I meant to blog this some time ago, but business travel got in the way. But I don't want this meme to die: Ian Hamet has a proposed blogging stylebook.It's a fabulous idea, and it deserves some circulation and debate. I like what he says about corrections, for example:
If a correction occurs more than one day following the initial post, said correction will be noted in a new post which links back to the original.If there is updated information relating to an old post that is not a correction, the update will be put up in a new post that links back to the original. The original will not be altered except for the Pingback it receives from the new post.
Seems reasonable to me, blogs being time-sensitive and time-intensive items, both for their creators and for their readers. But I'm a bit uncomfortable with this one, on acronyms:
Acronyms, and most abbreviations, are to be rendered in all uppercase without periods, thus:PETA
Except for “ante meridiem” and “post meridiem”, which are to be rendered all lowercase with periods, thus:
a.m., p.m.
This is done for the sake of inconsistency.
Well, no. Sorry, Ian, but although I'll walk with you on your abbreviation argument, we'll part ways when it comes to acronyms. There is no consistency with acronyms, at least not in American English. An acronym is a special type of abbreviation in which the abbreviation itself is pronounced as if it were a word. The problem arises, though, when some acronyms become so common that they really do become words themselves: laser, for example. Maser, scuba, radar. I'm not going to capitalize those, because they have become so common that to capitalize them would serve only to distract all four of my monthly readers.
Ian deserves a big pat on the back for his proposal. It will never be the case that all blogs look alike, or read alike, but I like the idea of some sound frame of reference.
Posted by Craig Ceely at February 19, 2005 03:30 PM