HOWZAT

Being fired is not enough, though — other sacked bloggers include the air hostess Ellen Simonetti (www.queenofthesky.com), the former Google employee Mark Jen, and Joe Gordon, who claims he was dismissed without warning for “gross misconduct” because of his blog, and none of them is anywhere near being in the running for a Bloggie. However, if their sites were as classy as Armstrong’s, the notoriety might have given them the leg-up they needed.

Armstrong, Belle de Jour, Greenfairy and Coates are seriously good writers with genuinely interesting opinions. They are free, too.

The respected newspaper columnist Simon Jenkins has nervously pointed out that bloggers might not meet journalistic standards as far as fact-checking goes, but he is nevertheless fearful because, like him, bloggers peddle opinion. He admits: “In truth, I, too, am a blogger, snatching at some item of passing news to argue a case and persuade. And I charge for it. The blogger does it for nothing.

I am on my mettle as never before.” If you peddle opinion, there is no percentage in blandness: another Simon, whose East Meets Westerner contains perhaps the best collection of blogging advice online (at http://simonworld.mu.nu/archives/037779.php), explains that, as in life, “extremism beats moderation and emotion beats logic. If you want reasoned discourse, prepare to dwell in oblivion. If you want invective and ill-considered responses, watch the hits come in”.

On the other hand, Coates explains that the post-9/11 blogosphere was suddenly filled with “angry people shouting at angry people, distorting arguments to fit their needs and not caring too much about the truth”. He says this was vile — and he was attacked himself — but points out that “you can’t fight for ever, and who’s going to hang around when you’ve got nothing more to shout about?”. If you’d rather not live and die by controversy’s sharp sword, win more durable loyalty by serving a niche such as London’s Tube system, as with www.going-underground.net.

Never forget that if you ever mention someone in a blog, the power of web search engines means that, one day, they will find out. Coates regrets sharing too much information about a bad relationship, but hasn’t removed the material because he rather heroically refuses to edit his own mistake. Armstrong, as well as being fired, wrote an anti-religious diatribe that took her father years to get over. She now censors herself on behalf of her husband, because, “ultimately, he is more important to me than my website”. Romance is clearly not dead.

There are even bigger safety issues. The Malaysian Peter Tan kept blogging during the recent Indonesian earthquake, posting “My apartment is shaking”, and “Bloggers are morons ... Instead of evacuating after the tremor, we, bloggers staying in high-rise apartments, sit here and blog about it”. Tan is an extreme case, but, however seductive it becomes, do remember that your blog is not actually more important than your life.

And now, if you really must...

WHERE TO START

www.blogger.com, www.myblogsite.com, www.livejournal.com
Blog hosting sites with templates that make starting out easy for beginners

www.bloggies.com If you want to be a big blogger, these are what you have to aspire to. Flick through the winners, then try to emulate them

http://simonworld.mu.nu/archives/037779.php Compendious links to tips by bloggers for bloggers

www.eff.org/privacy/anonymity/blog-anonymously.php Excellent safety advice

www.technorati.com/tag/writing Hints from the web about writing

www.editorsweblog.org Is blogging really journalism?

www.anonymizer.com Service that might help you avoid being fired

BLOG-FINDERS

http://aggregator.weblogs.co.uk, http://blogdex.net www.blogstreet.com www.bloogz.com/rank www.technorati.com www.weblogger.com/yesterdaystop100

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