Yeah, I’m the one posted the 16.7 challenge for English Friday today. The topic has been nagging at the back of my mind for quite some time. About honesty when it comes to your blog.
With vibrant blogging atmosphere nowadays in Indonesia, there are so many bloggers updating their blogs daily. Every each one of them has so many different motivations. Some only want to share their story, some to get some amount of money, win prizes from those blogging competition or even to build their online persona so that they can have a circle of people admiring them. Nothing is wrong with that.
We can write whatever we want and what people want to read and however we want on our blog. Even we can write things that only exist in our head. Nobody cares about it and we can get what we want by those writing. It is our blog anyway.
But is it really that way how it works? I don’t think so.
Honesty is The Best PolicyRead also Is Your Blog Really Worth It?
To me, I need to stay true to myself. I won’t write anything that is not true. I won’t lie. That was why when I published a post a few days ago titled Pelabuhan Tercanggih Ada di Surabaya! (The Most Advanced Port is in Surabaya!) and then there were some comments questioning the title which mislead to my reader I revised the title in no time. It was the character limitation for the title (in the Yoast SEO plugin) so that I could get green indicator and I edited it that way. From the very first time I publish the post, I have a dilemma whether to edit it or not. But then thanks to Mbak Eva and Deny who commented about it. 😛
It is not me to use a theme or a topic which went viral and write about it with so many additional spices (I don’t entirely experienced myself) to make it hotter so it could boost my blog and get traffic. I can not do that.
Biasakan dengan air – tips belajar berenang otodidakOr when I engaged myself with a brand, I always inform the brand how I would write about them. I will tell them that I wouldn’t try to soft sell their brand. I need to inform the reader of my blog that I got paid for the post so that my reader can decide to use the product or at least read my post fully aware of the benefit from my review/recommendation I get. I did it for quite some time already even when other bloggers still trying to soft sell the products / brands they wrote on their blog. For this, many brands left me not even bother to reply my email 😛
read also How to Get Money from Blog.
Another thing that I think I need to highlight is about blog competitions. I’m not the kind of blogger who can dedicate myself to stay awake for three nights in a row to finish infographics or research so deep for a blog post to win a competition. Though I rarely join a competition, but it hurt me when I found out that a blogger (or two? or there are many of them?) still edit their blog post even after the deadline.
I knew it myself. There was this a big cellphone brand launched their latest gadget and held a blogging competition. On the deadline day, I opened some of the blogs which usually the winners of that kind of competitions. Surprisingly, there were the posts but mostly unfinished.
I looked at this one blog. The post was raw with some infographic in it without any information typed yet. I knew instantly that it was open and out in public so that the blog owner can register it for the competition and the owner will definitely edit it even after the deadline. It is another example of dishonesty. It is unfair for the people who finished their post early and submit it but then lost the competition because someone use more time as he/she pleased ignoring the rule.
What do you think?
35 tanggapan untuk “Will You Bare It All?”
Kind of dilema Dan about being honest online. Would you share you bad side? Would it hurt you in the future if you do share it and so on and so on.
For me, online honesty is a must but it doesn’t mean share everything online. If you want to know me better, “japri” me hahaha. Is it wrong doing it that way?
For the blog competition, it is very sad if they did something like that. Others may pull their heart out for it. And you edited after DL? After reading the other’s posts? That’s way low for me. Of course, that’s just me.
Of course we don’t need to bare it all. There are certain limitation for what we can share online. But one thing is for sure, just don’t write what is not right. If someone just do anything for fame then its a waste of time. At least for me to read those kind of blogs.
berat kali topik pagi ini yak mas ryan abis gosipan di wa 😀
Jujur dalam menulis bagi saya penting, seperti tiap menulis sesuatu di blogku pasti saya share cerita pengalamanku lalu dihubungnkan dengan topik apa yang ingin saya bahas.
Setuju juga sama mas Ryan, jujur itu penting tapi kita perlu filter apa saja yang ingin dishare di blog.
Untuk lomba blog, hmm saya termasuk golongan jarang ikut lomba hiks abisnya saya tipikal all out ikut lomba, segala daya dikerahkan untuk bikin tulisan, kebayang energinya dan capek hiks kalaupun nggak menang bagiku it’s fine, at last i do the best for it. ^.^ dan edit setelah post bagiku big No No! Kalau merasa terlalu dekat jam DL, dan post it hanya biar bisa daftar mending jangan jadi deadliners.. Well, back again, that’s just me too..
Huahahahahaha.
Emberan Mbak Ran. BIG NONONO kalo mau edit post habis deadline. Dipikir biasa aja tapi yang lain kan udah all out selesein sebelum DL. Gilingan aja tega curang kek gitu.
Kalo soal filter apa yang perlu ditulis di blog sih memang HARUS. Tapi yang difilter dan akhirnya tampil ya harus yang bener kan ya
One guideline I always stick to regarding online posting is the T-H-I-N-K rule. I forgot the exact words :p but I think they are “True, Helpful (or is it Honest?), Important, Necessary (or is it Nice? I forgot :p), and Kind”. So I will make sure that something I write falls into at least one category 😀
Ah yes! That guideline. Indee Bu Vita, thanks for bringing this guideline up 😀
Nice guideline Vita. Something to remember each time sharing things then.
akupun setuju sama Mas Ryan, jujur ga berarti harus semua diumbar, mending curhatnya via wa aja #eh
soal yang lomba itu aku baru tahu loh mas Dani. Jadi ga fair aja sama yan udah riset dan meluangkan waktu dari jauh-jauh hari
Iraaaaa. maafkan baru dibalesin yaaaa..
