@Lisa – I’m a lot more lax on my personal blog than I am on my portfolio site or my professional gigs. But as more people know me across the board, the more I have to give a critical eye to my writing on my personal site. I think it’s bound to happen as you get more well known.

@Genesis – You never know where an opportunity can come from, though, as I know several writers who have been approached because of the quality of their writing on a personal site. If we’re paid to blog, that still makes us professional writers, in my opinion. There will always be a range of quality of writing, just like there is in print.

On the other hand, I write for a few paid blogs. Getting paid to write about cars or mental health issues or small business startups? Definitely a writing gig, regardless of the format.

I know there a few gray area blogs, but to me, if you’re writing in the online equivalent of a personal journal, it’s not professional writing. If you’re being paid and meeting deadlines, then it’s professional. My two cents anyway.

To reply to Phil, I think it’s important to distinguish between ‘writers’ and ‘journalists’ – there’s a huge difference. Fact checking is not a job requirement for writers, even though some projects require it.

When it comes to blogs you’re paid for doing: absolutely that’s a professional gig.

However, there is a curious grey area where I do think certain blogs could be considered ‘true writing’ despite generating little more than advertising income… and that is the ground where an author uses a blog to further their craft and they treat it like a professional project. Is it published? Yes. Can it be promoted? Yes. It helps the author hone their craft, and if they treat it like a legitimate piece, sculpting and re-writing as they would any print work, than by all means, this is true writing and a contribution to that writer’s career.

The scary part is the people who will believe anything, and lack the critical thinking skills to recognize when something is well-researched and written. But then again, they’d believe anything in print, too.

Fact checking, quoting sources, and citing research are hallmarks of good writers, regardless of they’re typing up a feature article for a magazine or they’re writing about their favourite shoes on their blog.

I realize that not all bloggers are conscientious about these things, and that’s frustrating. But I don’t like it when other writers dismiss me out of hand because I blog. It’s not all I do, but it’s a fair part. For now.

If, as a blogger, you cite sources and write your posts, great. Of course, opinion items are something else. But some bloggers may or may not have legitimate sources, they may or may not fact check (print pubs are guilty of this sometimes, too). It’s bloggers (or commentators like Anne Coulter) that write without basic journalism mores that I don’t consider “real” writers.