One of the articles that I had been thinking about that was not necessarily relevant to my blogging theme was if there are ethics to blogging and what should be disclosed, discussed conversed, done to other blogs, interaction with communities, advertising, monetizing and manipulation of content.

One of the problems that I have always had with ethics and morals is that to me there is no central set of ethics and morals, not just world-wide, but within any society or even family. What is appropriate and acceptable conduct for one person is not for another. Different people have different values and as such the ethical and moral considerations they will have when contemplating an action will also be different.

Now with a community of bloggers there must be some people who consider that everything that is to be done is to make money. Whatever makes them money they will deem acceptable as it is not harming people, and if visitor and readers are happy to read and put up with that approach then everything is fine. I have even heard some noted bloggers discussing this on podcasts and each had different limits about how far is too far.

On the other end of the spectrum there are people who believe that everything that is done needs to be accounted for to a higher power and must adhere to their strict moral codes. These people think that only full names are acceptable to be used, all contact details need to be provided, that any potential conflict of interest should be disclosed and nothing should be said or done that is controversial, that may hurt another’s feelings, that may unnecessarily publicize ones self at the expense of others, that the truth is something that is conceptually able to b grasped and must be grasped to validate what they are actually doing.

I think that I sit somewhere in between. I use my guidance if I am doing something that I am comfortable with doing and what I will not regret if I consider it lately. I consider things like copying other’s work, attacking people not their ideas and tricking readers to be underhand, but other activities I am not as strict about. Blogging for the majority of self-styled authors and online journalists is something that is not going to make them a sustainable living and something that is for their enjoyment and if you are doing something that you do not enjoy then you probably should not be doing it. Even for the pro bloggers - they are making a living from themselves being their own brand, if they choose to do something that they are comfortable with and others then do not respect or agree with what those people did, then this will harm their brand. If they are doing things that are underhanded but their readers do not notice or mind then is there anything wrong with this?

I am not going to cast judgment on someone who does something that they are happy with, just because I think that my decisions are superior to theirs. This elitism will probably get you caught out; which is one of the problems I have with imposing your own moral code on others. What happens when you do something they would not approve of, are you just as bad as them? There are so many different religions that promote different values so it is hard to know which will be correct at the judgment day, if such a day will ever come that it is nearly impossible to know which is correct..

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