Categories: Articles

Delete This

Would you mind if this Blog post was deleted? Would you mind if your comments were deleted? Would you mind if your comments were never published?

New world. New publishing. New rules.

Rules.

"Rules were meant to be broken."

"It’s way too early for there to be any ‘rules.’"

"There are certain rules that should never be broken."

You’ve probably heard one or all of those lines when it comes to Blogging. There are those that feel that there are some very clear rules when it comes to Blogging.

These include:

– Never delete a post.

– Never delete a comment.

– Always post a comment from a reader.

– Respond to every comment.

– Always link appropriately.

Then there are those Bloggers who think differently. The overall sentiment is: "my house, my rules… if you don’t like them, I’m going to take my ball and go home." They work by their own set of rules.

These include:

– Not enabling comments.

– Never responding in the comment section (but letting everybody else comment at will).

– Deleting comments that they don’t agree with.

– Closing comments if things don’t go their way.

– Not linking out to sources or inspiration.

Some days it makes sense to follow the rules. Some days, having your own set of rules is equally acceptable.

How would you feel if a Blog post was deleted? How would you feel if your comment was deleted? How would you feel if your comment was never posted in the first place?

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.