Star Trek Blogging: The Vulcan Way

This is a guest post by Joshua Clanton. You can also read the first part of this series, the Klingon way.

Of all the aliens in the Star Trek universe, Vulcans are probably the most well-known, thanks to Mr. Spock. Vulcans, by and large, are a people devoted to logic and suspicious of human emotionalism. As a result, they tend to be highly practical and place a great deal of trust in scientific methodology. Over the centuries, they have developed certain precepts to guide their thoughts and actions. Here are four which can be applied to blogging.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few

When considering two courses of action, Vulcans are trained to choose the one which will achieve the greatest good to the greatest number. A common example of this in blogging is the choice between offering full feeds or partial feeds. While some prefer partial feeds, most polls show that full feeds are preferred by a substantial majority. In this case, the Vulcan thing to do is offer full feeds unless there is a compelling reason not to.

Infinite diversity in infinite combinations

Though Vulcans are extremely dedicated to their logical philosophy, that same philosophy teaches them to value diversity. This is one reason that Vulcans continue to work with humans despite their “emotional excesses.”

Valuing diversity of opinion and background is a crucial part of fostering conversation and interactions on a blog. Who wants to participate in a conversation which consists entirely of self-congratulatory back patting?

Live long and prosper

This precept is also a traditional greeting and farewell. It is a wish for the well being and happiness of the recipient.

I think that many times bloggers can get so caught up in focusing on their blog and their comments that they fail to wish for and contribute to the good of others. A little bit more of this Vulcan philosophy couldn’t hurt, and it might just help!

May you too live long and prosper.

Joshua Clanton is a freelance web designer who blogs about design, productivity, and creativity. He’s also quickly approaching his long-term goal of watching every Star Trek episode ever made.

Daniel Scocco on June 20, 2008 Subscribe to our RSS Feed

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11 Responses to “Star Trek Blogging: The Vulcan Way”

Modern Man on June 20th, 2008 7:33 am

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”

This is an interesting approach to take. I’ve often been told to focus on writing for the niche few that would be interested in what you’re writing about.

Cheers
Dan
http://www.themodernman.com/

P.s. Long live the Borg!
David Herbert on June 20th, 2008 9:45 am

I love how the guest writer used a pop-culture reference for a blogging example. Great job man.
SEO Genius on June 20th, 2008 10:11 am

Interesting article and a very different approach to take, i like the title too

Great
Sahil Gupta on June 20th, 2008 10:34 am

Very nice article. I liked the approach, quite different.
WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com on June 20th, 2008 1:02 pm

This is a bit of a coincidence, I wrote about the ‘Ferengi Rules of Acquisition’ on my blog which is a personal finance blog, and the Ferengi are another race from the Star Trek universe. While they are conniving money-hungry capitalists, I found some of their rules to be quite prescient - if anyone wants to check it out:

http://www.wheredoesallmymoney.....quisition/

Sorry if that comes across spammy, I don’t normally throw up links on comments, but I thought this was somewhat fitting…
Rick on June 20th, 2008 5:00 pm

I never understood bloggers who delete unflattering comments. I do see deleting profanity and spam, but as stated above - opinions are valuable. If you sit back and look at it, a blog is one writer’s opinion on a subject (this is an generalization but mostly true). Stimulating and meaningful conversation should always be part of a writer’s goal. One should always welcome opinions as diverse and contrary as they might be at times. Spock never said “no man is an island” but I’m sure he would agree.
suresh on June 21st, 2008 2:06 am

Accepting the views of Rick .

A comment that is linked to the post and enhancement to the content shall be accepted.

This kind of comments actually enhance the value of the content as well as the web site.
Caleb on June 22nd, 2008 2:22 am

Infinite diversity in infinite combinations–this is perhaps one of the main reasons for the existence of blogging and the whole social2.0 era.
Guest on July 3rd, 2008 7:43 am

WOW! Somebody can’t count.