The Lair

There is a proposal underway for a Blogger Code of Conduct. No, really. Someone actually wants to do this. The phrasing in that code of conduct is camp enough to have come from a local blogging celeb or the astroturfing commune.

The highlowlights:
We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog: Responsibility for my own words on this blog? Fine. Responsibility for comments? Oh hell no. I may or may not endorse every comment on this blog (I’ve disagreed with a few people via comments on their blog and I’d extend someone the same courtesy here), but responsibility? No. Just no way. I have enough trouble being responsible for my own words and actions, never mind what someone else might choose to type in here.

There is a beautiful definition of unacceptable content there which annoys me more. For example, “knowingly false”. WTF? Blog authors need to become mind readers? Maybe we need a lie detector now.

And there is also the escape chute which says we reserve the right to change these standards at any time. Then why bother? I police (for want of a better word) my blog in my own way. Perhaps I already apply these standards. Why do I need a code of conduct and a badge in that case?

We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person – Half and half on that. I generally wouldn’t but I see exceptions to that generalization every single day on Ach. I even moderate a few. It’s an unrealistic standard to expect from people. Further to the point, I’ve never understood why it was such an important distinction in the first place. What bearing does a physical presence actually give to an opinion? So you can be punched in the face and/or kissed on both cheeks by the recipient of your opinion? No? Then why is being there so important?

We connect privately before we respond publicly – I try for this, but there are problems of accessibility. I also feel loath to reveal my own email and other information to someone that I wouldn’t necessarily want to have their hands on such information. Besides, how much waiting time is sufficient? You send an email to someone calling them an idiot and they haven’t responded in 2 days? Flame away? Or not. At least one person who subsequently turned out to be something less than a scary stalker (or so I hope ) had their email to me chewed up by my anti-spam measures.

When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action – umm… WTF? This is motherhood and apple pie stuff to me, to be honest. Yes, we’d like to do this, but no – it isn’t always possible… and it verges dangerously into the puritanical “I’m judging what you write” arena.

We do not allow anonymous comments. – This is silly. Absolutely and positively not. I’d point to Ach for an example of anonymous taggers being funny, humourous, insightful and otherwise contributing positively – whatever that may mean. Oh, it’s far from uniform but even one good anonymous tag or comment disproves the premise behind this misguided attempt. Besides, are pseudonyms allowed? If no, then my new blogname is John Smith. If pseudonyms are allowed, then why don’t I just make a throwaway pseudonym for commenting? There is a miniscule difference between an anonymous comment and a random pseudonym.

The thing is this: for some people (Tim O’Reilly and even some local bloggers), blogging constitutes part of their identity and presence online. Their online reputations (deserved or otherwise) hinge on their blog and some of them actually use it as a stepping stone for other things. Examples abound of this sort of blogging. But (and this is important), not everyone blogs for that reason. I don’t. What I do in the real world is completely different. I don’t want the worlds to collide too much and having my real name in a blog would cause this blog to bump uncomfortably with what I do in the real world. For pro-bloggers and wannabes, having a real identity is important. Unfortunately for them, they constitute a minority.

I know! Let’s ask everyone to get a license to build web pages and get on the internet too.

Conclusion: Unenforceable. Either you force commentors to jump through a hoop (ie: get a gmail account, an openID identity or whatever) and create a link between themselves and their commenting identity. Or you, as the blog author, moderate and reject every single comment from an unknown party… There is no middle ground. Besides, is a comment/tag more authoritative if it comes from a leading light in the blogging world? Disallowing anonymous comments certainly seems to make it that way.

We ignore the trolls – Yes, yes, we do. Why does this need to go into a code of conduct? Why not include “keep your blogging software updated” at the same time? Inane. Although I personally don’t discount the carthartic effects of a good knock-down-drag-em-out flamefest from time to time.

I call this entire code of conduct a misguided piece of grandstanding, doubtless brought on by the Kathy Sierra death threats episode. (Incidentally, that link is another opinion piece but is certainly closer to my opinion than the shrieks of horror which seemed to have been the predominant reaction to the posted threats). Yet, seeing how it plays to concerns that others might have, I comfortably predict that there will be much humping of this code of conduct bandwagon by blogs far and near in the not too distant future. Expecting many to see this for a false standard is too much to hope.