Tim O’Reilly, a pretty influential and well respected guy in the blogging and tech community, has called for a Blogging Code of Conduct, which calls for blogs to adopt this and display a “Civility Enforced” badge on their site to make it clear they adhere to the guidelines.

Here’s the first draft:

We celebrate the blogosphere because it embraces frank and open conversation. But frankness does not have to mean lack of civility. We present this Blogger Code of Conduct in hopes that it helps create a culture that encourages both personal expression and constructive conversation.

1. We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog.

We are committed to the “Civility Enforced” standard: we will not post unacceptable content, and we’ll delete comments that contain it.

We define unacceptable content as anything included or linked to that:
- is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
- is libelous, knowingly false, ad-hominem, or misrepresents another person,
- infringes upon a copyright or trademark
- violates an obligation of confidentiality
- violates the privacy of others

We define and determine what is “unacceptable content” on a case-by-case basis, and our definitions are not limited to this list. If we delete a comment or link, we will say so and explain why. [We reserve the right to change these standards at any time with no notice.]

2. We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person.

3. We connect privately before we respond publicly.

When we encounter conflicts and misrepresentation in the blogosphere, we make every effort to talk privately and directly to the person(s) involved–or find an intermediary who can do so–before we publish any posts or comments about the issue.

4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.

When someone who is publishing comments or blog postings that are offensive, we’ll tell them so (privately, if possible–see above) and ask them to publicly make amends.
If those published comments could be construed as a threat, and the perpetrator doesn’t withdraw them and apologize, we will cooperate with law enforcement to protect the target of the threat.

5. We do not allow anonymous comments.

We require commenters to supply a valid email address before they can post, though we allow commenters to identify themselves with an alias, rather than their real name.

6. We ignore the trolls.

We prefer not to respond to nasty comments about us or our blog, as long as they don’t veer into abuse or libel. We believe that feeding the trolls only encourages them–”Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it.” Ignoring public attacks is often the best way to contain them.

Andy Lark, another very strong voice for bloggers, has responded by saying that there is no place for a code of conduct.

I have a real problem with any formal codes of conduct. And screw civility. I expect people to be very uncivil regarding some of my views. Some very useful conversations can be very uncivil.

Andy does draw the line at abusive posts, hate speech, lies and just plain crazy, but as he correctly points out, there are already existing laws and legal options for dealing with those sorts of situations. Current legislation and the tricky grey area of the world wide web are obviously very complicated, but that does that mean we need to start self imposed enforcement along these lines?

I think Andy is right. Blogs are supposed to be conversational and he’s right. You don’t have a code of conducts for a conversation. Blogs are no different to email, text messages, letters or any other form of communication. People say things to me via email I know they would never say to my face, but it is a different form of communication. Sometimes people say things that they regret later, are reactionary, or lack all civility, but will a code of conduct change that.

I personally wouldn’t like to see the blogosphere reined in to conform with what Americans deem as politically correct and appropriate. Adults should be able to make their own judgments about what they deem appropriate to share with the world and if they make a mistake they should just deal with the consequences.

Needless to say, I won’t be putting a little sheriff’s badge on any of my blogs.