O’Reilly Draws Up Blogging Code Policy

Civility and courtesy tend to break down behind the anonymity of the Internet. People who would never dream of cursing or threatening another person face to face lose that mental barrier when there is a keyboard and monitor involved.

It can be a rough and tumble Internet, when people post some pretty nasty stuff about others, whether it’s on a website that claims to harbor anarchic content, or just an email from a free anonymous webmail account.

(An aside to all the “anarchists” out there: anarchy means ‘without leaders’, not ‘without order’. Causing trouble isn’t being anarchic, it’s being chaotic.)

Tech book publisher Tim O’Reilly has stepped into the discussion with a draft of a blogging code of conduct. Bloggers would post while hewing to certain behaviors, while requiring a stricter management of commenters.

The response from O’Reilly’s commenters has been less than enthusiastic. They don’t like the sheriff-style badges he’s created (“Reminds me of some of the things America has done at its worst.”).

Or the ban on anonymity (“…if one wants to get himself hanged, only then he would in person criticize the regime”).

Or the quaint concept of civility (“An American, well-known in blogging circles, tried to raise the civility issue with a European audience a while back and it went down like a lead balloon. “)

The problem with a blogging code of conduct, as pointed out in a few places, is that it wouldn’t have mitigated the nastiness Sierra faced. It wasn’t bloggers, but commenters, who anonymously created the attacks.

Tony Hung neatly summarized the difference:

So, is it important to have a Bloggers Code of Conduct? No. And the whole issue of civility and collegiality is only one aspect of it.

But should we all have a comments policy that is clearly written and understood? Sure.

Even with the idea of a comment policy in place, it doesn’t cover sites that are created for the purpose of being “anarchic.” Some people are going to post hate, no matter what anyone, anywhere, thinks of it. Codes and policies are a nice idea, but a thicker skin and a competent lawyer to deal with truly outrageous incidents of threats and libel probably will serve people better.

Bloggers Resolve Dispute On CNN

Locke, who was revealed as the owner of the blogs in which the threats and images appeared, has consistently denied any direct involvement in the affair, and had criticized Sierra for implicating him, albeit indirectly, without tangible evidence.

The two, however, seem to have settled at least some of their differences and have put out a joint statement which expresses concerns over the backlash that overreaction to hateful commentary could have on the underlying principles of free speech.

Many have weighed in on the Kathy Sierra story. Some of have come down on the side of desiring more control over the blogosphere, expressing the opinion that bloggers should adhere to a predetermined code of ethics. Others feel that immature hate-speech simply comes with the territory of being a public figure, and any attempts at regulation are counterintuitive to the spirit of free speech on the Internet.

What’s the greater issue here? On one hand, you have a very real mentality of hatred towards women that is unfortunately not all that uncommon or difficult to encounter when surfing the Internet’s vast archive of commentary.

On the other hand, you have this delicate concept of free speech that so many bloggers cling to for dear life, and rightly so. So where does the balance lie in preserving the right to expression while at the same time discouraging hateful behavior?

These are the questions that Kathy Sierra and Chris Locke look to tackle in their joint statement.

On the topic of female degradation, Locke writes:

There is much more to say about this experience that can’t be unpacked in such a brief statement. There is time yet for more balanced articles to be written, less heated conversations to take place. Misogyny is real — and vile. Violence against women is wrong. It must not be tolerated. This issue should be explored and discussed, not swept under the rug, not rationalized away. At the same time, we need to look closely and carefully at the implications for free speech.

Sierra, though the target of death threats and maliciously sexual commentary, agrees that preserving free speech is paramount:

That said, Chris and I are in complete agreement that it would be tragic if this incident were used as a weapon by those who would limit free and open exchange. My desire is for much more open debate on this issue, not legislated limits.

This could be a very important moment if we stop, think, and talk about the kind of future we really want online, and make certain we don’t give up something more important in the process.

Sierra says she won’t be blogging again for a while, but will return when the time is right. Locke is trying to salvage his reputation in the midst of the media carnage.

It’s hard to imagine an entire week going by without a single post from Scoble, given the fact that he is one of the most active posters throughout the entire blogosphere. The guy is a blogging machine and seems to really enjoy spending countless hours behind a keyboard interacting with his ever-increasing web following.

As it turns out, Scoble only lasted five of seven days sans blogging. I can hardly blame the guy for coming back a little early, though. I’m impressed that he managed to last as long as he did. 

