A handful of post ideas accelerated through me yesterday like the DeutscheBahn ICE speeding through the German countryside. I impressed myself. Woo-hoo.
However, I decided to go with a topic that popped into the wee noggin after the blog idea blitz: manners. Remember those? The way one person acts towards another?
No, I’m not being sarcastic. Okay, maybe a little. There have been a few recent incidents that leaned toward bothersome. Civility shouldn’t be that difficult to demonstrate/deliver. It takes but a few seconds to respond to a question. When a favor is requested, the “requestee” doesn’t have to commit. They can simply state they can’t do it, need time to consider it, or will get back—and then get back. It’s called showing respect . . . being well-mannered. Don’t agree to do something if it’s not going to happen. Honesty is a refreshingly wonderful thing.
As bloggers/writers—salespersons in our own rights—a certain level of blog etiquette is required. We want to attract followers, not lose them before they’ve even been secured.
If we’re critics, reviewers, or analysts, we may have negative comments to provide but, hopefully, we’ll do so in a courteous manner. And if someone comments on our comments, let’s be considerate when we comment back (how’s that for a commentary comment?).
When someone doesn’t agree with you, that’s totally okay. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions. Embrace dissimilarity. It makes the world go around.
No one likes a troll, someone who’s mean or negative, or out to bait/bully. Don’t be one and don’t troll back.
Focus on: building winning relationships; developing respect; treating others as you’d like to be treated, and; acknowledging when required (if you use a photo or quote that’s not yours, cite and/or link).
There are a lot of marvelous quotes to be found about manners, but this one—from author and activist (among other notable things) Bryant H McGill—is simple and clear:
Good manners are appreciated as much as bad ones are abhorred.
The Writer's Grab-Bag 