My Blogging Manifesto

You may have noticed this summer, but I have been putting in a fair amount of work into the blog, both in terms of optimizing the layout, improving readability, putting in new pages, increasing the number of methods by which you can follow, and in improving the content (I bloody well hope you've noticed, anyway, given the amount of work it was). I think it's really paid off - as well as gaining new subscribers (speaking of which, hi you guys!), I've felt that my blogging identity has really begun to develop and grow.

With this, I've been thinking what direction I want this blog to go in future; my life continues to be busy, and I will probably not be able to post as often, but I do want to continue updating and providing new - and hopefully interesting - content here, and stick by my values. As a result, I decided to compile my blogging manifesto - a group of values I will stick to through any changes this blog may undergo. I've made a separate page for this now which you can now see in the links bar above, but I figured that it would be welcome posting it here too. Curiously, I was recently contacted about featuring products on this blog after this post was queued up, so apparently the rest of the internet thought it was about time I make my manifesto clear. :P

As a blogger, I will -

• Attempt to publish unique and engaging content. Whilst this is really up to the reader, I will try never to post anything I feel has been covered elsewhere or isn't up to scratch. 
• Never use product placement, or promote a brand I don't believe in. Whilst I may start putting ads on here in future (I am scraping by on a student loan currently, and any extra money is appreciated), I do respect people's decision to block them. I may also review products from brands (both products sent to me and that I have purchased myself), but I will never use product placement, advertise without informing you of it or promote something that I don't firmly believe in just because I am getting paid to do it.
• Never air brush or otherwise 'touch up' photos of myself. Yes, my face is covered with zits. But although I often footer about with photos post production to change filters/crop them and pretend I am a better photographer than I actually am, I will never edit my own image, as I believe culturally this practice creates unattainable beauty standards and encourages insecurities and eating disorders. So I'm afraid you're stuck with my frizzy hair and chunky thighs. ;)
• Attempt to use trigger warnings where applicable. Whilst I'm still working out a way to make GIFs turn on/off (sorry, epileptics!), I do use trigger warnings for potentially problematic content and often put posts on a difficult subject under the jump with a 'read more'. If you have a specific trigger that you would like me to be aware of, please let me know.
• Be involved with my readers. I love you guys! It's always great to hear people's opinions on my posts (even if it's 'I think this is terrible piece of plant fertilizer because...'). I love creating a dialogue and getting to know people, and will always try to reply to any comments. You can be alerted to replies to your comments here, by clicking 'Subscribe by email' next to the comment form - blogger does the rest. 

Anyway, now that this public service announcement is over, you can get back to actually reading my posts. :P

Fee



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