Business Blogger Ethics - "Don't Be Stupid" is a good place to start

This post falls in the things-I-found-while-looking-for-something-else category, but it's something we've been meaning to cover for a long time: the emerging rules for business bloggers.

There's the profoundly simple "Rule #1: Don't be stupid" — attributed to Microsoft (but compare Scoble's 20 item list). We interpret "don't be stupid" as providing a golden rule style guideline: if you wouldn't stand in front of the CEO's office and shout it, don't write it in your business blog. We've argued that nobody ever got fired for blogging; people have been fired for violating Rule #1 on their blog. But they'd have been fired if they did the same thing in any comparably public setting.

You can find a lot more examples and discussion collected at Charlene Li's blog.

The one that prompted this post, however, is the GM Fast Lane blog's relatively simple, but helpfully more specific than Rule #1:

Blogger Code Of Ethics

1. We will tell the truth. We will acknowledge and correct any mistakes promptly.
2. We will not delete comments unless they are spam, off-topic, or defamatory.
3. We will reply to comments when appropriate as promptly as possible.
4. We will link to online references and original source materials directly
5. We will disagree with other opinions respectfully.

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