JourneyOnline
Christian Internet bloggers have received 10 commandments to help them avoid the danger of writing in haste what they might later regret at leisure.
Unlike the Ten Commandments of the Bible, the cyberspace injunctions have not been written on tablets of stone but on the Web site of Britain’s Evangelical Alliance (http://www.eauk.org/articles/blogging-ten.cfm).
Bloggers – writers of Internet diary and comment pages – are told not to murder someone else’s reputation, or steal their content. Nor should they give false testimony against another, commit adultery in their mind, or make an idol of their blog.
"I love the world of blogging but sometimes it can take over your life, for example, if you are posting at a time when your family might need your attention," said the alliance’s church mission director, Krish Kandiah, who drew up the code with a group of fellow bloggers, aged from 18 to 87.
"I got the idea on a rainy family holiday, when I began to notice the temptation to blog about something quickly before I had thought about what I was saying, and with the potential to damage or even slander someone," said Kandiah.
The aim of Kandiah’s group of bloggers was to construct a code of best practice based upon the Evangelical Alliance’s 1846 set of directives intended to help evangelicals work together and learn how to disagree amicably.
The 10 Web injunctions were thrashed out at a seminar where the bloggers, who included clergy, teenagers and an 80-year-old agony aunt, met face-to-face.
The Evangelical Alliance says it is the largest body in the United Kingdom serving evangelical Christians, and draws its membership from churches, organizations and individuals.
The alliance’s 10 blogging commandments are:
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.
(c) Ecumenical News International
Photo : WORLD NEWS
