About this Ghostblogging thing…

Is “ghostblogging” unethical? When I type up my resume, is it unethical to have a professional review it and make sure it reads well? What about if I verbally describe my career to someone and then have them write up a resume for me?

If the content on someone’s blog is what they believe, why do I care if they’re the one who wrote it? Isn’t it the content that’s most important? Don’t you choose to build your relationships based on common ground? And isn’t that content?

Or is it all about personality? And if it’s about personality, what if how you write doesn’t reflect your personality face-to-face? Should that person be banned from having a blog? Is it so wrong to have someone else write your ideas so that it sounds more like you? Because that’s what the blogosphere seems to be saying about the matter. [Link ]

I write my own blog. But I’m a writer. I spend my free-time writing. I love to write. But not everyone has this skill (which makes me more marketable – go me!). And I don’t think they need to have that skill to have a successful blog. *I* think they should be able to use someone LIKE me to write their thoughts for them. Heck, I’d do it, ‘cuz to me, writing is FUN!

Unfortunately, I’ve seen people lose credibility for less heinous crimes than seeking writing assistance.

I can understand people being upset if the person writing the blog and the person who’s getting credit don’t cross paths – if the person who’s getting the credit barely knows what’s being posted in his/her name. Because then, this person simply isn’t the expert s/he’s claiming to be. But what about those who simply need help writing – for time or skill reasons? For example, most of the people who blog for PTMS have assistance. They come up with ideas for the posts, someone else writes the posts, then they read to make sure that the written post matches their thinking. But they’re too busy selling and shooting and programming to capture their thoughts appropriately in writing, so they enlist the help of others who are better skilled at it.

The thing that troubles me is that maybe, just MAYBE, the people who are so anti-“ghostblogging” are against it not because they don’t want people to position themselves as experts when they’re not, but that they’re against it because they know they can write well and they want those who can’t to feel like they’ve got no right to post. It’s blogosphere security.

Personally, I’d rather read a well-written and thoughtful ghostblog than a poorly written original blog. And the fact that someone realizes their lack in writing skill makes me appreciate their thinking all the more. We should all recognize our limitations.

Where do you stand in this debate?