The Bloggers Inquisition?

An article by Ayelet Noff    3 Comments

There’s been a lot of talk recently in the blogosphere regarding Tim O’Reilly’s call for a “Blogger’s Code of Conduct“. O’Reilly wants us all to play nice now and put civility badges on our sites. Frankly I find this whole idea to be pretentious and disturbing. O’Reilly will decide what I can or cannot post on my blog? And if I don’t place a badge on my blog, will I be called a “commie”?

I think that such a code of conduct misses the point of blogging, the internet, and human behavior in general. The whole idea of blogging is based on the notion that I as a blogger have the freedom to write my opinion, no matter what it should be, and that people have the right to react to my opinions. Isn’t that what freedom of speech is all about? The minute we start regulating blogging behavior and adding rules and censorship to the blogosphere, we lose its most precious element of freedom.

Of course I am not saying that derogatory comments such as the death threats that were sent to Kathy Sierra should be ignored. However, don’t we have the law to deal with these sorts of issues? Why do we need to add extra regulations specifically pertaining to the blogosphere?

I completely agree with Kent Newsome‘s words:

“Here’s an Idea: Just Be Nice

Rather than try to recreate the world, how about just apply the real world rules of common sense and courtesy to the blogosphere. Everyone interacts with other people all day every day in the real world, and we don’t need Tim O’Reilly to rewrite the Golden Rule for us.”

I act as a civilized member of my online and offline community not because I put a badge on my forehead saying that I will do so, but because I just do. I don’t need Tim O’Reilly or any other form of “higher authority” controlling what I do or say on my blog. This type of control scares me more than all the nasty comments I had read about.

Robert Scoble writes:

“I do find disquieting the social pressure to get on board with this program. Tim O’Reilly is a guy who really can affect one’s career online (and off, too). I do have to admit that I feel some pressure just to get on board here and that makes me feel very uneasy.”

I find this picture very disturbing. Don’t you?

Let us focus on writing good blogs, interacting in good and meaningful debate, and not on limiting our abilities to express our minds and our notions in a world that was meant to do just that.

Technorati tags: Tim O’Reilly, Blogger’s Code of Conduct, badge, blogging, internet, law, freedom, blogosphere, Kathy Sierra, Kent Newsome, Robert Scoble