Improper Blog Etiquette?

August 30th, 2006 | Posted in » Baptist Issues

Okay, I must confess… I’m a bit confused by the behavior I’m about to point out. And maybe my doing will seem just as wrong as the behavior itself.

So… first, the question… is it proper blog etiquette to take an exchange in comments from one blog and post those on your own to make a point?

Here’s a couple examples, both stemming from comments on blog posts today.

Here’s the first, a post by Les Puryear stemming from a conversation with Wade Burleson on Art Roger’s blog today.

Here’s the second, a post by Robin Foster, stemming from conversations with both Kevin Bussey and Wade Burleson on Wade Burleson’s blog today.

Okay, my opinion? This seems pretty poor blogging etiquette. If a conversation occurs in a string of comments, it doesn’t seem particularly right to me to take some of that and post it on your own blog, then comment about the exchange… especially if the comment exchange is not yet finished!

What do you think?

10 Responses to “Improper Blog Etiquette?”

  1. By Robin Foster on Aug 30, 2006

    Bro. John

    Thank you for looking at my blog. I might add that Bro. Wade has taken comments from other media avenues and reproduced them on his site.

    I was only using their comments as examples of some of the comments I disagreed with. If I offended them in doing this I apologize and ask their forgiveness. This type of activity has been common and if I find that it breaches proper etiquette, I will cease.

    Thank you for calling me on this one. I am open to suggestions from others.

    God Bless

    Bro. Robin

  2. By John on Aug 30, 2006

    Quite honestly, I’m not sure what’s right on this, Robin. Once a conversation is complete, I guess I don’t see as big an issue with it. Oftentimes, however, it seems as if people take comments from a conversation, go back to their blog, and say things like, “see what they said! they’re talking crazy-talk!” or the like. It just seems like needless, self-righteous promotion of our own viewpoints sometimes… further, oftentimes it seems a violation of scriptural principles for handling conflicts with a brother.

    Of course, it can probably be said that my usage of your post (and Les’s) as an example in this post is a violation of that as well. That’s kind of the purpose of this post though… to bring to light this matter and hash out how we, as Christians, should be handling this kind of thing. It’s very much a grey area.

    Anyway, I do appreciate that you posted a link in comments on Wade’s blog to your post. I didn’t see that earlier when I composed my post. A downfall of fast-moving internet conversations, I guess.

    God bless…

  3. By Robin Foster on Aug 30, 2006

    Bro. John

    Again I thank you for your comments. I am a willing listener to others when discussing my conduct. I desire to be above board with integrity. I will take your comments to heart and be more careful in the future how I address what others say.

    God Bless

    Bro. Robin

  4. By Kevin Bussey on Aug 30, 2006

    I have no problem with it John. I’m not ashemed of what I say unless it is pointed out scripturely that it is wrong. You know that I have deleted posts before when someone pointed out my error. I don’t think I was wrong this time. You spent time with me. This is my personality. I love to have fun and enjoy life. Life is too short! U da man!

  5. By John on Aug 30, 2006

    I knew you’d be fine, Kevin… nothing seems to get you down too much!

    Anyway, this post wasn’t so much about what happened today as it is just a reminder to be Christlike in how we respond and relate to others (it just happened that this struck me especially important today in light of a couple examples that seemed a bit, well… unnecessary, I guess). Often times, it’s easy to be tempted to take an unfinished conversation between believers, especially a heated one, and post it elsewhere on the web and add comments that further aggravate a disagreement. I guess I just wanted to be sure that in these circumstances, we think twice about doing so to give the original exchange a chance to play out.

    It has certainly been an interesting day, hasn’t it?

  6. By Les Puryear on Aug 31, 2006

    John,

    Thanks for your remarks. You have proved my point of my blog today. Check it out. You might find it interesting. Obviously you know where it is.

    Regards,

    Les

  7. By John on Aug 31, 2006

    Les,

    I’m not quite sure how to take what you’ve stated. Care to elaborate?

  8. By Les Puryear on Aug 31, 2006

    John,

    My blog seems pretty clear to me, but okay, here’s some elaboration. Before today, I never heard of you. You probably have never heard of me until a few days ago. But you and others have found my blog because of controversy, not because of your desire to know of my walk with Jesus. When I post about the wonders of Christ, there is no response. When I post about the political leanings of an IMB trustee, it gets a lot of attention.

    It’s sad to me that people seem to be more interested in SBC politics than in our experiences with Jesus. To me, this seems like a very large beam in the eyes of SBC bloggers.

    That’s my take on it. If my views don’t coincide with yours, that’s okay.

    May God richly bless you.

    Les

  9. By John on Aug 31, 2006

    Ah, I see. I was tempted to jump to the conclusion that my proving your point was some sort of negative assessment of this post or some other action I have taken. Thanks for the clarification.

    I see this in a slightly different light, Les. Before today, you’d never heard of me. Before yesterday, I’d never heard of you. As a result of this controversy and the resultant dialogue, we now have a chance to get to know each other, challenge each other in our faith, and grow from learning of each others’ relationship with Christ.

    This entire controversy, as unpleasant as it may seem at times, is a blessing from God. I firmly believe the promise of Romans 8:28!

    God bless!

  10. By Bob Cleveland on Sep 2, 2006

    I see no reason to post comments from one blog to another. You know how to post a link and others can do the same.

    Even if not, you can always just tell folks where to read it.

    But, in the land of free speech, I don’t suppose it’s apropos to criticize it, either. We do the same thing face-to-face, so……

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