Summary: As my recent entry Klogging Discovery might indicate, I agree with Paul Ford (see below thanks to Radio Free Blogistan) that there should be principles driving the weblogging process. Paul's appear transactionally and ethically based. Bravo. I have now added the need not only for a personal psychology of klogging but for a set of worthy ethically-based principles as well.

Paul Ford has web-publishing principles he describes in Medium of Choice.

I did okay, not perfectly. This list takes the form of a set of personal, first-person statements (?I do this,? ?I do that?) rather than a set of injunctions (?Do this!?, ?Do that!?) because these are my guidelines, a set of principles which I am trying - slowly, in some cases - to internalize, not a manifesto. It goes:

I try to create a private reading experience for each Ftrain reader.

I study work I admire, and strive make Ftrain something others might study.

I ignore the advice of pundits and gurus who are not practitioners.

I am active about writing and passive about seeking praise.

I use the technology at my disposal and create new technologies and forms when I need them.

I have a 1 month, 1 year, 2 year, 5 year, 10 year, 20 year, and 50 year plan for how I will write Ftrain.

I have a plan for Ftrain to continue if I die.

I answer correspondence and meet readers only as my schedule allows.

I ignore people who intrude on my privacy or send threats.

I don't publicize my site traffic statistics. The work must speak for itself, to individuals.

I encourage criticism of my work. I have placed the words "open to criticism" on the front page of my site.

I do not expect readers of my site to meet my personal, creative, or financial needs.

I do not write about writing or web development unless I have something new to say, or can save someone the trouble of repeating my errors. It is unlikely I have much new to say.

I use my site to condemn injustice, prejudice, and bias whenever I can.

I do not give away secrets or punish others with prose.

I do not apologize for loving the web more than print.

I do not apologize for wanting to write.

I do not apologize for giving away my work.

I do not apologize for taking my work seriously.

The web is my medium of choice, not a medium of last resort.

I suspect that those I'm calling principled webloggers won't all have the same principles or values. That's as it should be. But, to be driven by the values and principles, I am betting, will, for most people, generate more sustained and effective expression of both thought and value.

How to measure effectiveness? One possibility: the weblogger assesses her/his own satisfaction with the depth, volume and value-relatedness both before and after the excursion into the principle and value infusion into the process. My bet is won if, on the whole, the weblogger believes that there is significant improvement after developing and applying the values and principles,