Blog Etiquette

I'm a regular blogger and have my usual forums. It gets the senses going; it's stimulating; it's a good outlet for my nervous energy. That said, quite frankly I am beyond fed up with people who go from site to site posting irrelevant, unintelligent BS. If I have to question whether or not you passed a 3rd grade education...maybe you ought to stick to "speaking" or go to another site.

Blog snobbery? Maybe.

Not too long ago I was on one of my regular blog forums and the discussion was whether or not the problems faced by Debroit's Big 3 Auto companies had the Unions or bad management to blame. A third of the way through the discussion, some idiot schmuck posts a completely irrelevant/sour/anti-America/anti-democracy thread and insult's the blog's host, editor in chief of Forbes magazine. Oh and btw: it was the third day in a row he posted the exact same text. You know... copy/paste... because clearly the nonresponse generated by his earlier posts wasn't response enough.

Now, there are gi-normous blog forums (i.e., Huffington Post) and what I consider "family-minded" blog forums - those that may have a lot of readers but whose regular posters remain fairly consistent and relatively in the low-digits. You've likely never met them, and you probably have only a few peeks into their background, but still you're part of a social circle made up of familar names and familiar ideas. Enter rude, irrelevant anti-everything blogger. To make a long story short - I lost my cool and posted the following thread before continuing on with the discussion:

So-and-So,
There's a thing called 'etiquette'. Maybe you've heard of it? Instead of wasting our time by posting irrevelant rhetoric, perhaps you could try sticking to the topic of discussion. When Rich posts an 'I-hate-America" blog - feel free to jump right in. Until then - here's a thought: Respect the rules of etiquette and keep to the topic or clam it and go elsewhere.

I received a couple of kudos from other regular bloggers but surprisingly an equal share of negative feedback as well - most from posters whom I've never seen post on that forum before.

So, my question.. Is there such a thing as 'Blog Etiquette'? Or is the blog forum and all it's serious bloggers relegated to sitting quietly in the corner while all the mindless jibber-jabber come pouring in? Was I in fact out of line by trying to incite some sense of structure and etiquette within the blogoshpere?

Well, some will have their opinions that differ from mine and to those I say 'what-ever' - I'm sticking to my guns on this. As far as I'm concerned there is 'absolutely' blogger etiquette. Folks, it takes time to create a thoughtful discussion, choose your words and articulate your message all the while being mindful of grammar and "readability" - my guess is the host doesn't want to see his/her comment board hoarded by irrelevant, nonsensical hate-spam and neither do the bloggers who regularly post there.

In sum: If you can't keep to the topic, clam it or take your drivel elsewhere.