At least I can sleep at night

What happens when there are two things that you want to write about? I could do what is advised and stick to one subject per post or I can say hang it and go with the belief that because it’s my blog I can do whatever I want, hence there are two subjects in my post today.

The first thing on my mind today is blog etiquette. Lori at Words on the Page has encountered every writer’s worst nightmare. Her posts and comments are being posted by another blogger who is claiming them as their own. For most of us this would be distressing, for someone who makes a living as a freelance writer, where credibility is paramount, then this is so much more.



What on earth is wrong with voicing your own opinions and beliefs? Why would anyone want to provide advice on writing (as Lori does) if they have no idea or any original thoughts of their own and they have to copy it from someone else? Ah.... confusion here, why not write about what you do know?

Then there is another blog which is posting entire posts she has written and while they’re attributing her as the writer they are still posting the entire post on their blog, with no incentive to actually visit her site.

This of course sent me on a hunt for information on blog etiquette and the dos and don’ts. There’s a mountain of info out there and much of it says the same sorts of things. To me though it’s pretty much common sense – do unto others as you would have them do unto you, both on the net and in real life.

I try to conduct myself with integrity and the belief that what goes around comes around. Karma is a bitch when you get in its way. I treat others as I would like to be treated and wonder how someone sleeps at night knowing they are doing this. Obviously this is someone who has no conscious and probably doesn’t care that what they’re doing is wrong... wrong... wrong...

Second thing on my mind today is an obvious one, big business and an inability to make decisions. No decision was forthcoming on the project today (good thing I wasn’t holding my breath huh?) and now probably won’t happen till next month at least.

The topic led to a discussion with a co-worker today about the people who make decisions which affect others. I’m not just talking about business; I’m talking about power decisions, people in high power positions who decide for the rest of us what is right and wrong. In which case, we can throw politicians, governments etc into the mix.

Let’s face it; these people get paid large amounts of money to make decisions. But what makes them any better than the average Joe in making a decision. There seems to be too much focus these days placed on the he said, she said in politics rather than any real focus being placing on the people affected by the decisions (that’s us, the little people).

Surely it’s the people at ground level who should have some say in decisions that affect them, not the people who haven’t got down and amongst the problems and seen them for themselves.

All too often decisions aren’t made for fear of mistakes being made, but there has to be some balance as well. Jump in and don’t consider the consequences and people suffer, but take too long to make a decision and it’s just as detrimental.

I think I may need to rename my blog the ‘Soapbox’, but hey one thing’s for sure – at least it’s my opinion and I haven’t copied it from anyone else.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching