Codes of Conduct.

Earlier today, I visited a few blogs and observed the tempest that had arisen out of Tim O'Reilly's attempt to formulate a blogging code of conduct.

The task he set himself was Herculean in concept, if only because of the wide scope of definitions that people use to describe blogging. It also turned out to be somewhat of a poisoned chalice. You can analyse his efforts here.

While I appreciate the amount of work he must have put into finding the appropriate wording, I find myself disagreeing with him on various points. My primary objection is the right to anonymity. I can understand in the light of people in similar situations as that of Kathy Sierra, that there is a need to protect authors from vile anonymous attacks... but that does not help someone such as me.

The reason this place is called Nick's Sanctuary and not Nick's Coffee Bar, is so that you - the general public have a forum to voice your opinion on the things I talk about, free from reprisal.

Some of the things I talk about here are deeply personal... and as far as I am concerned, if you are in my territory, on my turf... if what you are saying carries strong emotions that upset you; then I personally feel you have the right to withhold your identity. I'm not Roman Catholic and this isn't exactly a confessional booth, but what is said between you and I here, in my mind carries with it a sacred bond.

I know the risks and I willingly choose to leave myself open nonetheless. That's why I don't require you to enter characters to prove you are human, or require you to belong to Blogger... because if there was even a slight spark in your heart that prompted you to write something, I want you to say it, I want to hear it. Therefore I deliberately minimize the obstacles to you recording your thoughts, despite it offering less security to me.

My other real issue is the matter of trolls... and how you deal with them. Unlike Mr O'Reilly, I do believe in taking on a troll... in the right circumstances. I will ignore and delete repeated profanity that is just a character assault against me... but if the "troll" raises a valid point in the midst of their ravings, I will address that point. It has happened before. In the early days of my blog when it was still on MSN Spaces, I noticed a person being absolutely vile to a 14 year old Christian girl... so I promptly told them to pick on someone with bigger shoulders - namely me. I took the brunt of what this person threw at me. I deleted their posts when they were just swearing and being perverse about my faith... however they let slip a view on one matter of faith once... and I addressed it cordially. From that day on, the trolling stopped. I don't dare imagine they changed as a person... and I can only hope that they did... but they listened. They learned to show respect, not because I traded worthy punches with them but because I turned the other cheek and treated them with seriousness and conviction despite themselves.

Back in 2005 I did come up with a brief set of ideas for my own personal code. I think it may be time for me to restate that in a new way for myself. So I can stand shoulder to shoulder amidst other peoples codes and say "This is who I am and what I do."

Regards and blessings

Nick

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Author's Note 07/01/07, this blog has been migrated from MSN Spaces... as I am intending to deactivate that account (it takes ages to load, there are comment restrictions and recently I've noticed some of my older posts have been "disappeared").

It's highly ironic that one day after writing about blog etiquette, and a month since I blogged about advertisers spamming blogs... it has happened to me.

I must apologise to anyone reading my blog who has clicked on a trackback recently. There are adverts for pharmaceutical agencies crawling all over my space. I'm not sure who is responsible... but I'm having to delete all dodgy trackbacks manually... this may take some doing as it appears to be... every entry!

I advise all of you reading this to check your own registers... you might have been spammed as well.

I sincerely hope you haven't

In the meantime, this has been reported to MSN.

Update:

After something crazy like 30 deletions, I managed to remove all the advertising. You can read more on my opinions about this in both the post below and the one on viral marketeers that I made last month.

Blog Etiquette

I decided to write a few rules and guidelines for people wanting to comment on my space. I've modified a November 2005 blog entry on blog etiquette so that you have the rules in brief, followed by a brief summary of my personal blogging code of ethics:

• Speak you mind, be funny or serious... disagree with me if you like, I want to hear from you.
• Show respect. No swearing or abuse of other comments please.
• Do not advertise a commercial product in my comments or trackbacks without my permission.

I've recently been involved in a couple of incidents regarding blog behaviour... and I thought I'd clarify my position.

Firstly I believe we need to respect one another's spaces. I've seen people jumping onto other people's sites and coldly advertising their own space, or opinion on a totally off-topic subject. I don't believe it is right to behave in this manner. Blogs are unique in the sense that they are personal diaries/forums on a public domain; a visitor might argue that they can say what the heck they like... free speech and all that. Similarly a blogger might say they can delete indiscriminately any comments they don't agree with.

I would say that we have freedoms... but each of those freedoms carries a responsibility. If you are going to comment on someone else's space, you have to recognise and respect it as their territory; on the other hand if you are going to open up a subject on your space that will be open to the public domain, you have to recognise people's right to publicly disagree, otherwise what's the point?

My advice when we are visitors would be to (where sensible) keep comments relevant to the topic at hand, or just introduce yourself/chat generally. You should never really start a new debate on someone else's space, it's rude... especially if your topic is not related to the general theme of the space you are commenting on. I'd also say that it is of absolute importance to not use offensive language or insults when visiting someone's space. Again, you are on their turf... so you should treat them peaceably. You don't walk into a strangers house and start mouthing off!

My advice to bloggers managing their own sites is to allow/encourage sensible conversation and debate. If you have put your handiwork up for public scrutiny, you should expect it. If you don't agree with a comment made on your space... it is equally bad manners to delete it. If it is personally insulting or offensive... or it has abusive language... then fine, delete it; but for pities sake, don't just delete someones opinion just because it's not in line with your own... if you are going to do that, select PRIVATE or PERSONAL on your blog settings... because frankly you waste everyone else's time if you dictate your opinion without giving a chance for democratic response.

I hope everyone visiting here and reading this believes I live by this simple code. My hope is that it might give you food for thought as you visit other blogs, as well as policing your own.