Good news, Good news, and Etiquette

Last night, I recieved an email from my friend Pat, who is 7 months pregnant. She wanted to share the good news that they found out that she is having a boy and they found a name for him! I wanted to congradualate her on the good news. But it doesn't end there! My friend, Frankie, who is also 7 months pregnant, sent me an email about her progress. Actually she sent a picture of her showing off her belly!!! She said she had gained 20 pounds and thought she looked terrible! But I didn't think so and so I sent her back an email saying that she looked gorgeous! I am extremely happy for both these two young women!

Also, I wanted to write about the etiquette of writing a journal. As my friend Meghan pointed out in a comment in my last journal, she said, "...rules of etiquette change when posting your journal in a public forum.". I like to say Meghan does make a valid point. Yes, I should have kept a level composure to my writing as a part to decent etiquette to a public forum. I'm sure like all other public mediums for free speech, proper etiquette is involved, such as message boards and public debates. These public forums are in control by the hands of many individuals that decide what can be said and what can be viewed.

However, I must state the point that forums that are runned by a single individual have the control of the etiquette that is involved. Are there proper rules of etiquette for an individual that writes in his/her own journal, a medium that I might add is also controlled by the individual. If the medium was run by the public, they can easily block or delete material that is not of proper etiquette of an individuals material or comment, which is decided by several individuals or company. With an individually runned medium, such as a journal, that individual has every right to say what he/she has to see without the worry of having another individual decided what is write or wrong. For example, WHICH I STATE I DO NOT AGREE WITH, are websites devoted to racial slander such as the Klu Klux Klan and Nazi propraganda. Can anybody say that they hold a degree of proper etiquette when they are stating their views? It's this situation that is often said as "Damned if you do, damned if you don't!" Free speech and proper etiquette do not have to be intertwined with each other.

Again, I have to ask what are the rules of etiquette for writing a journal? Yes, this journal is on a public forum which is called Blogger. However, that's where the similarities of public and private forum end. I state again that the individual has a right to say what he/she has to say in an individual medium. As a reader, they have a right to not read the journal. I have read many journals and all of them may have a form of etiquette or choose not to. I know with LiveJournal, doesn't the individual have a right to filter out who can comment their writings? I know another journal where the background has woman posing as a mermaid, being that she was fish-like from waist down and topless waist up! Is that proper etiquette? Other journals that I have read often go into great detail about the individuals private life, such as realationships and sex life. What is proper etiquette for them?

In coming back to me, I know that I should have shown more restraint on what I said. However, I did not name who I thought was the one who I thought was anonymously criticizing me. For that reason did I show etiquette for her out of respect. When I did found who was being anonymous, I apologized to that person, who came out to be Narintara. As for showing what you make call etiquette, I do not agree with because since this is my journal, I have the right to say what I have to say.

Thank you Meghan for bringing up the issue of etiquette in journal writing. Even though I disagree with her comment, I still respect her. Even though she criticized my etiquette of the past journal entries, for which she has every right too, she did so without being anonymous. Like I said before, I respect anybody that will criticize me openly without hiding behind a veil of anonmity. That is the point that I try to make.