by Eric Goudie

Created on: September 02, 2009

Arguments for the positive side of blogging will come easily to most Internet-savvy people. Blogs are great communications tools, search engines love their constant supply of fresh content and they allow readers and authors to interact more directly than ever before. But of course the blogosphere has a dark side as well.

Some of the least civilized debate in modern election campaigns has taken place on political blogs. A candidate or party lays out a carefully prepared position in a post, only to have it followed by a string of crude, off-topic partisan snipes in the comment section. For some reason political bloggers seldom feel the need for objectivity, turning online campaigning into a dirty turf war for page views rather than a rational debate in a neutral forum.

Anyone can become a blogger, and anyone can use a blog to spread any sort of information, true or untrue. Iranian President Mahmoud Amedinejad has a blog, as do many Neo-Nazi groups, to say nothing of fanatics the world over from across the political spectrum. The internet gives the radical, the hate-filled and the delusional a platform to express their views. It's on this platform that their views are seen, heard and internalized by the young, the lonely and the nave.

Perez Hilton's blogging has brought him physical violence. Bloggers have been sued (with some success) for posting libellous or defamatory statements online, and some have even been sued over comments left by other people.

But far from these high-profile examples of the negative effects of blogging are a whole host of problems that affect many journeyman bloggers who will never take their blogs to stratospheric heights of popularity or see them earn fabulous amounts of revenue.

There are people who'd rather be blogging when they should be doing something more productive. Unless your blog earns you a monthly income you can't call it work, no matter how passionate you may feel about your creative expression. It's easy to spend all day posting to your blog, promoting it on sites like Digg and Technorati, reading and leaving comments on other relevant blogs and all the while thinking you're actually doing work. Blogging is not work unless you make enough money doing it to earn a living at it, and very, very few people do.

Blogging is addictive, both reading and writing. Taking five minutes on a coffee break at the office to read one blog per day is probably okay, but spending hours reading up on the latest celebrity gossip when you're supposed to be working will likely get you fired. Spending too much time at home reading blogs or any other online activity can seriously affect your relationship with family and friends, and lead to you shirking your responsibilities as a parent or provider.

There is a negative side to blogging, but like the negative side to the internet itself the risks can be managed through a little common sense, some sober second thought and a touch of courtesy.

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