I was thinking of the various things we associate with the number 7, since 7 is the theme of the 7-day Write Tribe Festival Of Words from September 1 – 7 and besides the usual, I thought of the 7 deadly sins, which are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Sloth and Wrath.
Then it occurred to me, why not relate it to something we do regularly? And the obvious answer was blogging. After all, it is all about words, right? So let’s look at the 7 deadly sins of blogging. There could be more than 7, but because 7 is our theme, we’ll stick to that number.
7 deadly sins of blogging
1. Stealing
Taking someone’s content/posts/pictures and passing them off as your own. That is stealing. It is called plagiarism. It means you are not only a sloth and a lazy rear but a thief. And you will be duly rewarded for your action by Google with a slap for duplicate content. But the deadlier sin is when the original blogger gets punished. How disgusting is that? Get a life!
2. Commenting without reading
Some bloggers are so kind and generous that they’ll visit lots of blogs, just to keep up the numbers, and comment, writing something stupid. Worse still, dumping links in the comments. This includes spamming.
3. Not giving credit where credit is due
You need an idea for something. You discuss it in your forum. Your tribe mates come up with ideas. You’re excited. You happily use the ideas with nary a mention of the originator. Imagine how that individual will feel when she sees her idea used, and lots of people saying wonderful things about it, praising it. And you use your right to remain silent because you can’t bear to share the fame. Gross.
4. Participating in bloghops, memes and joining groups only to drop links
This one is common. Linking up is fun. It is a great way to build your readership and your community. So you post, you add your linky and enjoy the visitors and their comments. Do you do the decent thing by reciprocating? Oh no. You don’t. Just remember that you cannot fool all the people all the time, and it is unfair to keep taking without giving.
5. Not playing nice – taking names and ranting about someone
You’re part of a group or a tribe and had a slight misunderstanding. Rather than sort it out privately, you rant in public. You think you’re being honest. You take names. When you don’t, you make sure you are descriptive enough for everyone to easily figure out who you are talking about and then enjoy the sympathy of your readers. That’s cheap behavior. And it is disloyal. It won’t take the others long to figure out that one day you’ll be doing the same with them. Put that on your bazooka and play it!
6. Inviting a guest poster and treating her badly
You know how some people invite guests over to post and then go off to do their thing, leaving the guest to cope. Instead of connecting readers with the guest poster and keeping the party going, you take time off, assuming the guest will do the duty of the host – replying to comments, answering questions. Minus one to you if you did let the guest poster know that she’s welcome and should feel at home, and reply to comments. On the flip side, you go guest post somewhere and then disappear. You don’t respond to comments. What were you thinking?
7. Loading your sidebar with banners and popups
And driving your visitors nuts getting your page to load. When it eventually does, giving them hell with the advertisement overload. And heaven help you if you if one of those ads is offensive. How would you like that to happen to you?
Now that I got started, I could really go on. I think I will, briefly. Here is the second set of 7 deadly sins of blogging to add to the above:
1. Never bothering to acknowledge when someone shares your work. Not so hard to say thank you, is it?
2. Being snooty and condescending
3. Taking, not giving
4. Not replying to comments. (Yes, I am guilty of having some catching up to do!)
5. Neglecting your blog and then, the day you manage to have a post up, running around commenting expecting people to reciprocate.
6. Being nasty or disrespectful in your comments. How about if you have nothing nice to say, shutting up?
7. Not bothering to edit your post for spelling/grammar errors. Yes, it is a total turn off.
Ah, that said, I personally think the blogging communities I am part of, simply rock.
Let me now sign off with Mahatma Gandhi’s version of the 7 deadly sins. Nice lesson in there!
• Wealth without Work
• Pleasure without Conscience
• Science without Humanity
• Knowledge without Character
• Politics without Principle
• Commerce without Morality
• Worship without Sacrifice
Can you add to my 7 + 7 deadly sins of blogging? Are you guilty of any of the above?
Now let me ask you this:
Would you consistently visit a blog and comment simply because you enjoy it, even if that blogger does not reciprocate?
This post concludes the Write Tribe Festival Of Words from Sept 1 to 7
I enjoyed it thoroughly. A special vote of thanks to Corinne of Everyday Gyaan and Write Tribe, who kept the group together and slogged her butt off to make it a huge success. It takes dedication to motivate others and keep them happy; raising them when they feel low and encouraging them to keep on. She did that and more!
Stay tuned for the next one!
Namaste!
I am glad you are here. May your day be filled with smiles!
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