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The thing about influence is that, as bloggers well know, it is only a matter of time before people start trying to hold you accountable. Bloggers are so used to thinking of themselves as outsiders, and watchdogs of the LSM (that's Lame Stream Media), that many have given little thought to what ethical rules should apply in their online world. Some insist that they do not need journalistic ethics because they are not journalists, but rather activists, or humorists, or something else entirely. But more bloggers, and blog readers, are starting to ask whether at least the most prominent blogs with the highest traffic shouldn't hold themselves to the same high standards to which they hold other media.

Politico-blogs are basically creative (well, some more than others) letters to the editor, the editor being the blogger's own self-delusion of grandeur and the gaggle of others in their little blog clique who will write right-on! comments to basically anything. The problems occur when they begin to believe that truth is, in actuality, a concrete object one can touch with one's fingers, and that they and only they know where to find it. This happens a lot since many bloggers appear to take themselves extremely seriously. Must be all the positive reinforcement from the commenting cheerleaders.

I, however, am the very first to admit that I am mostly full of shit.