The Sierra story has passed so quickly in the past week, however, that Scoble barely touches on the issue in his first post since the ordeal:

Seriously, on Monday I’ll be on CNN with Kathy Sierra and Chris Locke talking about this week’s events. I spoke against more rules or other infringments on our freedom of speech. No matter how vile or disgusting that speech is. That said, I reserve my right to take a week off to point out the rotten strawberries sitting on our meme shelf.

I have to admit that I was really anticipating what Scoble would have to say given the time he had to reflect on the events that transpired. The post feels anticlimactic, but it’s understandable that Scoble would join the rest of the blogosphere in trying to put the whole thing behind him and get back to what he actually enjoys blogging about.

I won’t spoil the fun of what Scoble did talk about in his first post back, but I will tell you that it has to do with a huge venture between Apple, Amazon, Google and Cingular. How’s that for a teaser to wet your technological appetites?

When I see Robert salivating over dream gadgets, it just tells me that the blogosphere is finally back to normal after the Sierra fallout.

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This past Monday, we saw one example of cyberbullying in the case of Kathy Sierra – a good synopsis came from Lisa Stone of BlogHer, an organization that has been (possibly / probably unfairly) dragged into the controversy.

Let’s take a step back and get to the basics: this should not have happened. Yes, the blogosphere gives us a sense of anonymity – us in PR have been attacked by an anonymous blog, but none of us have been physically threatened with death (as far as I know), but have had to deal with venomous emails and threats of livelihoods – but it is a false sense, and should not be abused. The truth always comes out, in the end.

And, we have seen the blogosphere get up in arms over gender equality, which has cyberbullied conferences to include women in panels. There is an odd bit of irony there.

We are mostly adults in the blogosphere. Well, "adults" behind a computer giving some people a bigger sense of worth (most likely self-inflated worth, as seems to be the norm in blogs), and there is a lot of testosterone in the blogosphere that comes out in immature ways against women that should not be tolerated.

But, like I noted, we are supposedly adults that should act as adults. In this instance, the adults have lost to the immature and anonymous.

At CommunityNext, I was speaking to three women about bullying and cyberbullying. One of the women is writing her graduate thesis on bullying – both offline and online – and has been spending time in a classroom to research. The other two women work at a childrens’ social network, and we were joking about the bullying of our childhood. My point was that in our school yard days – the more carefree 70′s – that bullying was not necessarily a bad thing, as it hardened us and prepared us for the real world. It was not totally malicious, and while some kids cried, the next day brought the next adventure, and we were all friends. And, well, bullying was always harshest amongst the girls – man, they could get catty. One of the women talked about her experience as a camp counselor, and teasing the children, who valued and sought the interaction from an adult.

But, there is the difference – that was about children. And, children are not equiped to deal with such bullying, and are now being pushed beyond the norm by being cyberbullied on MySpace comments, IM, and text messaged threats. There is no escaping Cyberbullying, as it follows you from device to device – it is the true idea of presence, taken to a horrific level with horrific results. Cyberbullying takes what we did as children, and ramps it up to a whole new level. That "take their cookies" mentality – one that I still subscribe to – is different, as it is not about being tough, but about pushing the other child down in the dirt as much as possible and pushing them over the brink.

What happened is a travesty and embarasing as a male and a long-time blogger. It was an adult-on-adult bullying, but that is the point: we are adults, and should recognize that too big a part of blogging is sandlot bravado. As a PR person, that is part of my counsel to clients: be prepared to defend your line in the sand, and sometimes you need to be prepared to be attacked and defend.

This crossed the line, but are we going to see a backlash where the sentiment is going to be "get a thicker skin"? While that is not the right answer, the blogosphere is fluid, and unfortunately, at times it can be cruel. But, at least we have the hardened years of adulthood, and can sigh a breath of relief that we are not growing up in a world where cyberbullying is the norm.

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Blogosphere Responds To Death Threats

Any profession that operates within the public domain comes with its share of pitfalls. Blogging is no exception.

Sometimes criticism crosses appropriate boundaries. There’s certainly a tipping point between spirited disagreement and personal attack, something that popular blogger Kathy Sierra has unfortunately had to learn the hard way.

In her latest (and perhaps final) blog post, Sierra documents a series of attacks upon her by other bloggers at meankids.org and unclebobisms.com, both of which have since been taken offline. The textual assaults ranged from obscene death threats to extremely graphic depictions of misogynistic imagery created from actual photos of Sierra.

