The Portuguese weblog community has reached critical mass in the last couple of months. Although the discussion may seem passé to people seasoned in the international English-language weblog community, it's pretty much alive here nowdays, as the pioneering 'little-elite' (me included, but I guess the pact that I'm a 'pioneer' even though I started blogging in August 2000 says everything about the Portuguese scene) was suddently ripped from its small pedestals (doorstops more like), and replaced by politicians and journalists, mainly right wing, who put themselves on marble collumns as high as the Everest as the newspapers in which they write don't stop publicizing their Blogspot URLs, which contain walled gardens that many times lead nowhere but to their journalist and poltician friends' weblogs. Of course not everyone in the politicojournalistic corporation is like this, and a few journalists even spoke against their colleagues and alerted newspaper editors for the need to recognize the weblogging community is much bigger than the media makes people believe. Anyway, as it enters the phase when everyone starts writing about weblogging, I also decided to give my two-cents on blogging with my Bruce Mau-esque weblogging manifesto. Go on, laugh at will. Anyway, the Portuguese version of this text is already published at Cafeína and Teoria Unificada, and also being debated at PTWeblogs. The translation is not always very literal, but I think it retains the meaning better this way. So here it is:

21+1 POINTS FOR BETTER WEBLOGGING

01. HYPERTEXT. The use of links, placed in relevant words or excerpts, pointing to related pages, or maybe to a previous post in the articles, should be explored and as common as possible. Even if the sharing of a link isn't the main point, it is always a good way to give the readers some extra information.

02. INTERNET. A good blogger, especially if he or she has a penchant for writing about blogging itself, should do some homework in order to understand how websites and the internet work.

03. DESIGN. It's commonplace to state that form follows function and content, but it is always a good idea to learn at least how to do small changes to the templates. Even though ready-made templates are adequate for the beginner, it depersonalizes the weblog. Besides, the existence of a lot of weblogs that look the same makes it harder for readers to remember a particular one.

04. PUBLIC. A weblog is by default public, and whoever wants to keep his/her writing private or address to a particular person or a small group of friends should place a disclaimer - or even better, implement password access - and obviosly enough shall refuse any kind of publicity. If one has a public website, should not forget that is writing to strangers. Which means, that even though one may imagine a specific type of audience, a public weblog should be thought of as if it was a fanzine, not a private diary.

05. MEMORY. Unless the weblog is seen as a time-limited performance piece and that way the archives are discarded, a weblog author shall respect the record of past events. One should not discard an entire weblog and start over again for a weak reason (such as a name change) - someone who discards a weblog should have a very strong justification - such as a strong theme or a language change -, and the archives should be backed up and kept. Two years of blogging is very valuable, ten years might be absolutely priceless.

06. FIDELITY. An writer shouldn't change his/her posts, current or past, unless to correct spelling or other small writing mistakes. This should make a writer consider about what he or she is going to write, and if an error is made, a correction should be posted without ever deleting or changing the original post.

07. WIBBLE. To wibble on paper is a pain, but to wibble on a flickering screen really makes my eyes hurt.

08. FRIENDS. A weblog is not a soap opera readers catch halfway through. Writing a post, the author should give some bits of information about the person he or she is talking about, even - as it is most usual - if this information consists of just an adjective or a link to his/her website. If the author wishes to preserve people's identity, he should avoid naming them altogether using just something like 'a friend of mine', or alternatively - if it gets hard to follow this way - use fake names. Initials, seen sometimes, should be avoided as they are often even more confusing.

09. EVENTS. A good blogger should have permission before making accounts of events concerning other persons, unless he judges the story rather safe and inoccuous, or he preserves people's identity.

10. GENEROSITY. They say it is better to give than to receive, and in the weblog community this is no exception. Links and references to others should be made without expecting any kind of retribution. The blogroll shouldn't be based on the author's desire to be linked in these weblogs. And to plug a weblog - or worse, to offer to trade links - via e-mail or a forced commentary is not a very wise thing to do. People who are linked in a weblog soon will find out. Let them judge for themselves if you are worthy of a reciprocal link.

11. BLOGROLL. The blogroll also should be eclectic, instead of being confined to one's friends and acquaintances. The blogroll should be the result of merit, should be a list of the best weblogs in existence according to the author. For a visitor, a website's blogroll should warrant good weblogs.

12. WEBSITE. Don't ever forget: a weblog is a website. In case the author is responsible for the programming and/or the design of the website, he should comply with the basic rules of good website (although many disagree on these).

13. DIALOGUE. A weblog should avoid long and authoritary monologue, but shouldn't also be just a part of endless inter-weblog dialogue that confuses visitors. For that, community blogs or weblogs with multiple authors are a better choice, and either away to do nothing but to constantly applaud the others is annoying. Dialogue then, should occur between the author and his/her readers, via some feedback/commentary system.

14. HUMILITY. Self-criticism and humility are good. Given the nature of the internet and its myths, weblogs will never, ever, be the right place for someone to write about his/her great achievements, unless the writer can prove them - which in most cases, can't.

15. HONESTY. Sincerity and honesty should be among a blogger's higher values, and so an author should always express what he or she really thinks about a certain matter. To force him/herself politically correct opinions ought to be avoided. If in such a space of freedom and possible anonymacy a weblogger can't be honest about his/her views, it's highly unlikely this person will be able to be so in any other situation.

16. BLOGRRHEA. Bloggers aren't paid by each pound of text they produce, so - don't. A blogger should really consider if something is interesting, at least to parts of the audience.

17. TIME. Time is a precious commodity and an author shouldn't abuse his/her readers' time. To make someone lose part of his or her life reading futilities means making sure that someone isn't coming back.

18. COMPETITION. Contests such as the Bloggies do harm to the egoes of the majority that doesn't win them. Besides, the processes that make a particular weblog stand out when there are many other great weblogs out there are often dubious, and the winners will inevitably face criticism and insinuations.

19. BRAIN. Weblogging should be a constructive hobby, and writers should use them for their own auto-discovery, cultural enrichment and to become aware of the world surrounding them. Thus, a weblog should be about the author's brain, not the belly.

20. OPINION. Certain references, such as made to a movie, a book or a band, should have the writer's personal opinion attached, even if only using a single objective to classify the item as good or bad. Simple namesdropping often resembles concealed ignorance.

21. LOVE. After all a weblog is just a hobby. As any hobby, shouldn't be taken very seriously while being a product of love and labour, not a product of momentaneous passion fueled by a desire to seem fashionable and savvy.

There's also the ZEROTH RULE OF WEBLOGGING: That in fact, there are no rules, and all advice can be tested and challenged under strong reasons.

Eduardo J. Sousa
Porto, June 23rd 2003 - translated from Portuguese on June 27th ¶