Jay - you're right about how much talent some bloggers have. They can do in their sleep what I have to think really hard about. It is amazing how difficult writing can be for some or us.

Howard - those two "rules" (plus a third -- link liberally to others) really sum it all up. I might also add "Be honest, and admit mistakes".

Apply that, and the rest takes care of itself.

It's indeed a heckuva competition. Congrats on making the short list!

Jay, I thought Dustin made an interesting comment about the rules of blogging while not personally being a big fan of rules.

He said "contributors 'break' the unwritten rules because they almost always get immediate (and rarely pleasant) feedback from the community.

Here are the only two “rules” that come to mind:

If you are going to attack something… attack ideas, not people. (i.e. 'your idea sucks'… not 'you suck')

Avoid obvious self-promotion."

There are those we both know who might benefit from Dustin's wisdom in understanding what makes the great blog that RCG is.

By the way, Greg has a heckuva competition going on.

Jay - you're right about how much talent some bloggers have. They can do in their sleep what I have to think really hard about. It is amazing how difficult writing can be for some or us.

Howard - those two "rules" (plus a third -- link liberally to others) really sum it all up. I might also add "Be honest, and admit mistakes".

Apply that, and the rest takes care of itself.

It's indeed a heckuva competition. Congrats on making the short list!

Jay, I thought Dustin made an interesting comment about the rules of blogging while not personally being a big fan of rules.

He said "contributors 'break' the unwritten rules because they almost always get immediate (and rarely pleasant) feedback from the community.

Here are the only two u00e2u0080u009crulesu00e2u0080u009d that come to mind:

If you are going to attack somethingu00e2u0080u00a6 attack ideas, not people. (i.e. 'your idea sucks'u00e2u0080u00a6 not 'you suck')

Avoid obvious self-promotion."

There are those we both know who might benefit from Dustin's wisdom in understanding what makes the great blog that RCG is.

By the way, Greg has a heckuva competition going on.