The Huffington Post pulled the plug on a blogger … because of poor 
tone, and that got me wondering if good tone is growing as fast as the rapid proliferation of blogs these days…. What do you think? With the escalation of blogs… amazing news, insights, and stories … from heroes to rogues … beam into our screens from hidden corners all over the world. I am intrigued daily to find research zingers about the brain… breakthroughs that would otherwise be lost to me in mainstream media alone. With this proliferation of the blog press though… comes a challenge to use good tone. In fact… when poor tone pops up … I say, hit the delete button in your brain… and run.
Know More Media… where I blog… provides the software to delete comments which attack, offend or slander. Although I’ve never had to delete any comment… it’s a good thing … because poor tone truncates a discussion. It not only diminishes people’s diverse ideas and wipes out any thoughtful exchange of opposing views … but I’ve seen tone burst rich discussions into flame wars that zap the brain. Experts knew this when they reminded us that negative people burn out your brain.
So how is good blog tone developed?
- Encourage opposing views, then respect differences that emerge
- Accept imperfections in others especially when conflicts arise
- Tell readers what you discovered through their diverse responses
- Name something of value in others, even when they disagree with you
- Apologize whenever offence is taken because of your posts
- Laugh at self bloopers, stay edgy, and shake off personal offenses
- Maintain consistent tone, that affirms others and leads in with creative ideas
- Develop tone skills and report findings so others benefit from tone traits
- Take risks to lead, and also don the humility to be led by your readers
Don’t feel guilty about pulling plugs on terrible tone ….
Tone calls for linguistic and interpersonal intelligences which exist in every brain… and can be developed further by any of us.
To stick around ... do nothing...and allow poor tone to spike harmful hormones through your brain … is to shut down your ability to think, laugh or write. What do you think?
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