Following the recent critical and somewhat unsavoury spotlight that the ever-expanding blog community found itself under regarding death threats issued to a prominent female tech blogger, urgent calls for an official code of conduct have since met with a distinctly mixed reception.

However, a number of high-profile names in the blogosphere have now lent their weight to a proposed code of conduct drawn up to introduce a little more humility and consideration into an online world seemingly rife with flaming, threats, insults, and prepubescent immaturity.

Respected print publisher and tech event organiser Tim O’Reilly initially unveiled the blogging code of conduct this Wednesday on his own site and also on Wikia.com, but has since begun implementing amendments to the opening draft after it received a stream of complaints and negative comments accusing it of engineering censorship merely for the sake of polite communication.

“We have a lot of people who wrap themselves in the mantle of free speech when they’re really just being childish,” commented O’Reilly by way of reaction to the sway of condemnation that met the proposed code.

In terms of content, O’Reilly’s draft introduced a civility-enforced standard whereby blog contributors and commentators must agree to refrain from posting abusive, false, harassing, libellous, or threatening comments to any given blog. Moreover, blog hosts must also agree to actively delete any such post falling into the aforementioned categories. And the posting of anonymous comments or copyrighted and/or trademarked content will be a banned practice.

In a move described by O’Reilly as an effort “to ignite discussion on the tolerance for juvenile behaviour” the blogging community was duly urged to supply their thoughts, comments, and suggestions to O’Reilly’s open draft proposal, and the reaction, which was significant, was distinctly mixed in terms of acceptance… while his own views on the matter are quite clear:

“There are those who feel they can deface, almost in a graffiti-like fashion, any blog that they visit and then slink back to the hole from whence they came,” he exclaimed in a Reuters report.

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of online user-created encyclopaedia Wikipedia, and also owner of Wikia.com, which is hosting O’Reilly’s draft, clearly believes that the majority of mature, constructive and level-headed bloggers will welcome the code of conduct. He commented that: “A lot of this is really kindergarten ethics. It’s the adult way to handle this kind of thing. How do we make distinctions between a vibrant, healthy but rational debate versus hate speech and lunatics? I don't think it’s that difficult and I don’t think any responsible bloggers are opposed to that.”

However, despite the best intentions and significant influence of those such as O’Reilly and Wales, there are plenty of industry watchers who believe that the Internet is virtually regulation proof in terms of the active blog community, particularly its destructive and infantile contingent, ever truly abiding by and respecting an issued code of conduct.

Carmi Levy, an analyst with Info-Tech Research Group in Ontario, Canada, warned that any agreed code of conduct “doesn’t have a prayer” when it comes to ushering in a Utopian blogging community devoid of idiotic contributors. “…there will always be people who will swear and treat others with disrespect and a code of conduct will not change that,” he added.


Monsters & Critics