larry borsato

Elisa Camahort, whose posts I never miss, commenting on the cyberbullying that has been happening lately to folks like Kathy Sierra, had this to say:

I don’t believe we can institute an enforceable blogger code of conduct that is applied to all bloggers across all subject matters. I don’t believe we should even try.

I do believe that each blogger and site owner should set policies and practices in place that refuse to accommodate or tolerate cyberabuse. I believe each blog or site owner is entitled to draw their own lines and enforce them. It’s your web site, you can delete crap if you want to.

I agree completely. A code of conduct would never work.People that can’t be bothered to obey actual laws aren’t going to follow some simple code of conduct. And yes, each blog is allowed to set their own rules.

Elisa also suggests what is unacceptable:

I personally believe we should always draw the line at hate speech, sexual harassment and threatening speech. Even if we don’t think the troll will actually act on those threats. The potential for action is not the point.

I agree with her thoughts, however this is part of the joy and the pain of free speech. I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Those who espouse hate speech, or threaten, or harass other, they demean themselves. They are the equivalent of the people on the Jerry Springer show. It is sad that they feel it necessary to act in this way.

The best solution would be to eliminate anonymity from comments so that everyone knows who is actually making these comments, if that is even possible. But every blogger certainly has the write to limit such comments if they choose.

That said, I’ll never understand the kind of people who make these personal attacks.