Iyaaah, kalau curhit yang emang bukan buat umum sih mending via WA, tapi WA bisa juga dikepcher dan dishare loh sama orang… Huehehehehe. Kalo soal lomba mah kan-kan-kaaan?
Ga papa mas Daniii…
Wah parah tuh klo ampe di capture! Kasusnya jadi sama kayak pemikiran di path yg di screen capture terus dishare ??. Padahal mestinya what happen in path kan stay in path kan yak….iyaa yg soal lomba itu ga banget!! Kalaupun mau edit sebelum deadline sih masih oke yak, tapiii kalau setelah deadlinekan jadi curang
Terus kapan kita curcol2an lagi di WA ira????
Eciyeeee. Gw kok gak diajakin sih? #fomo abis
Buahahahaha
Hahahahahahaha
You can write anything you want on your blog, nobody cares about it… Is it really like that?…<< nop! yang baca itu pasti care, apalagi yang baca mantan #eaaaa 😀
#EAAAAAAA! Pernah kejadian ya Mbak?:P
kalo menurut saya sih honesty is expensive. not everyone can be honest . Honesty also symbolizes the strong personal .
Oh really? Honesty symbolises a strong personal? wow!
Hmmmm dalem, self reminder banget mas. Apalagi yang soal soft selling ituh dudududu, saya yang newbie banget mengetahui mana yang do and don’t. Terlepas itu semua balik ke prinsip si empunya blog ya, well noted mas Dany. Happy weekends 😉
Happy weekends 😀
Indeed everything is in the hand of the blog owners. 🙂
It takes courage to inform a brand about how you’re gonna write and tell readers that a post is a paid review.
As for me, I do write what I want to write, not necessarily what readers want to read. Honesty during digital era will mean a wise decision of what to be posted and what’s not. We cannot tell our readers everything to assume honesty.
One important point is that we should be aware that we’ll be hold accountable of what we write on our blog. Every word counts. Every post matters, either in this life today or the afterlife.
Oh my… You mentioned the consequences of our writing. Indeed that is entirely true that we will be responsible for what we share to the world. Thank you Om for the sharing. Indeed the filter about what should be posted and not are in our hand. 🙂
Biasanya brand mundur teratur kalo kita udah kasih guidelines hehehe.
Soal lomba itu aku baru ngeh. Berarti pihak penyelenggara tidak mengecek langsung saat deadline ya? Jadi udah keburu ditambah-tambahin sama pesertanya.
Iya Lia, sayangnya ada beberapa panitia yang gak sampe ngecek ke tiap postingan yang didaftarkan. Soal guidelines, kan ini memang blog kita ya.. 😀
Years ago I felt disappointed when I realized that a lot of my friends did what you wrote. There are not stupid, there are not poor. They are just too greedy of everything, including money and most of all others’ acknowledgement and praise. Sometimes it surprises me how desperate they are to beat each others. But then, it’s useless to question their conscience. I rather question myself. Did I do like what they did? I hope I didn’t. I encourage myself to do it by the rules because it’s online. If I didn’t, it’s just a matter of time people will find out. Many times I lose the opportunity to work with brands because of my clear disclosure and I had to admit that I felt sad. Many times I lose competitions because I didn’t have many tricks. I even put the source of CCO’s pictures although it’s not necessary. When friends scream butuh piknik, I just need to lay back stalking socmed because I don’t have many online fatigue to be released. It’s up to us whether we choose to be free or to be pursued.
a good way to put it Mbak Lusi. Indeed, it is only a matter of time before everyone else find out about it. And yes, it is all in our own hands and it is kind of ridiculous saying that the online blog competition is the cause of any fatigue or stress. 😀
I am quite surprise to know that there are people who submitted their unfinished blog post on the competition deadline (just for the sake to register themselves), and then continue finishing it later at their own time!
I sometimes, well most of the time, submit the blog post a couple of hours before the deadline. I always tried hard to finish it before the deadline. If I missed, then I didn’t submit.
Yeeesss Om, exactly the same with me. If I didn’t manage to post it before the deadline, then I won’t submit it. 😀
For me, blogging is like talking, but verbally. So…… you have a really good value, mas. I hope more bloggers or influencers need to be like this. Because they’re responsible for the message they bring to the public..
Indeed Nad! So sad for those who didn’t value honesty above all..
agree! honest is the best way, lying though both will lead to darkness.
Indeed. Couldn’t agree more! 😀
kalau saya sudah mulai lelah dengan kompetisi kompetisi ^_* karena merangkai kata sudah tidak secepat sebelumnya. tapi sangat setuju blogging adalah tata cara kita memberikan informasi dan akan menunjukkan typikal kita sebagai humanis maya. santun dalam bertutur ketik akan membuahkan nilai positif terhadap pembacanya… seperti blog ini tentunya 🙂
Setujuuu!!! Terimakasih banyak ya Mbak 🙂 Apa yang kita tampilkan di dunia maya memang mencerminkan bagaimana kita ya…
[…] Hmmm, rasanya, playing fair in a competition, adalah satu bentuk etika yang umum dan menurut mimin berlaku di mana saja, online maupun offline . Kembali ke diri kita sendiri, gimana rasanya kalau ada orang lain berbuat tidak fair? Kalo kata Dani sih, […]