A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs

[babylonsister]

Great. Self-selected internet police, just what we need.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/technology/09blog.html?ex=1333771200&en=52ed112ca37ec909&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs

By BRAD STONE
Published: April 9, 2007

Is it too late to bring civility to the Web?

The conversational free-for-all on the Internet known as the blogosphere can be a prickly and unpleasant place. Now, a few high-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse.

Last week, Tim O’Reilly, a conference promoter and book publisher who is credited with coining the term Web 2.0, began working with Jimmy Wales, creator of the communal online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to create a set of guidelines to shape online discussion and debate.

Chief among the recommendations is that bloggers consider banning anonymous comments left by visitors to their pages and be able to delete threatening or libelous comments without facing cries of censorship.

A recent outbreak of antagonism among several prominent bloggers “gives us an opportunity to change the level of expectations that people have about what’s acceptable online,” said Mr. O’Reilly, who posted the preliminary recommendations last week on his company blog (radar.oreilly.com). Mr. Wales then put the proposed guidelines on his company’s site (blogging.wikia.com), and is now soliciting comments in the hope of creating consensus around what constitutes civil behavior online.

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[Donnachaidh]

1. The RW nutter sites already censor posts

So is this a call for the same?

I do feel for the woman being cyberstalked and harrassed (I've had problems in the past myself) - but I have a real problem with outright censorship of anonymous posts.

I can see zeroing in on the threats of violence, etc. - but people rarely stop deleting at violent posts. I know there are some sites I don't want to have to sign up to comment - does this mean my comment is less valuable?

This is a messy situation. :shrug:

[Igel]

6. You may have noted the benevolent

censors that we have dubbed with the august name "moderators".

They delete posts that are offensive. Posts here are anonymous. Both anonymous posting and the post deletion are good things.

Nearly anything can be said on DU, as long as it's said properly. (Personally, while I'm not sure I'd be made a moderator if I applied, I haven't applied simply because I'd be a bad moderator: I'd be far, far too heavy handed. Why, I'd even delete some of my own posts.)

[gatorboy]

2. Mother May I call you a fascist nazi?

Pretty pleeze???

[rocktivity]

3. Who cares what they think?

More to the point, who cares what the New York Times thinks about the blogosphere? They're just using this as another opportunity to dump on it because it's been scooping them left and right (if you pardon the expression). Better they should ask, "Is it too late to RETURN professionalism and integrity to the corporate media?"

:eyes:
rocknation

[Monkeyman]

4. You got that right

[ixion]

5. yep, you said it: the MSM is the one who needs a lesson in basic journalism

since they've apparently learned everything they know from tabloid rags.

[sutz12]

7. I have a simple system...

I don't frequent sites I find offensive.

I do frequent sites that I don't find offensive.

I've found that well run sites can police their own code of conduct. It takes some effort, but it can be done.

Obviously, turning the internet over to an FCC-like body would be a bad thing.