Loshon Hora Guidelines for Blogging

Gil points us to a response by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir on Loshon Hora.
This was the question he was asked:

Blogs provide an open forum for readers' comments. Is the blogger responsible for encouraging slander and other irresponsible contributions?

An excerpt from his response:

...neighbors, friends, and co-workers are not suitable topics of discussion on blogs.

However, we have to make a suitable exception in the case of public figures or aspects of a person's life which are intentionally opened to the public. When someone runs for public office, he surely expects, even wants, others to openly discuss his qualifications for office, whether positive or negative. Likewise, if someone makes a public speech or publishes something it is fair to assume that he is willing to have his ideas weighed in the "court of public opinion", with its self-appointed lawyers for defense and prosecution alike. Any serious scholar is grateful for the insights gleaned from critics.

...Blogs are not an appropriate forum for mentioning the virtues and foibles of unassuming people we encounter in everyday life. These people don't seek our praise and are justifiably mortified to be criticized in the public square of cyberspace. However, public figures must, and generally do, reconcile themselves to the fact that their message will be lacking in consistency and impact if they don't open it to public debate. Bloggers may generally assume that these individuals are willing to be discussed on blogs as long as basic standards of journalistic ethics are maintained, including attribution of facts, right to make a reply, and so on.

Bottom line: If it feels like Loshon Hora, it probably is Loshon Hora. But I've found that out the hard way in the course of my blogging.