The Line

The 1st Philippine Blog Summit concluded earlier today, which means that about two hundred Philippine bloggers will be putting their seminar experience in their posts. While I thought it was fine for what might be the first of many annual events, I'll leave the synopses to the rest of the blogging community.

One underlying theme that was discussed during the summit, however, was the consideration of unethical practices among bloggers. There was talk of organizing a regulatory body for the blogging community, but it appears that that's only in the conceptualization stage at the moment. For now, bloggers will have to exercise their own modes of responsible self-censorship.

With that in mind, I figure that it would be best to note exactly what people can expect from this blog and what people shouldn't expect from this blog (although I might surprise myself in the future - one never knows). I'll set things at five guidelines, because I happen to like the number five today. :)

1. No plagiarism.
I note this in most of my monthly disclaimers, and this'll probably be the rule that I'll never break. Stealing written entries from another person would put me in a really low point as a writer - so low, I think, that I don't deserve to be called a writer if I ever do it.

2. No angst.
What, exactly, does "angst" refer to, anyway? I seem to get a different definition every time I look it up.

While I admit that I don't really know what "angst" is, I assume that it refers to things that are whiny or personally depressing. I try to avoid those in my posts - I think that we all get enough of it in other peoples' blogs.

3. No political commentary.
Oh boy, you don't want to hear me talk about the government. I've driven most of my housemates nuts already.

Besides, there are plenty of blogs out there that offer the scintillating political discussion you crave. They'll be able to host you better than I can - unless you want a raving, neurotic, pseudo-liberal conversationalist on your doorstep.

4. No blogroll.
This is not to say that I don't read other peoples' blogs. In fact, I read plenty of other blogs. Heck, I like reading other peoples' blogs.

Nothing, however, is more irritating than having someone butt in on a perfectly good conversation just to ask me to link him. I don't give out free rides like this. I think people should spend more time improving their blogs instead - the linkage they seek should come to them, in that case.

That said, I drop a number of links to external blogs in my writings, and if I link to those blogs, then those links are obviously deserved in some way.

5. No certainties.
I like writing here. It's one of the few places where I can let my mind wander and just be my old written self.

Seeing that that's the case, I want to toe the line a lot... perhaps cross it every now and then. I want to toy with different styles of writing to see how they turn out, and in order to do that I might end up breaking a number of pre-established notions. Those might include the items on this very list. (Except Rule One, that is. Rule One is secured with barbed wire and electrified.)

At the very least, I want to afford any future guest writers the opportunity to waste a little space. :)