After reading countless blogs, I've come up with "R. Neal's Information Value Hierarchy", listed here in decreasing order of value. 1. Facts 2. Analysis 3. Opinion 4. Feelings 5. Your cat Facts: Nobody can argue with facts. Well, they'll try. Analysis: Trying to make sense of the facts, to answer the question "what does this mean?" Opinions: Theirs is right and yours is wrong. Except, informed opinion backed up with facts and analysis can sometimes be persuasive, especially coming from experts on a subject. Feelings: Nobody cares about your feelings. Don't just say "This pisses me off!" Explain why using facts and analysis. Convince people why they should be pissed off about it, too. Cats: Would somebody please get those cats a freaking cheezburger? Adapted from a presentation on blogging I gave a while back