Calming the Blogosphere
Calming the Blogosphere
April 10, 2007: With 70 million blogs and a free run of posted information online - Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales and publisher Tim O’Reilly believe it’s about time we place a code of conduct on online behaviour.
While O’Reilly and Wales have played a major role in the free information ‘revolution,’ they’re now calling for moderation in a world where venting frustrations, feeling and opinions online has become second-nature.
For Wales and O’Reilly, it’s a matter of protecting the privacy of individuals. For those plotting away at their bosses, colleagues, ex-friends and lovers, blogging can quickly get nasty leaving the reputations of unsuspecting individuals in shatters.
The online information commentators have commenced work of the voluntary code of conduct, designed for those who run blogs and those who post messages and comments on blogs. The code attempts to urge users to verify their identities and source information wherever possible, especially when divulging gossip.
The two are well positioned to have their say over the ‘blogosphere,’ an increasingly controversial free-reign of information that can at anytime place anybody’s reputation in the line of fire. Wales is the founder of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia and commentator on all things online and information like, while O’Reilly, an online publisher, is coined with creating the term Web 2.0.
At the top of the list for curbing online behaviour is the move to discourage anonymity. Wales and O’Reilly recommend bloggers not only name themselves but also consider banning anonymous comments left by visitors and deleting anything posted that might be threatening or libellous. The Code asks bloggers to take responsibility for their own words and acknowledge their own right to restrict the comments of others to ensure they conform with ‘basic civility standards.’
With the proposed guidelines already posted on O’Reilly’s blog radar.oreilly.com as well as Wale’s company site blogging.wikia.com, the two are also calling for blogs to potentially use seals of approval by way on logos and graphics in order to prove their willingness to comply with moderated online behaviour.
Wales has called for an online response to his ‘Blogger’s Code of Conduct.’ He believes the blogosphere embraces frank and open conversation, but “frankness does not have to mean lack of civility.”
“We present this Blogger Code of Conduct in hopes that it helps create a culture that encourages both personal expression and constructive conversation,” Wales writes online. “One can disagree without being disagreeable.”