THE CAPTAINS BLOG - GENERAL RULES & BLOG101 - HOW TO?

1. No threatening, crude, rude, racist, violent or sexually explicit posts will be tolerated. If asking a question of a sexual nature please do not offer illicit details, include only that information that is absolutely essential to the question. If the question is very personal consider keeping it off the boards and seeking one on one expert or peer advice.

2. No insults, put downs or threats directed at other posters or blog assistants.

3. No bully posting - posts intended to hurt someone's feelings or cause them embarassment. If you have a beef with somebody, be it on the internet or somewhere else, handle it with dignity - don't lower yourself to name calling or mud slinging. Slamming others is so not worth it!

4. You can not post anything that you know will upset other people or start an argument - this is called flame posting or flaming. It is not acceptable. However, debate on sensitive issues is permitted. It is not WHAT you post about but HOW you post about it that determines whether it is a flame or not.

5. Any links posted on the board must be suitable for teens ages 14 - 19. If the link is meant for a specific age group please say so in the post. Pornographic, violent or other adult content is expressly forbidden.

6. No posting of full names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers or other clearly identifying information - your's OR anyone elses.

7. No posting pictures of other people, whether you know them or not, without their explicit and verifiable consent.

8. You can not sell things, or send people to links that sell things - this is called spamming.

9. Try not to post ALL IN CAPITALS - to other posters this is the same thing as yelling and may result in others being upset or insulted by what you post.

1. Transparency: Great blogs are blogs that leave no question of their motives, who their parters and affiliates are, and who their authorship is. Transparency means that no matter what the blog is about, the readers know what they’re getting into. Because transparency is really about trust. Great blogs have earned the trust of their readers through their posts, their opinions, and their engagement. But they are also not misrepresenting themselves, or the reason why they’re blogging in the first place. At the end of the day, trust is the only real currency in the blogosphere, and people who read blogs have the expectation that they’re getting at the truth — in whatever form the truth is to them. And because there is the presumption of truth, readers will often react in an intense fashion to being manipulated, hoodwinked, and otherwise bamboozled.

2. Authenticity: Great blogs are ones which are startlingly “real”. They give the details and the raw juicy information in a way that only the author is able to deliver. In that way, authenticity is really about delivering a uniquely fascinating experience — with the emphasis on “unique”. And being the unique experience means that its the sum of all of the elements on your blog which are part of the authentic blog; and beyond the literal parts, such as the logo, the color scheme and the wordpress theme (if you’re using wordpress), it also reaches deep down into the special content that bloggers are privvy to, the voice that they communicate in, and the personality that the blog exudes. Authentic blogs are blogs with a great deal of unmistakable personality that you just can’t find anywhere else.

3. Integrity: Great blogs know what they stand for, and what values are meaningful to them. Integrity means standing up for those values when the winds of change might call for any blog to be challenged by them. Often times, it means saying “No”, when everyone else is saying “Yes, Yes, YES!”, and the courage to do so even if you risk the chance of being unpopular. Having integrity can be particularly challenging when you’re starting out, as when you have the feeling no one reads your blog, you tend to devalue it yourself. Devaluing your own work is a step away from making all kinds of concessions because you start thinking that no one is looking — or no one will know. But if you’re in it for the long haul, caving in can have disastrous consequences as the record will exist for perpituitiy, and the blogosphere will remember. Blogs are funny that way. They’re derided as mentally delayed cousin of other more mainstream media, but even amongst their own, are often held to a higher standard. Whether its paid advertising from a company that you’ve called out on, entering a partnership with a blogger you’ve publicly denounced, or suddenly changing your value judgement on a critical news piece, integrity has a funny way of calling attention to you in a most unappealing light. Great blogs are able to stand tall for what they value, and have justly earned their respect for doing so.

4. Passion: Great blogs are written with an incredible passion for the topics at hand, and much like great sex, it can’t be faked. Passion and intensity for your topic is something that’s palpable and energizing, and what I call the “X-factor” behind a great blog. And its the litmus test behind your blogging efforts. If you find you can’t work up the energy and enthusiasm to get excited about your own blog, maybe its time to start asking yourself some hard questions about whether you need to change your goals (or blog). Because if you’re not excited, your readers will know — and they sure as heck won’t be. Passion is the energy of emotion. Its what motivates righteous anger and incandescent outrage. But it also adds verve to thoughtful insight, compassion to solicitous pleas for help, and a quivering sense of excitement behind a long awaited piece of news. Passion is what elevates blogs that have otherwise stale nonsensical content into something immenently readable, and it shoots into the stratosphere blogs that have something fresh, innovative, or insightful to say.

5. Engagement: Great blogs live in an ecosystem of thoughts, opinions, ideas and personalities, and are active participants in those relationships. They are engaged. Engagement means actively participating on other blogs. It also means replying back to emails and comments. It means growing and cultivating your own readership. It means contacting and creating relationships with like minded (and sometimes not) bloggers. And sometimes (often times), using your blog as a platform to rebut, support, or even start opinions on a given issue. Blogs that can afford to exist in vacuums are blogs that are powered by individuals who have fame or fortune outside of the blogosphere, and are bringing that to their blog. However, for the rest of us who are not celebrities, our blogs need to grow organically, using the rich loam of networks and relationships to grow, and the collegial debate of ideas to encourage it to be strong and resilient.