09
04
2007
It’s not really a code, they’re more like guidelines: Will bloggers accept a code of conduct?
Posted by: Diane Levin in Blogs and Bloggers
The blogosphere’s buzzing over a proposed code of conduct for bloggers that seeks to strike a balance between frank conversation and civility.
This is a collaborative exercise of course in the best spirit of Web 2.0, and bloggers are invited to submit their comments or otherwise to participate in developing this proposed code.
Bloggers have already raised some fair criticisms with the proposed code, including A-listers Jason Kottke and Cory Doctorow, and no doubt others will be weighing in.
In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait to see whether the blogging world is ready for its own “No Asshole Rule“.
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April 9th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Where is my Easter Bonnet?
While some may see the blogosphere and the behavior of its participants as a new phenomenon, it isn’t difficult to find an appropriate predecessor model. That model is found on the streets of any metropolitan area and it is called traffic and the prevalence of road rudeness…or in its extreme…road rage.
Granted, personal attacks and snark on the internet are not likely to lead to fatalities, but if computers had wheels, it certainly would.
The problem on the highway or the internet isn’t going to be resolved through a badge system. Did anyone attend Easter mass yesterday and witness the value of symbols…no not the crucifix behind the altar or the statue at the entrance; I’m talking about the pretty new Easter outfits…complete with bonnets and bow ties. These are the outfits worn by the same people who also attend Christmas mass every year without fail…and then get into their shiny clean vehicle and race out of the parking lot without ever yielding to the old woman walking to her car that is parked in the back row because she forgot that it was Easter Sunday and foolishly arrived at the same time she does each and every Sunday.
Read more on the relationship between blog civility and Easter Bonnets…here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com
April 29th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Hi there,
Thanks for this post. Colin Rule and I have, since the Kathy Sierra incident, communicated extensively over email on the need to foment civil conversations online, whilst at the same time avoiding the pitfalls of O’Reilly’s rather overbearing approach to the issue.
One early result is a post of mine - “Beyond O’Reilly’s online civility dictum: Fostering healthy debate on the web and internet”, available through http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/beyond-oreillys-online-civility-dictum-fostering-healthy-debate-on-the-web-and-internet - that in turn points to a draft code of conduct that Colin helped draft at the recently concluded Online Dispute Resolution Forum in Liverpool, England.
It’s, I think, a useful starting place that tackles the vexed issue of civility online and as I note, a problem that some of us who moderate highly flammable websites dealing with the transformation of violent conflict have faced for many years.
Warm regards,
Sanjana Hattotuwa
ict4peace.wordpress.com