Should we create a bloggers union? This idea was floating on my head, so I decided to share with everyone.
Sometime ago there were already rumors on the Internet that some bloggers on the U.S. wanted to create such a union. Their purpose, however, was completely different from what I have in mind.
Basically they wanted to unionize the blogger profession, just like you have the dentists or writers union. Their main concern was health care and similar issues.
Now while this could be a good idea, I think that we need something more practical on the Web. That is, a union focused on helping and protecting bloggers with several problems, including:
1. Copyright infringement and content scraping
2. Online scams
3. Legal threats from companies and third parties
The union would be able to provide help for bloggers with similar problems in different ways. First of all it could have a fund, based on donations of members and other volunteers, to help bloggers facing legal issues.
Secondly, it would also provide advice on those issues. Ideally we would have some attorneys aboard, counseling the members on what action to take on the different situations,
Finally, the members itself could help each other to solve potential problems by blogging about them. Suppose one day the union grows to 2,000 members. If one of the members gets scammed by an online company, he would forward the problem to the union, and upon verification that the problem is real, we could ask all the 2,000 members to write a post outing that company.
I am not sure about you, but if I were an online company, I would think twice before messing around with such large group of bloggers. Combined we could reach millions of people on a matter of days, and probably hurt the reputation of some small businesses for good.
Obviously all matters would need to be taken seriously and not lightly. Each problem would need to be evaluated by a board before actions were to be taken.
Still I think it could work. Right now small bloggers are just too isolated to be able to fight for their rights. You see pretty every day a case where someone is getting scammed, someone else is getting threatened by a company just because he expressed his opinions and so on.
Should we get together, I am sure people would think twice before messing up.
What do you think about the idea? Would you be interested in joining? Any suggestions on how it could work?
I have created a private mailing list on Google to discuss the idea (the mailing itself come evolve to become the union). If you want to join just use the contact form and let me know in what email I should send you an invite.
Update: The union would work for all bloggers, regardless of their location or in what language they blog.
Update 2: Looks like many people are misunderstanding my idea. When I used the word “union” it was not on the strict sense of the term. This has nothing to do with getting people to pay money or anything like traditional unions. Perhaps it is more a kind of association or simply a group.
Man, one more thing I need to add is like bloggers and news media organization found earlier in a comment, this union should not be one with paid membership. It should be completely free and open, like Wikipedia. But for selecting members, I have guidelines such that we avoid all scammers and spammers. Those honorable members of the blogosphere should be members.