{"id":1154,"date":"2007-04-09T09:54:28","date_gmt":"2007-04-09T14:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mathewingram.com\/work\/2007\/04\/09\/you-are-your-own-code-of-conduct\/"},"modified":"2007-04-09T09:54:28","modified_gmt":"2007-04-09T14:54:28","slug":"you-are-your-own-code-of-conduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2007\/04\/09\/you-are-your-own-code-of-conduct\/","title":{"rendered":"You are your own code of conduct"},"content":{"rendered":"

“When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man…”<\/em> (the Code of Hammurabi)<\/p>\n

I have a lot of respect for Tim O’Reilly. He seems like a standup guy, and I think he wants what’s best for everyone after the whole Kathy Sierra incident. But I’m going to have to agree with Mike Arrington<\/a>, Dave Taylor<\/a>, Tony Hung<\/a> and others (including Jeff Jarvis<\/a>, Marketing Pilgrim<\/a> and Ryan Sholin<\/a>) that Tim’s proposed “code of conduct” for the blogosphere — which comes complete with either a cheesy sheriff’s badge or a stick of dynamite icon for the sidebar of your blog — is a dumb idea. Well-meaning, but dumb.<\/p>\n

\"snipshot_d4t7rk895k0.jpg\"Tim’s post on the code is here<\/a>, and there’s a New York Times story on it here<\/a>, which notes that Tim and Jimmy Wales have been working together to put the code together (if I were being mean, I would suggest that what Jimmy really needs is a better code for dealing with Wikipedia frauds like Essjay<\/a>). And it is worthwhile remembering that Tim’s code is a first draft. The code is to be developed through a wiki-style<\/a> process.<\/p>\n

My friend Rob Hyndman is right that the impulse for this code is a good one. We do need to take ownership<\/a> of our communities, and how we behave in them, even if those communities are made up of a few blogs roped together by a common interest. And as Cynthia Brumfield notes<\/a> at IPDemocracy, comparing a voluntary code of conduct with Iran — as the Scobleizer<\/a> does — is really going over the top.<\/p>\n

Tony says that all we need<\/a> is a well-formed and clearly stated comment policy, and it’s interesting that even the head of Waggener Erdstrom (Microsoft’s PR agency) isn’t in favour<\/a> of the code. (If you’re interested in a different badge than the ones Tim is offering, check out Accordion Guy’s version here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I think part of what is appealing about the blogosphere (at least for me) is that it is still to some extent a Wild West-type frontier, — although the settlers and landowners are definitely moving in — and with that comes the risk of unpleasant behaviour. What happened to Kathy Sierra, and has happened to others, should not be tolerated. But I think codes of conduct should be a personal matter, rather than a quasi-legislated thing. Just my two cents.<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/b><\/p>\n

Wish I had thought to go with the “badges — we don’t need no stinking badges” thing instead of the Code of Hammurabi. Oh well. A bunch of people popped up with the line in the comments section<\/a> of Tim’s blog, which incidentally has some comments that are well worth reading. For further reading, Shelley Powers cuts to the chase<\/a> as usual, Tom Evslin has a typically thoughtful<\/a> piece, and Tristan Louis takes a long look<\/a> at the issues as well.<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man…” (the Code of Hammurabi) I have a lot of respect for Tim O’Reilly. He seems like a … <\/p>\n

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