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Blog Policy Statements

Most blogs don't have privacy policies. After all, why would they need one, especially when the blog or site is a public one.

I know I never thought I needed one, but what happened last week got me thinking.

Last week I received an email from a reader of my blog, requesting a comment, he made to an 8 month old post, be removed. He claimed the comment was being used maliciously against him.

He wouldn't to tell me what harm was being done, nor how his comment, which I thought was kind, considerate and moving, contributed to that harm, but since a link to it appeared under a Google search for his name, he wanted it removed.

At first I didn't want to remove the comment. It's not like a get a great many comments as it is, so when I happen to write a post that elicits more than one comment, it's like a getting a validation of my skills as a patient blogger. Removing it would just spoil that good feeling.

After some thought, I relented, sort of. I didn't remove the comment, but I removed his name from the comment, and all other references to his name. But that was not enough for him, he wanted the entire comment removed, even though there was no way to tie that comment to him, through my blog.

This encouraged me to do some research on search engines, and how they work. Don't worry, I'm not going to give a dissertation on this subject, howstuffworks does a good job of explaining that, but what I did learn, enabled me to come up with a solution that satisfied both our wishes.

By simply changing the web address (slug) for the post, I was able to render the Google link invalid, and in less than a week, the link disappeared.

(I also discovered that the Google searchbots peruse my site about every 5 days, which is a good thing to know.)

Still this got me thinking. Did I have an obligation to comply with that persons request? I didn't think so, but just to be sure, I posted a Blog Policy statement on this blog and on My Daily Journal, to prevent similar problems in the future.

If you're reading this, and have your own blog, you might want to consider posting your own Policy Statement.
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Comments

Becky said…
I can't believe someone would complain about something they said. My brother-in-law googled me and I came up regarding a book review on amazon. Two years ago! I don't even remember reading the book or writing the review.

One should never erase history unless one said defect in lieu of indication.
11:04 AM
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