Sierra speculates on individuals that may have been responsible or contributed to the offending speech:

The "Bob’s Yer Uncle" site was supposedly started by Cluetrain co-author Chris Locke (who, along with Jeaneane Sessum, also authors the Kat Herding Media site) and included most of the same members as meankids.

I don’t know which participant actually made the picture. It may have been Joey, or Chris Locke, or perhaps Allen Herrel.

Locke, however, was none too happy that his name was mentioned in the list of suspects. In his response to Kathy’s post, he makes some pretty bold statements about the way Kathy is handling the matter:

I found some of what was written on the meankids and unclebobism sites in extremely bad taste, yes. And as I said, I immediately took down the site when I saw Kathy’s understandably strong objections. I think her response, as it pertains to anything I personally wrote, was unjustified — but highly effective — character assassination. As a result, I’m sure I’ll be explaining for years to come that I’m not really an ax murderer and child molester. Nice work.

Despite Locke’s unhappiness with being caught up in this mess, there are some real issues to consider here.

First, this scenario is indicative of what can happen when you give people the luxury of complete anonymity. Bloggers try to make commenting as painless as possible, often removing registration requirements because they are seen as cumbersome to building conversations.

The downside, however, is that by allowing anonymous comments, you open up and entirely different can of worms.

Matthew Ingram gives his take on the nature of online anonymity:

It’s a little like the spell that comes over people when they get behind the wheel of a car. Because the other drivers can’t see them, and don’t know who they are, people feel free to say — and do — all kinds of terrible things they would never think of doing face-to-face.

Beyond anonymity, however, issues of gender equality are springing up in blogger responses to Sierra’s plight. Popular blogger Robert Scoble lends his own commentary concerning the treatment of females within online and tech related fields:

It’s this culture of attacking women that has especially got to stop. I really don’t care if you attack me. I take those attacks in stride. But, whenever I post a video of a female technologist there invariably are snide remarks about body parts and other things that simply wouldn’t happen if the interviewee were a man.

It makes me realize just how acerbic this industry and culture are toward women. This just makes me ill.

Are these attacks indicative of an underlying spirit of misogyny? Are women still viewed as weaklings, sex objects, and inferior to men? While females enjoy more civil rights than ever before, do they still have a long way to go before they can hope to achieve the same amount of personal respect and consideration that men are given?

These are tough questions that, at least after today, are difficult to answer with certainty.

The blogosphere backlash, however, has been anything but uncertain. Robert Scoble is refusing to blog for a week in protest of these threats. Many other prominent bloggers are crying for the heads of those responsible for perpetrating these attacks. In general, there is a spirit of outrage and disgust, but is the blogosphere overreacting?

Most bloggers endure their fair share of criticism. In this field, it’s pretty much a given that you’re just not going to see eye to eye with everyone, and many of those who disagree have no problem telling you just how wrong you are in a variety of different methods, some much more crass than others.

The truth, however, is that bloggers are public figures. Many have learned how to enjoy the success of their efforts, and have even come to accept that their popularity comes at the expense of privacy. But it seems that, at least in general, bloggers have been somewhat naïve about their positions as public figures. It comes with unfortunate side effects, like malicious threats and harmful imagery.

Perhaps this whole scenario will wake up the blogosphere to the fact that they aren’t magically immune to extreme criticism and hatemongering.

Kathy Sierra had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication. 

I’ve been getting more email lately from people asking how they could make their blog better (which, translated, means, “how do I get more traffic?”)

Well, go and study what Kathy is doing. Some things I’ve gleaned.

1) She uses great graphics that hook readers into checking out the article (I saw her post in my feed list on Google Reader, and getting me to stop hitting “J” – which goes to the next post – is something very few bloggers do).

2) She uses typography in a way no other blogger does. She emphasizes things with italics, bold, and underlines. I think I’ll start playing with those in my own writing.

3) She joins in an already existing conversation and adds to it. She doesn’t always try to start a new conversation. Joining in a conversation that’s already going means you already know that people are interested in what you’re talking about and at least you can post on people’s comments and use trackbacks and links to get people to check out what you have to say.

I love her little dig at my blog evangelism at the top of her page, too.

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Robert Scoble is the founder of the Scobleizer blog. He works as PodTech.net’s Vice President of Media Development.

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