Brendan – yes, as you said somewhere intent and motives are key to a lot of the discussions that are ongoing.

Different blogs have different focusses, from the personal to the commercial, and there’s nothing wrong with either end of the spectrum – the motives behind self marketing and the intent behind certain methods however can be crucial in deciding whether someone deserves a dressing down.

Getting to the bottom of such intent, motives and indeed circumstances can often only be done with some level of direct communication.

Thanks for kicking this off. It’s all good stuff! :)

I also think you’ll find that the media and the locals have the same reaction to such an event as the blogging locals when they’ve been wronged. People shouldn’t be censored from ranting and reacting when they’re wronged.

As I was just saying on Twitter, I think there is a culture developing where people rush to the keyboard to write a vitriolic rant before they stop and communicate with who is, in their eyes, the offender.

Partly I think this culture is to do with the pressure to generate content and the ‘cool’ factor perceived with ‘breaking a story’.

In my opinion a lot of these dressing downs are self inflating, and not at all intended for the greater good.

‘Ooh, I just broke a story about such and such spamming and now everyone is blogging about it…’

I’m not painting everyone with the same brush here mind – part of the problem can be that eminent bloggers who mean well can be emulated by newer bloggers with less of an understanding which also causes problems.

Negativity is an easy route when it comes to blogging, and it gets attention.

Extreme opinions also get attention, and reactions.

Manners don’t get you many headlines. But they are sadly lacking in some corners of the blogosphere and social spaces.

However, a good mannered approach to first-time offenders would in my opinion, lead to further contributions from the newbie. This has to be a good thing.

Am I a gobshite to think manners (can) come into this?

Damien, you make some very good points, though I would be willing to argue with your final point…

To have some fun with your stabbing metaphor, to me the correct approach is to contact the gardai and go through a court of law (ie the proper channels) rather than whip a lynch mob into a frenzy :D

This space is different though and as you said the rules haven’t been formulated. Thank god. It allows more freedom and creativity. Companies seem to want to hammer this space into something which it isn’t and if they get their way it will just be another bland and stale “market”.

To be clear though, this is not their space and those in the space don’t own it either. It’s a bit like demanding that rugby games be more civil because someone that just joined the game is a little frail.

Who defines what a misdemeanour is and why should someone affected by it have to ask the person that committed it to explain their reasoning? “Before I complain, can I ask why you stabbed me in the face?”