Do you fix old blog entries? Can readers tell?
When is blogging 'for the record'?
While fixing some typos on my weblog on Harvard's server last week, I
noticed that my weblog editing programs, Radio and Manila, maintain an
item's original post date
and time, even if I modify it a day or two later -- as I've done a
couple of times with the items on this page. At least that's the case
with the programs' default templates and settings.
I
doubt that I have enough of a readership to notice when I update something. However, the
general issue has me curious:
When and why do people go back and edit
blog entries?
- Do you update things by adding a comment or a whole new page?
- Do you correct errors, add details or make changes when you think of a way to say something more elegantly?
- If you do, do you note or date the change?
- Do you add a comment or link to a fixed version?
- Or do you have a whole "corrections" section, like some newspapers?
(Examples: The Guardian, The New York Times.)
- Do you document your own update policy anywhere?
The
question isn't very significant for a casual blog, but imagine a
candidate saying "If you want to know my stand on abortion, look what I
said in my blog last March..." Readers would not be able to tell
whether the original document had been modified.
(Of course, they could also check the archives of the Times and Washington Post...
On a major issue those "newspapers of record" would have information --
and their reporters certainly would raise a red flag if a candidate was
engaging in Stalinist revisionism online.)
Minor
case in point... I originally typed this in a rush, but knew I might come back later
and link it to some sample corrections pages or other resources. I'd
done that once already before writing this line...
The item got a bit longer, so I wrote a short
summary, changed the headline and made the longer version a linked
story-page. "Tomorrow I could decide it was all a dumb idea and erase
the whole thing. Or I might just replace it with a link," I wrote, "if I discover
that someone else has already written a master's thesis, Poynter essay
or Online Journalism Review article
on a closely-related subject."
In fact, the reference to OJR as a
possible source was in my first draft, but the link wasn't... a day later I discovered the
actual Mark Glaser article. A week later, I noticed Dan Kennedy handling a correction in an Aug. 17 Boston Phoenix column by presenting both a new Aug.
21 item and a "Note: This item was later corrected" entry, with link,
on the old version. And then I stumbled on Adrian Holovaty's blog transcript of Glaser's interview with him for the OJR article. The Web is never finished! But I'll "freeze" this page here.
(For
the record, I also came back to this page August 27 to do some editing,
add links and bullets, then two days later I made a copy of it in my
Other Journalism weblog, figuring it makes more sense having a
permanent home here .)
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© Copyright
2009
Bob Stepno.
Last update:
7/27/09; 3:57:21 AM. |
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