Here's a helpful warning to bloggers: "Be prepared." It's the Boy Scout motto and it's also good advice for people in all walks of life. It appears that many bloggers, myself included, are a little unprepared for the possibility of close scrutiny of blogging. What if we were told that we had used too much of someone else's news article in our blog entry or that we got our facts wrong and are guilty of negligence or even defamation? It's a scary thought, but that's the risk we take in offering our work in a public environment.

Have you noticed that, as bloggers, our responsibilities and rules seem to be a little hazy and hard to define? It sometimes does to me. Luckily, in college I studied media law, fair-use doctrine and other libel laws, so I have a pretty good understanding of what is allowed and forbidden when writing content.

The rules can get pretty complex, but they boil down to the fact that writers need to respect others' rights by not stealing their work, spreading lies about them or being unfairly critical of people we disagree with. I don't believe I've witnessed any of that in the discussions I have seen on ActiveRain and the LuxuryRealEstate.com Blog, but it's still important to keep in mind. Kindness and honesty are generally essential for free speech and democracy to thrive. I have no desire to defame anyone because my goal is to uplift by exercising the Golden Rule as much as possible.

When you use a news story or another person's blog in your work, make sure to give credit to the person you borrow from. I always strive to do that when I write a blog entry, since much of my inspiration for writing about specific topics comes from news sources and other bloggers. Actually, this blog was inspired by two news articles: a Seattle Times article by Brier Dudley entitled "Battle of the day: AP vs. blogs," and Marcie Geffner's article in Inman News entitled "Is your blog a lawsuit magnet?" I highly recommend reading them both so you can make sure you're aware of some potential pitfalls.

The one thing I don't know too much about is the fair use of photos in blogs. I almost always provide a link to the source of the photos I use, and I try to include the photographer/artist when it's available. Maybe someone can help me out on this aspect of fair use because I'm unsure what the rule is there. Is it okay as long as we give credit to the person responsible for the work or do we need to obtain written permission? Speaking of which, the photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/katiegail/1344714672, and it is the copyright of rakastajatar on Flickr.

In closing, I strongly advise you to pay close attention to Ms. Geffner's 17 questions in her Inman News article. I won't reprint them here because I wouldn't want to use too much of her work or remove the incentive to visit her site. As I read them, I went over in my mind the times when I had encountered these different situations or at least considered them. I hope this helps you be a little better-prepared in case anything like this might come up as you blog.

Happy blogging!

Author's Note: The photo above is different than the one I originally used. The reason for the change is because I wasn't sure if I was allowed to use the first photo, which was a painting by Norman Rockwell. I got the idea to check Flickr for a safer photo to use thanks to Ms. Geffner's comment below.