On the DaedTech blog Erik Dietrich has written up a list of a few things he suggests avoiding when using logging functionality in your application. The suggestions range from the actual contents of the message out to some logging best practices.

It seems almost strange to talk about avoiding things while logging. After all, logging is your last line of defense or your salvation in many cases. [...] Well, it turns out that, while logging may be a highly inclusive activity in terms of what should be included, there are ways to create problems. You want to be liberal in terms of what you log, but judicious and wise in terms of how you log it. You don’t want to indulge in a feckless free-for-all when it comes to the calls you make to your application’s logger.

So what are these problems, and how to avoid them? Let’s take a look at some things that can come back to bite you.

He points out the following (common) bad practices he has seen during his time developing:

• Forgetting Context
• Cryptic Codes
• Spamming the Log File
• Unsafe Logging Calls
• Mixing Application Logic with Logging

He ends the post with a suggestion of "sensible logging" - capturing as much meaningful information as possible while not overdoing it. Logs can be a powerful ally when hunting down an issue or trying to provide documentation of a security issue. Log wisely, log on purpose.