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Two Norwegian bloggers, Thomas Moen and Rafiq Charania, sat down and created what they called (in Norwegian), Bloggplakat. Directly translated ‘Bloggplakat’ means ‘Blog Poster’. It is very loosely based on a similar “poster” the Norwegian press has. It has even been given the thumbs up by the Norwegian press organisation and the Norwegian consumer board; so you can only assume it is a very good idea.

I only heard about the Bloggplakat yesterday just before I was going to bed, which forced me to stay up later than expected.
The reason it caught my eye was that so many Norwegian bloggers seemed to be furious about this poster. Instead of jumping on the bandwagon I went directly to the source of the Bloggplakat.
As the page was loading I feared the worst. I actually assumed, based on some frantic bloggers, that Norwegian bloggers would lose most of their rights and be forced to follow strict rules or they would be punished by law for it. In other words, I thought it would have a horrible impact on free speech in Norway.

After reading the Bloggplakat and having a quick chat with Thomas Moen himself via Twitter I understood that blogging in Norway is still a very new concept and people seem to not fully understand what it is and what they are doing themselves.
In other words, they are creating a huge storm in a tiny water filled thimble.

Before I tell you what this Bloggplakat is all about I just want to let you know and (loosely) quote Thomas Moen what the Bloggplakat is not about:

The Bloggplakat are guidelines; it is not a set of rules and you choose to follow these guidelines as you see fit. If you do not want to follow them, nothing bad will happen to you at all.

So in other words, the Bloggplakat is nothing that can, will or want to govern Norwegian bloggers. Nor will it affect free speech. It is simply some guidelines for Norwegian bloggers to maybe give their own blog a higher standard than it already had; which should be a positive thing.

From what I can remember and find, EFF wrote a Bloggers’ Rights manual for American bloggers five years ago. It has gone from a simple manual to a page with different sources and guidelines that are more or less based on legal advice regarding blogging in the USA.
The Bloggplakat is more or less about ethics and common sense, but has some influences from already existing laws. Still I dare to say they are similar, as they are both, in the end, guidelines on how to be taken more seriously as a blogger.

The way some of the Norwegian bloggers react to the Bloggplakat makes me laugh, but also feel a little bit ashamed to be Norwegian. It is kind of ironic that when EFF released their Bloggers’ Rights manual it was welcomed with open arms; and now bloggers has almost the same rights and status as journalists in the USA.
In Norway though, bloggers are crossing their arms and turning their back on the Bloggplakat; instead of taking part of helping Thomas Moen to improve it by giving feedback, as he has requested.

The wheels are already in motion, so the Bloggplakat will be released regardless of what some uninformed bloggers think of it.
Personally I am very excited about this and to me this is a step in the right direction where bloggers in Norway are getting a stop closer to be taken more serious; as there are still many who see blogs as mindless drivel and pathetic public diaries.
Many bloggers are extremely good writers and deserve more respect; and if the Bloggplakat can be part of giving them that extra respect, I honestly can not see how that is a bad thing.