War of Words Waging in the Valley
April 10, 2007
Tim O’Reilly launched a call for Bloggers’ Code of Conduct (COC) to end the vitriol that pervades the blogosphere. For those of you who do not know O’Reilly he is rumored to have launched the term Web 2.0; he also manages substantial interests in technology events and publishing in the Valley.
Many take this COC as censorship but Tim is clear to state that it is to offer the Freedom of Civility. The usual suspects are weighing in, including Danny Sullivan (search engine star), Mike Arrington (tech review star), Robert Scoble (blog star) and Doc Searls (of Cluetrain Manifesto fame). The New York Times has also joined the frey.
My take: It’s about time this conversation begins.
The blogosphere does not have the respect of the big business community and many other web users thanks to its limited lexicon, explitives and often baseless posting and commenting. O’Reilly seeks to make blogs more transparent i.e. no stealth journalism. This should keep the web more honest. In a seven step initial proposal, he also exhorts blog owners to be more vigilant with abusers–and to cease their own abuse. O’Reilly’s idea has been mocked by many; this is symptomatic of the fact that these are the voices usually heard. There are many who support him. It will be very interesting to see this play out. Movies always end in good conquers evil.
Entry Filed under: Community, Legal issues, Social Media, Trouble in tech paradise, User generated content, Web 2.0. .
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1.
Ninja | April 12, 2007 at 10:00 UTC
As you stated “it is about time”. I echo that same sentiment.
Unfortunately, it is always the unruly, vocal opponents that are in fear of losing their rock to hide behind, that are opposed to this.
These same people fail to realize that their identies are not hidden like they believe. It just takes alot of work for the average individual to find out. Most of the people who always have a negative tone towards everything in cyberland think that hiding behind a “Google or Yahoo dot com” address will keep them hidden forever.
Once these people realize that “proof of ownership” over their comments and suggestions is needed, the web will be a nicer place.
Some of the unfriendlier comments and untruthfulness will come to an end when the transparency is here.
On the downside to this, I believe that will force some of these creatures back undergound. Look at all of the news programs catching the pedophiles who have even admitted to watching the same program that exposed them. If some of these people can’t vent on the internet, where will they take their aggression out?
In the end, I would rather be on a site that “has control”.
Maybe there needs to be a symbol associated with good policing…kind of like the “secure site” logo. Everyone will then know in advance what can be expected from the site.
Lenny
2.
Marie Germain | April 12, 2007 at 10:00 UTC
Hey Lenny: Tim O’Reilly did create 2 symbols. God only knows if those will be universal. The wholesome content symbol is like a Sheriff’s badge; the warning symbol gets your attention. The former design does not seem to be going over well in the Valley. But I applaud him for his clear thinking. Just follow the links in my post to see.
By the way not all ill-mannered people are criminals–some of them just didn’t get hugged enough if their early years. The internet provided them with yet another forum to “level” others. The less opportunity we give them, the better.
I have seen some unbelievable comment threads begin on the most mundane topics and end up in Imus-styled bashing of ethnic groups in the coarsest of manner. This must end. This is not freedom of speech . It is hatred aimed at removing others’ freedom. This last point is key.
Thanks for your comment Lenny. Spread the love and get your pals to weigh in here and make the internet a better place.
3.
Ninja | April 18, 2007 at 10:00 UTC
Hi Marie,
So I had another thought about helping to keep these blog site from all the hatred and half truths.
What if the web surfer found a site like this one, and wanted to leave a message. The individual would fill out the required information that you wanted, but maybe it isn’t really possible to identify. The person leaves a message and then it is up to the blogger to allow the message to be posted.
So how about if part of that requested information was a “real” email address. Prior to the blogger even reading the message that was posted. Some type of confirmation would be needed.
Let us say that once you clicked on the link to add the comments to the blog, you would then have to wait until you received the email from the blog site The individual could then click on the confirmation link that would bring them back to your blog would take the individual to the email that he/she had just filled out.
One would think that this would help to keep the peace.
Lenny