The “blogger code of conduct” meme has been bubbling away but is going mainstream with the NYTimes covering it.
Firstly I feel terrible about what happened to Kathy Sierra.
I disagree though that it is a blog phenomena or something that only happens on the internet. Ask any public figure from any age of human history and you’ll hear some awful stories of threats and harassment.
We bloggers are highly arrogant to think we are facing new issues.
I am on the side of anarchy in this. It comes down to the individual how they run their domain. So long as it is legal I don’t want interference from any party. It is the readership that decides what they read.
I don’t see the New York Times putting a badge on their papers stating their affiliations, political leanings, family friendly rating and whether they use the word fuck or not.
Publications that do do this do so for legal reasons. The rest of the world figure out the other publications through context.
I’m not putting some sheriff badge on my blog.
Instead I’ll simply do the best I can to positively contribute to the world. I’ll make mistakes, I’ll get it wrong and I’ll have some moments of dementia but I’ll do my best.
Be human, realise everyone else is human and get on with life.
Back to Kathy. What happened to her is a different issue to this blogger code of conduct. I hope the threats against are treated like any threats in any media; by the law.
