Verbatim | The Bloggers Code

“We celebrate the blogosphere because it embraces frank and open conversation. But frankness does not have to mean lack of civility.”

– The opening lines of a draft ‘blogging code of conduct’ written by Tim O’Reilly. The draft says people should not be allowed to leave anonymous comments. Blogs which are open and uncensored should post an “anything goes” logo to the site to warn readers, the code suggests. Readers of these blogs would be warned: “We are not responsible for the comments of any poster, and when discussions get heated, crude language, insults and other “off colour” comments may be encountered. Participate in this site at your own risk.” The draft will now be assessed and amended by bloggers around the world.

[BBC NEWS]
[Code On Wiki]

11 Comments

  • Interesting how the Civility Enforced badge is the same shape as the Star of David, which appears on the Israeli flag. Civility and Israel don’t really go together, do they?

  • It’s interesting that you saw a star of david when I saw the badge of a US Federal Marshall or a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy. There’s a jew under every rock, isn’t there?

  • Seriously, is that all what people in Jordan are looking at?? The star of David this and Israel that.. Good job Arab media!
    but returning to the original issue, I don’t see a need for civility in blogs. I mean, I don’t think i express myself fully without using some profane language sometimes. I wonder what is your say on that Nas.. If you had a say in the civility issue, what would you say?

  • Iam absolutely against this or the so called “civility conduct” another way to stop free speech
    And Nas,if you adopt this “civility Conduct”,I will boycott your Blog for ever.
    I think you are smart enough to figure that out.
    There should not be any limit on free speech period!

  • Hanna and alurdinialhurr:

    i can see the need for this code in many cases since a lot of blogs are not as universal; i mean you have a grandmother posting pictures of her knitted sweaters, or kids doing a joint project through a blog…then you have the adult blogs. so there is a respect to the spectrum of diversity that is the blogosphere.

    as for me personally and this blog. my limitations are outlined in my policy section and are reserved to keep civility, specifically with the ease for criticism to become slander. i dont care about what people say as long as they can articulate in a universally appropriate manner. profanity depends on the context. i’ve used it before on this blog but with the context of frustration as opposed to others who would tend to use it to offend someone.

    so there are those minor differences that make all the difference between freedom of speech and what lies beyond.

    but that’s just my personal opinion

  • Nas,,Freedom of speech means freedom of speech,it does not means half ass or short change ,quarter,or third of freedom of speech.
    I think once Bloggers adopt the so called civility conduct on their Blogs,then expect the worst from Arab governments because they will try to curb this unprecedented electronic revolution.
    All Arab governments are keeping a watchful eye on this phenomena, and believe me they would like to shut the whole blogosphere once and for all,if they can.

  • alurdunialhurr: as you can imagine, the word ass is naturally going to trigger my anti-spam plugin. so calm down before crying havoc.

    second of all, there have always been and there will always be boundaries to freedom of speech. there are such boundaries for every freedom. my personal boundaries, unlike arab governments, are concerned with how people say things and not what they say.

    in other words: there is a difference between freedom of speech and responsible speech.

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