Well, I’m pretty sure that Emily Post has never written a blogging etiquette book, but there are definitely a number of written and unwritten rules. One unwritten rule that I would like to see more in practice is the etiquette of updating post content.
I haven’t seen it written, yet. But I highly doubt that I’m the first to talk about updating content with regards to blogging etiquette. So if you find other support for this, I’d be grateful. 
So here’s the rule (at least the one that I bend now and then)…
When you publish a post, it’s written in stone.
If you have something minor like typos, I think it’s completely fair and appropriate to make corrections. However, if you need to make other changes or corrections, here’s how you can deal with it.
- Write a new post.
- Clearly mark your change/addition.
- Both 1 and 2.
Write a new post
Sometimes, but not always, it makes sense to provide a follow-up post. When your readers are presented posts in the standard reverse-chronological order (like in most blogs), your corrected post will appear at the top of your blog giving readers the opportunity to read your corrections. If you simply changed your post, your readers may not know that a change was made. So write a new post.
Clearly mark your change/addition
If you change something within a post, it helps to identify the change that you made. People may return to a post. They may have been notified of new comments or maybe your update. When they return, how do they know what was modified? It helps tremendously when people use strikeouts to show deleted lines or type “UPDATE: ” to precede blocks of text that were added.
Be sure to follow the same principles for editting comments too. Once an edit is made, the comments may not make sense. Marking your changes can keep things clear.
Both 1 and 2
Using both of the methods can help, too. It can allow good crosslinking of your posts while allowing readers to better understand your train of thought.
Just Suggestions
Now, these “rules” are really just suggestions. Their implementation depends a lot on the situational circumstances of modifying a post. However, they are good guidelines that can help to improve our blogs.
By the way, if you know of any good blogging etiquette resources please comment with the link(s) below. This can benefit us all.
[Previously posted on ActiveRain]
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