Blogging Roller

Lots of reading material on rules or lack of rules for blogging today.

First, some posts about Tim Bray's use of the F-word in a blog about Sun's new Project Blackbox. My take on the F-word? It's good and I use it, but I haven't had the guts or the reason to use it on my blog (although I have posted quotes that include the word). I'm with Scoble on this one: when somebody like Tim says something is F-ing cool, then I sit up and take notice.

• Can a corporate blogger use the "F-word?"
  Scoble: "I paid attention to that new product launch BECAUSE of Tim's language"
• Tim's Bomb
  Douglas: "If you believe [free speech laws] carry over to your corporate blog, then we disagree."
• The F-bomb: never cool
  Robertson: "when you use coarse language, there's no upside. That's right - none."
• Oh My Goodness Gracious
  Bray: "I'm sincerely sorry. But that's really what I'm like."

Sun VP Dave Douglas' point about corporate vs. personal blogs seems valid, but as Douglas points out, it's not clear whether Tim's blog personal or corporate. Tim's posts are included on the front page of blogs.sun.com through the magic of aggregation (actually, only the first sentence or two). Do we need to add a bad language filter to the aggregator? Should Tim and other externally hosted Sun bloggers provide a safe-for-Sun feed for our aggregator that includes only polished professional posts?

And second, some links from Raleigh News and Observer's Sunday feature on blogging, which included articles by Triangle blogging mavens Ruby Sinreich and Anton Zuiker:

• Raleigh News and Observer: Rules to blog by
  Sunday feature on blogging, rules, ethics and journalism
• When blogging, face the conversation
  by local blogger Anton Zuiker, published in the Raleigh News and Observer
• Moving past the "blogs versus journalism" debate
  by local blogger Ruby Sinreich, published in the Raleigh News and Observer