Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

In that typical hot-headed Rainy Day manner that visitors here have come to love (?), we got into a spat with the BBC (!) about blog comment etiquette a week ago. Sides were taken and there was praise and condemnation in equal measure for our stance. Claire Stocks, assistant editor with BBC Sport Interactive, pitched in early, and she has returned with a post that deserves prominent display as it addresses a number of important points:

It is a strange world where one can be criticised for lack of accountability (Ministry of Truth blah blah (Rob)) and also for taking the time to be accountable ('stop wasting my licence fee reading blogs and get back to work' (strongbad)).

For what it is worth Eamonn I think you're right about deleting a comment that points out an error, and I won't be doing that again on any blog which with I become involved.

Because far from being 'old media wanting to be part of the new media but only if the new play by the old rules' (nick dineen) we do indeed recognise there is much to learn, hence the World Cup blog is one of only 25 or so being trialled across the BBC while we work out what - if anything - we can bring to/take from the blogosphere. The World Cup blog attracted 24,000-odd comments in eight weeks, many from people who'd never previously read a blog, and a host of praise from readers who liked it (and even those who criticised it, liked having a forum to complain about our coverage).

All of which suggests we might have quite a role to play, given the right format/level of engagement/editorial focus. But we'll see how the trial goes before we assume that or indeed what we might do differently based on what we learn.

That word "learn" there is a good one to end on as all of us have learned a bit during this argument. But, then, we're learning every day, and the great thing about blogging is that it allows us to exchange our experiences and benefit from this transfer. With its limited resources and unlimited views, Rainy Day is prone to irascibility, which is regrettable, but our position is that the participative nature of Web 2.0 means that all involved, from the A-list bloggers to the humblest commentators, are entitled to have their say, and once said, it should become part of the record, where it will remain as a memorial to their intelligence or a monument of their silliness.