Blogger's Code of Conduct

At the back of my head, I knew there was a code of conduct written somewhere.  I just could not pinpoint the exact location where I had read a draft while 'clerking' in DC.  I also recall during an informal gathering, we had proposed to present a draft document to  -- Google, Wordpress, MySpace, Vimeo and many other third-party hosting platforms -- to make a greater effort in screening online content.  The precedent for this draft document was set by teenage suicides that were a direct result of online bullying and tormenting by faceless elements.  At this moment, I have no clue if this draft document ever took off.

Nevertheless, Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Radar has come up with an interesting set of regulations that I would like to highlight as follows:

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

With the ever increasing online threats in this day & age, I believe it is time to start lobbying on a greater level so that hosting platforms assign a regulating authority to screen online violations, abuse, etc.  The end result of the regulator's findings should be nothing short of shutting down and prosecuting the perpetrator.

An extensive write-up by Tim can be found here.