[iDC] Bloggers Code of Conduct

[s0metim3s]

Trebor,

Problems of bullying, stalking, death threats are not, as you note, 
confined to the internets.  So, it seems to me that the actual problem 
this 'code of conduct' seeks to deal with is not bullying etc, since 
prospective trolls are hardly being invited to sign up.

I'm not so sure the 'code of conduct' was prompted by the death threats 
as is being suggested.  I think this was seen as an opportunity to put 
forward a proposal that squares with a particular view of the internets 
as spaces of intellectual competition, but not outright conflict.

In any case, the circumstances and therefore the problem, I think, is of 
a media which sees itself as open, sociable, democratic - and which 
therefore has long frowned upon decisions to *not* connect (be nice, 
chat to, etc) with everyone whom one comes across, which sees comment 
deletion as a transgression of online democracy and sociability, and 
which seems to imagine - or likes to imagine - that the only 
consideration as to online relationships is a numerical one (how many 
hits, comments, etc).

But people have been filtering and deleting for a very long time - and 
not simply in the technical ways that are available.  Maybe it's time to 
drop this idea that blogging or email lists are something other than 
partial, that we make decisions to talk or not talk with people all the 
time, for various reasons.  Maybe this way, the reasons for 
disconnecting and connecting could be the subject of something other 
than ostensibly formal, or depoliticised, procedures or claims.  Or even 
psychologised ones, via the figure of the stalker, bully, etc.

best,
Angela



Trebor Scholz wrote:

 > Let me point you, however, to a few links surrounding the recent
 > discussion on Tim O'Reilly's "Bloggers Code of Conduct" triggered by
 > death threats against the blogger Kathy Sierra. [...]