As evangelical as this sounds, it is true. The Evangelical Alliance in London has come up with ten commandments that should be followed by faithful (read Christian) bloggers.

The Evangelical Alliance is an umbrella group founded in 1846 that represents thousands of churches of most denominations in the United Kingdom.

So here are the “Ten Commandments” that bloggers must follow:

#1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity

#2. You shall not make an idol of your blog

#3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin

#4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog

#5. Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes

#6. You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings

#7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind

#8. You shall not steal another person’s content

#9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger

#10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content

I know that #4 is a bit difficult to follow, considering that most bread and butter bloggers cannot take a day off. But all other commandments are useful, and well thought out.

A few days back, I was involved in a discussion on blogging guidelines. This set of commandments, in my opinion, is a very good guideline set that every blogger must absolutely follow.

Krish Kandiah, executive director of Churches in Mission, said: “These commandments are virtual rather than set in stone, but are offered to the blogging community as a way to link the Ten Commandments with the art of blogging.

“In the ever-changing information age, what we need is wisdom for life, and God communicates wisdom to our culture through the Bible on every issue from social justice to social networking.”

 

I sincerely hope these guidelines are followed not only by Christians, but also by bloggers of other faiths as these will really lead to a more cultured and civilized online interaction amongst bloggers and internet users.

NOTE:

1. Quotes taken from The Telegraph

The Indian Blog & New Media Society (www.ibnms.com) is pleased to invite you to a 3-day Blogging workshop at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi later this month. Following up on last month’s BlogCamp, this is another effort by IBNMS to enable blogging enthusiasts - both rookie and experienced - leverage this medium for both personal and professional reasons.

All sessions will be highly interactive, allowing participants to raise specific queries and also to try their hand at what is being discussed (you will need to carry a laptop and datacard for this).

Schedule: The sessions will take place in the Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi from 6.30 - 8.30 pm on the dates given along with sessions below:

Session I, Saturday, June 28
Blogging Technology: How To Set Up And Manage A Blog

What is a blog? How to set it up on platforms like Blogger, Wordpress etc? How do you get your own domain like www.myname.com? Hosting on your own severs. Custom options. Adding photos and videos. Adding subscriber sign up boxes. Using tools like LiveWriter. And more…

Session II, Sunday, June 29
Marketing Your Blog

How do you make your blog more visible? How do you generate greater traffic? How do you get comments on your blog? What is SEO? How do you generate advertising for your blog?

Session III, Monday, June 30
Benefits Of Blogging For Executives, Businesses And Professionals; How To Make Money As A Blogger

Using blogs for personal and corporate branding. Engaging with stakeholders through blogs. Using blogs as a PR and communication tool.

HOW TO REGISTER
There is no attendance or registration fee. You can register on the spot, or in advance by sending a mail to ibnms.in@gmail.com. You may attend one or more sessions.

WANT TO VOLUNTEER / SPEAK?
If you would like to speak at any of the sessions above, do let us know and we will be happy to consider you for the same. And we are always looking for volunteers - call us if you can spare some time.

And do help us by spreading the word around.

CONTACT US
You may contact the following for any queries, clarifications etc:

Ajay Jain, President, +91.99100 44476, ajay@ajayjain.com
Abhishek Kant, General Secretary, +91.9899115375, abhishek@abhishekkant.net
Ashish Chopra, Director (Communication & PR), +91.9891977333, theemptyhead@gmail.com
Amit Gupta, Director (Technology), +91.9868445814, m@amitgupta.in

Blogging has been around for quite a few years now. From technical evangelism to personal ramblings, blogs serve as a media where one is free to write what one wishes. However, after all these years of having blogs around, it is time we ask ourselves, how important is this media to the society? Can a blog really act as an agent of social change? Is all the new media that is mushrooming around us really useful towards our society?

We are set to ask these questions on 14th Feb in Delhi. The Delhi Blog & New Media Society cordially invites you to a seminar on “Blogs: How important are they to society?”, where we discuss all the questions raised above, and try to find ways in which blogs & new media can acts as catalysts for social change. Please consider this as a personal invitation to the event. The event details are as below:

Event Structure:
Bloggers have shown themselves to be a force for change globally, and this is coming true in India too as some examples have shown in the recent past. Going forward, what can bloggers do to play their roles as citizen journalists of change? We will discuss this in an interactive session divided into the following parts:
* Cases of how bloggers have been instruments of change
* Best Journalistic principles and practices to follow for bloggers
* How bloggers can collaborate to make it happen

Date: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre
Street: Lodhi Road
City/Town: New Delhi

There is no participation/entry fee for the event.

In case you are coming over, kindly leave a comment here so we can have an idea of the attendance.

Do come over, and put your opinion on how blogs are important to our society. See you there!!