy states, I will not accept anyone attacking another commenter for having a point of view. You help make this blog what it is; the least I can do is help make it somewhere you want to hang out.

The blog policy can be found here, but I’ll also replicate it now:

When I write a blog post, it?s obviously my point of view. Once it?s in the open, though, it then becomes a shared point of view with you, the readers ? and your point of view is what builds the discussions around a post. Sometimes you?ll agree with me; other times, not so much. And that?s what makes the comments after a post such a fervent breeding ground for ideas.
I don?t mind if you attack me for my views. Heck, I?m big and ugly enough to take your shots, and it shows me that you?re passionate about a topic ? and I would never discourage passion.
Besides, I?m the person that?s invoked that reaction, so if it?s an attack, let?s have it open and unfiltered (although keeping it respectful would be nice).
What I won?t accept, however, is attacking other commenters. They?re like you ? simply offering an additional view on the starting topic. By all means, attack me ? the blog is my home and as the owner, I?m responsible for what goes on inside. But attacking another commenter ? that?s poor form.
I?m a firm believer in an open comment policy; I don?t moderate before publication, because I feel that stints genuine interaction and conversation. Going by the conversations that have happened over the months, it would appear that most agree.
Let?s play nice and keep it that way. Like I say, attack me if you wish ? as the instigator of discussion, I?m open to all views and words. But let?s treat the guests (and that includes you) nicely. Otherwise, you will be moderated and deleted where I feel it’s applicable.
And let?s keep the bigotry, hate, sexism, profanity and all that other fun stuff off here too. You want that, hit up TechCrunch, YouTube or similar.
What say you ? fair?

I think that covers it pretty well.

Good to go?

Image: Bob.Fornal

Blog Awards, Recognition, And Your Part in It

When I first started this blog just under two years ago, I had one clear goal – fostering thought connections.

Sure, I’d be using it to offer my views on the still-emerging (at the time) social media platform, as well as ideas and solutions on how you could get the most out of the new networks and tools that seemed to be popping up all over the place.

But the overriding factor would be to have my blog as a focal point where ideas could be shared; viewpoints could be discussed; friendships and connections made; and a community built that wasn’t afraid to challenge thinking to help each other grow.

What I didn’t expect was how the blog would grow in that timescale.

Today I found out that this blog was one of the recipients of Young Entrepreneur’s Top 10 Marketing Blogs Award. While I was uber-happy to be recognized by such an organization to start with, my jaw literally dropped on the floor when I saw the company I was keeping – Seth Godin, Andy Beal, John Jantsch and Valeria Maltoni among others.

These are marketers and bloggers that I look up to immensely, so to be sitting alongside them is pretty mind-blowing. What’s even more mind-blowing is how the Young Entrepreneur award is part of what’s been an incredible first half of the year for this blog.

In January, it was voted PostRank’s Top Marketing and Social Media Blog.
In February, it came in at number three as one of the Top 50 Canadian Marketing Blogs.
In March, it received the Hive Award for Best Social Media Blog at South by Southwest.
In April, it came in at number six as one of Cision’s Top 100 Social Media and Internet Marketing Blogs.

Couple that with its syndication across the Social Media Today, WebProNews and Newstex business networks as well as its inclusion on the AdAge Power 150 list, and this blog has taken on a life that I could never have foreseen back in September 2008.

Now, while I could lay claim to having done it all myself and how the content has spoken, blah-de-blah-de-blah, even it if were true it’d only tell half the story.

As I mentioned at the start, the aim of this blog has always been to foster a community that would not only question and offer views, but would help the blog grow because of that questioning and view sharing. And these awards and recognition are proof that’s exactly what has happened.

If you didn’t come here and read my thoughts; if you didn’t come here and offer yours; if you didn’t question my viewpoint and make me think differently and strive to be the best I can every time, none of the recognition or award-winning would have happened. I’m not that dumb.

So.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for giving me the time from your life to make me think better. To make me question my thoughts. To make me learn and improve daily.

And thank you even more for helping foster what is, without question, one of the best resources of knowledge, expertise, thought leadership and more – our community.

Your community.

Here’s to you.

photo credit: blentley

The Indecision of Being a Blogger

morning perch Sometimes being a blogger is no fun.

I don’t mean that from a, “Oh, woe is me, I have to blog” point of view. Nor do I mean it from a, “Why hasn’t my blog been turned into a book yet?” viewpoint.

Besides, how much of a letdown would a book that’s made up of recycled blog posts be?

No, it’s more from the perspective of getting the best user experience, without overloading that same experience with too much clutter (and when I say user experience, I mean it from you, the reader’s, point of view).

For example, anyone that’s read my blog for a while will know that I’m constantly experimenting with design, features and layout to make your time here worthwhile.

I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to stop by here, read what I’m thinking, and then share your own thoughts in the comments.

So one of the areas I’ve experimented the most in is the comments section. I’ve tried third-party comment systems (then switched back); video and audio comments; and commenter social profiles with Twitter and latest blog post options amongst other experiments.

And still I stay undecided at times. Just the other day, I tweeted that I almost switched back to the Disqus comment platform following their new updates, but that I’d miss CommentLuv too much (Disqus isn’t compatible and I think CommentLuv is one of the best blogger tools out there).

Another option I can never make my mind up about is social sharing. This is where, if you like the post enough, you can share it with your own networks (Twitter, Facebook, Stumbleupon, etc).

I’ve messed around with a few options here too. Sexy Bookmarks, Add This and BackType are three that I’ve used previously.

Currently I use Digg Digg, which provides the floating share option to the left of this post. I also use Share This at the bottom of each post, to offer a wider amount of networks than Digg Digg. And then there’s the Apture Bar at the top of the page, which I’ve just switched back on and only comes into view as you start scrolling down the page. (Note: since posting this I’ve had to switch the bar off as it looked like it was causing formatting issues on my design).

Yet is this too much? Just right? Not enough?

There are a ton of other little things like this that I constantly question when I look at my blog. While I write what I’d like to read, obviously a big part of any blog’s “success” is its community, from readers to commenters to subscribers. So making your experience a good one is just as key as me writing a (hopefully) good post.

Perhaps it’s just part and parcel of being a blogger? Always questioning not just your content but the content area. And perhaps that’s why bloggers are such an oft-misunderstood crowd – if we don’t know ourselves, how can anyone else?

How about you? If you blog, do you go through the same indecision and similar questions? And if so, what are some of the things you’re constantly asking yourself?

photo credit:?bgblogging