On the face of it the Blogging Code of Conduct proposed by web elder Tim O’Reilly is one of those little Miss Sunshine ideas that seems so sensible and necessary that it defies easy disagreement.   It’s like being opposed to, say, the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.”  What harm could it possibly do?  Who, after all, can possibly be opposed to uniting and strengthening America or to civility in public discourse?

But, just as the aforementioned “Patriot Act” has had some unpleasant side effects in the form of lost liberties, the BCC has the potential to stifle discourse within the greatest free forum of ideas the world has yet seen.  How long do you think it would be before people begin confusing ideas with which they disagree with abusive language?  How long before pandering politicians conclude that the internet cannot police itself and come up with some sort of regulatory body like the totally corrupt and politicized FCC?

Of course there are jerks in the world and many of them know how to use computers.  But, the vast majority of the small minority of people who leave racist, sexist or misogynist remarks on blogs are commenters, not bloggers. 

What we need–each of us bloggers individually–is a policy for comments, not a pledge to always be politically correct in what we write.  For example, I have a policy on all my blogs of deleting anonymous quotes and soon as I notice them.  If you’re not willing to identify yourself and stand by your remarks, then I don’t care what you think. 

Sure, tasteless and inflammatory remarks are offensive but I tolerate them because–as Don Rumsfeld might say–free speech is messy.  Death threats are another matter and should be immediately reported to the police.  (Personally, I didn’t see anything that I would have viewed as a death threat in the material Kathy Sierra cited in her original post but different people have different perceptions.)

I suggest that everyone take a deep breath and ask some basic questions?  Do we really need a special code of conduct for the web?  How many people who feel they have been threatened on the web have actually been harmed in real life?  What’s wrong with simply not patronizing blogs that we find offensive?  What’s wrong with all of us taking some responsibility for policing our comments sections and weeding out the pyschos and the sickies?  With all due respect, Tim, you’re full of shit on this one.