Hi folks! My name is Berin Kinsman, and I’ll be guest blogging here while our beloved Chatty DM is off vacationing in the wilderness. I’ve been a roleplayer since 1978, which officially makes me an old grognard. I’ve been writing about gaming on my own site, UncleBear, since 1996, long before the word “blog” was coined and tools like Blogger, Wordpress and Livejournal were available. I’ve been doing this before a lot of what’s now conventional wisdom became conventional. What I want to do is pass along some of the mistakes I’ve made over the years, to help you avoid some of the pitfalls I experienced.

Don’t Lose Focus

Complete this sentence: My blog is about _____________ . At least 95% of the posts you make on your blog should be about whatever you filling in that blank with. The other 5% should tie into that topic. If you’re writing about D&D, write about D&D. If you suddenly want to write about religion and politics, it had better tie into D&D somehow. The most successful blogs avoid topic drift.

* Corollary A: Don’t Make the Topic Too Narrow

If you decide you’re blog is going to be about clerics in 2nd Edition D&D, you may be restricting yourself. You’ll find you want to talk about other things, but it’s hard to do in the context of your chosen topic. Topic drift will happen. It’s okay to expand your blog’s focus as you go along, but it’s better if you start off at the right level of granularity

* Corollary B: Don’t Make the Topic Too Broad

If you’re going to cover all things roleplaying, you had better cover all things roleplaying. Don’t ignore the 800 lb. gorillas in the room. If you spend most of your time writing about [Your Favorite Game] and little else, then you’ve got a blog about [Your Favorite Game].

Don’t Give Rude People An Inch

There is a broad gap between respectful disagreement and a flaming troll, but I’ve sometimes been too nice for my own good and given the latter the benefit of the doubt. Don’t. Not ever. You can set your own rules about issuing warnings, banning people from leaving comments, and so forth, but the very first time someone does something uncool you’ve got to nip it in the bud. Once you’ve got an established community your regulars will often do it for you, but as you’re ramping up one of two things will happen: the jerk will inspire others to imitate his behavior, and/or the nice people will free to politer ground.

* Corollary A: Don’t Take It Offline If You Don’t Have To

If the jerk says it in your comments section, address it there. Whether you’re posting a polite “yeah, uncool, chill” or putting someone’s head on a pike, it establishes the ground rules for other readers/commenters and shows that you’re in control.

I have two or three regular readers who never leave comments on the page, but send me emails taking me to task about something-or-other that I posted. A one-off note to point out an error and help me save face is cool, but these folk want to engage me in private debate. My policy is to not respond to negative comments from people I don’t know (and if you’re a regular commenter, I “know” you for purposes of this rule whether we’ve ever met face-to-face or not). If you want to engage me, do it in public. Often they want to remain in email because they know they’d look foolish in a public forum, or that other readers would rise up to back me. Don’t take the flame bait.

Don’t Blog in an Altered Mental State

This is an extension of the Chatty DM’s Golden Rule of Blogging. My two personal caveats are Don’t Blog Angry (I tend to say things I regret later) and Don’t Blog Bummed Out (I whine. A lot). I’m not saying don’t write it; you probably need to get it out of your system, and you can probably edit and salvage something useful from it later. Just don’t post it until you’re in a better place and have had a chance to think about what you’re putting out into the world.

I’ve extended this to include blogging while under the influence of controlled substances, including prescription medications and over-the-counter cold medicine. I’ve never done it (okay, I’ve blogged on NyQil a few times) but I know people who do, and their posts run the gamut from incomprehensible to painfully embarrassing. You just hurt your credibility and lose readers.

Don’t Stop Playing

Most of you are probably looking at me funny, but this is gospel truth: there was a two-year period where I was neither running nor playing in a game, but I was still writing about it. It was frustration for me, to say the least, and it came across in my writing no matter how neutral or upbeat I tried to be. I became very disconnected from the roleplaying community and started to veer off into my own orbit. Because I wasn’t gaming, topic drift set in and I was violating Rule#1.

Don’t Fear the Reruns

If you’re going to be away from the blog for a few days, rerun some best-of posts. It’s easy when using tools like Wordpress; just change the post date, and it will keep the same URL so links to the post won’t get screwed up and all the original comments will remain intact. I usually put a new note at the top, indicating the date it was originally run. Reruns don’t have to be your most popular posts; they may be something you’re proud of writing that wasn’t appreciated at the time, or something that’s suddenly topical again. It’s quick filler, if nothing else. You’re not cheating. No one will pelt you with fish for doing it.

Don’t Lose Touch with Regulars

As stated in Rule #2, if someone regularly posts comments on your blog, odds are you “know” them to some degree. They’re also likely registered on the site, so you have their email address. If they suddenly stop posting, after a few days you should drop them a line and find out why. They may have found some cool new spot to hang that you might also like (or need to compete against, or join forces with). You, or another regular, may have inadvertently offended them. They may have lost interest, and you really want to find out why so you can improve your blogging.

In my case, I had a regular vanish for months and while I thought about following up I didn’t, because I didn’t want to violate their privacy. When they reappeared it turned out they were having trouble, and that I might have been able to help them. I still feel guilty about that. You don’t have to hold a huge fun raiser to help people with their medical bill or anything like that; just letter a member of your community know that you’ve noticed their absence and miss them can have a huge effect when they’re having a tough time.

Well folks, thanks for the soap box. I hope that this was useful to you, and that it helps you avoid some of the trials and tribulations I went through to build a blog and a community that I’m proud of.