Boarding a flight to Fort McMurray (a mining town if ever there was one) a fellow consultant asked my opinion about what he called “Consultants’ Mining Blogs.” He works for a local medium-sized consultant to the mining industry and is considering a blog of their own to impress their mining clients.

The flight was full of folk on their way to mine the oil and we could not connect long enough for me to articulate my ideas. So here they are for your consideration.

Historically a blog is a personal diary. Next it is a space for personal opinions. The blogs I like most are ever new postings from one opinionated good writer. I like the verve and tension of a contentious opinion, of a perspective that may offend some, of a new way of looking at a tired issue. Those are, in my opinion, the essence of a good blog.

I am saddened to see the proliferation of so-called blogs that are nothing more than a serial news-sheet. I quickly close and never return to so-called blogs that are pale attempts to be a cheap newsletter, or worse, a propaganda machine for a crusading company. I hate the blandness of corporate-speak that passes the red pen of a nervous lawyer.

Point is a good blog should be personal, spontaneous, and slightly edgy.

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