If you want to be taken seriously in the blogosphere, professionalism and accuracy are crucial to whatever work you do. Old news, I know, especially if you want to blog as a politician. Still, I had to learn it the hard way when I was totally slaughtered over at Tim Blair last week. In some way I guess I deserved it. Anyway, this is what I learned from the incident. Although these are blog specific suggestions, they probably apply to anyone preparing to enter the public sphere.
1) You might want to do a Google search on yourself before starting up your blog. There are always some sleazy pictures out there that might harm you. 2) Its important to have someone proofread your posts, even more so when you are not posting in your native language like myself 3) Prepare to have everything you have ever done dragged out into public view, especially if you are in a punk rock band whose lyrics would embarrass even your closest friends. Google will find you. 4) Delete previous and potentially contradictory blogs. 5) If you don’t turn away form the criticism, but rather roll with the punch, you might gain back some respect - Maybe not much, but at least some.