VISITOR FRIENDLY SITE Movement

This entry is wholeheartedly written by Mr. Peace Crusader and I share exactly the same sentiments.

Lately, I’ve been witness to some unpleasant happenings within my community of bloggers. Feelings were hurt and friendships were broken. People taking sides without knowing all the facts only made things worse.

It started from an anonymous reader leaving nasty comments on a blogger’s tagboard. The owner of the blog tried to track down the commenter but ended up erroneously accusing an innocent person who simply happened to be online on the blogger’s site at the same time when the nasty comments were made. Ultimately, the real culprit was identified. But the damage had already been done... And things have never been the same again. For now there is fear from other bloggers from visiting and leaving comments on other people’s sites. Some bloggers have even lost the desire to continue blogging.

Who can blame them?

Most bloggers blog for the fun of it. One feels good visiting blogs with posts that are funny, informational or inspirational. We like blogs where the author and its readers get along with each other. Where the exchanges of ideas and comments are funny and although sometimes heated are nonetheless educational and civilized. On the otherhand, one feels bad and disheartened when they see people saying bad things to one another and swearing at each other. No one wants to live in a household where the members are always fighting, shouting and swearing at each other. The first thing one wants to do in such a situation is to leave that house. Never to come back again.

I, together with a few of my fellow bloggers have decided to band together and do something about it. For in a way, all of us became victims of the situation. It's like we’ve lost our innocence. We’ve lost the joy in blogging. But now we want to restore it back.

We know there will always be people who find pleasure in making others miserable by leaving nasty comments and messages in other people’s blogs. We cannot change nor control these people, but we have the free-will to control the way we react to these people.

And so we’ve decided that should we receive negative, vicious, nasty, or malicious messages, that...

-We will not react violently to these people.

-We will not reply back in a menacing tone or manner or use foul language or swearing.

-We will sort out our differences with them privately and discretely and refrain from quarreling or bickering in public.

Our aspiration is to help create an environment among bloggers and people who visit blogs that is sociable and mutually pleasant for both. An environment;

1. Where visitors to sites are accorded utmost courtesy and respect.

2. Where bad language and swearing are not used against anyone.

3. Where discourse and sharing of ideas are encouraged through messages and comments.

4. Where no one will be mocked, rebuked, or ridiculed or be retaliated upon for anything they say.

5. Where every visitor is welcome and treated as guest and friend.

If you share these aspirations and are willing to be part of the solution in making the BlogSphere a more friendly and peaceful place, all you need to do is display the VFS logo anywhere on your site with a link back to this page.