Many - dare I say almost all - bloggers were outraged at the recent threats made to a female blogger. Many suggested that it was time for an ethical code by which bloggers would voluntarily abide. Unfortunately Tim O’Reilly has come up with sanctimonious, moralising garbage that appeals only to censorist Americans, with the result that the idea is now dead.
The idea that ‘naughty words’ should not be allowed in comments is only palatable to a small censorist section of American society – the rest of the English-speaking world is mature enough to read all words in this language of ours without thinking the sky is falling.
Anonymous comments are important in a lot of circumstances – especially when a comment is on a controversial topic or where the commenter just isn’t comfortable putting their name on a public website.
The idea of a blogging ‘code of conduct’ was a good one, but with this ridiculous, corporatised, moralising draft (which has been presented as ‘widely accepted’ by the EBC – not the case), Tim O’Reilly has killed it (much like his abusive lawyers killed the term Web 2.0). A completely unacceptable draft from an increasingly irrelevant man who thinks writing a few books gives him the authority to rule the internet. Go to hell.
EDIT: Given the code’s desire for false pleasantries and censorship, I think that there is no better way of responding to this mess than a comment left on Tim O’Reilly’s blog post
Please, pretty please, with sugar on top, go f*** yourself.
A slightly less strident, but perhaps more illustrative objection was given by Robert Scoble (originally famous for being Microsoft’s most prominent blogger), outlining the most serious problem with the proposed ‘Code’ - it all seems just a wee bit sinister
I don’t back channel. I don’t beg for links behind your back the way many other sites do (and sometimes even require). If I have a problem with something you wrote on your blog I think we should play it out in public. If I’m wrong, that’ll be part of the public record. I don’t like back room “deals†between bloggers.(…)I do have to admit that I feel some pressure just to get on board here and that makes me feel very uneasy.
I think it is now clear from the volume of objections that the Code of Censorship is dead. If it isn’t, I volunteer to borrow the bat Jimmy Wales was pictured with in yesterday’s Guardian ((Only in the print version, which is why there is no link)) (funny way to campaign for ‘civility’ Jimbo) and finish it off.
[EDIT 2] Since it now looks like the Code of Censorship has received the thorough kicking it deserved, a more humorous look at the situation is in order. Enjoy at Ewan’s Musings.
External links
BBC News – Readers ‘need warning on content’