Death threats on her "Creating Passionate Users" blog caused Kathy Sierra, a well-known local Boulderite who writes about computer user interfaces, to cancel her appearance at conference recently. I went and took a look – and what I found was indeed offensive, pointless, and scary. I can see why she was upset. (She has since moved the original post to a separate website but has a link to it for those who are still interested.)
A Computerworld article this week explored the question of whether blogs can be regulated for civility, or whether that would be considered censorship. Now Tim O’Reilly has proposed a draft blog code of conduct with the hope of somehow enforcing civility in the wild, wild Internet, complete with a badge you can affix to your blog indicating that you follow the code. There is another badge depicting a stick of dynamite if your blog is the kind where "anything goes."
One of the dissenting comments was “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges,” and another argued that there is no way to enforce civility.
Of course there is much debate on the proposed code. Some bloggers hate the idea of private conversations between bloggers to settle issues regarding offensive comments, for example, because it strikes at the heart and soul of blogging, an inherently public activity. Others argue that not allowing anonymity will eliminate many valuable comments. Many bloggers find the idea of a code of conduct offensive and believe that the spirit of the Internet and free speech are at stake.
Up until now I have moderated this blog (which so far has received a miniscule number of comments anyway), which means that no comment is posted until I’ve reviewed it. I don’t think I would delete a posting unless it could truly be considered malicious abuse or libel, though. For some bloggers, even that much censorship is unacceptable. One blogger, commenting on the code of conduct says, “I know offensive when I see it, and I’ll delete it.”
What do you think?
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3 comments:
This is a perennially difficult issue. From my own standpoint, even, thoughts on this are dichotomous. On the one hand, there is far too much negativity in the world and the urge is to discard those things which are hurtful. I feel no need anymore to be sure that I know how hateful people, the world and life can be. Or rather, I already know this is a truth, so why beat a dead horse and make myself feel further sickened as well. These sorts of things DO affect us.
On the other hand, in some manner, we should remain aware that people, such as the poster who left death threats on Sierra's blog, exist. It can be dangerous to be unaware. Also, curtailing Free Speech is a notoriously slippery slope. What's offensive to me is far different from what might be offensive to many other people, while I may find offensive something that another may have no problem with. How does one draw lines in such a situation?
For me, any threat of violence, or any obviously vicious comments that naturally invoke fear, can be nixed. One can express displeasure, even hatred, without resorting to the type of ugliness in this example.
On perhaps a third hand, I encourage people to see and accept that their personal response to anything is just that, their personal response. While I myself do not yet have the equanimity it would take to easily cope with such a vicious attack, I believe such equanimity is key (and possible) to our inner peace and even to the ultimate peace of the world. This entails compassion for even such sick-minded individuals as the author of the post on Sierra's blog. He invokes terror, but only if we let him. Yes, it sounds simplistic, but I'm certain of the truth of this. The problem is, who among us has the tools to find such equanimity? Very few, very few.
I guess on that note I urge people to find ways to cultivate such calm in their lives, such as meditation. Also to support one another in any way possible. I was pleased to see many comments of support on Sierra's blog. Communication is a great place to start and kudos to you, Lynn, for bringing this issue to the plate.
Take care,
Ronna
I read at least a few posts on the MSNBC Message Boards each night -- one way of seeing what people "out there" are thinking. I usually stop when the trolls take over the threads. I promise, always, to be civil in your blog. --la
LA - thanks for the pledge to keep your posts civil in this blog, although I would expect nothing less given my knowlege of your integrity and intelligence.
Ronna - thanks also for the very thoughtful comments which reflect my own ambivalence. Do we not "defend to the death their right to express their opinions," and yet, at what cost?
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