Looks like it's time for a lesson in basic netiquette, folks.

Looks like it's time for a lesson in basic netiquette, folks.

O.K., I think someone has to say something about re-posting the same material in a dozen different places. When you enter a blog entry on your regular site, I don't want to see the exact same entry as a Facebook note, as a MySpace blog, as a Tweet and as you status message on a dozen different sites and IM handles. I don't mind the occasional re-post of an announcement or something like that, but for the most part putting the same material in a dozen places is just unacceptable.

Look, I want people to read the stuff I write too, and I think it should be readily available, but I also think it's more valuable when people opt in to read it instead of getting spammed by the same content over and over again. I don't mind when you remind me you write elsewhere, or suggest I sign up for your feed (something I will immediately do if I want to keep up with your regular stuff). At some point we'll each have our own aggregated site everyone else can subscribe too (yes, I know FriendFeed exists but I still don't find them 100% reliable) but until then let's keep from burying each other in the exact same post five different times.

I'm not saying you should never post something in more than one place, there are always exceptions to the rule, but if you're someone whose multiple online forums contain all the same content, I'm going to start getting annoyed even by the good stuff ... and none of us wants that to happen, right?

Also, if you're on Twitter and all you ever do is post links to your own blog posts, I'm un-following you.* You've been warned.

*And yes, I realize this is an ironic statement since currently that's what Chicagoist is set up to do ... but honestly I didn't even know the site had a Twitter account and we're now taking steps to make it more of a conversational tool than a self-promotional one.