Blogging Ethics For All

Being a self declared proponent of the blogosphere (as well as a member of it for quite some time), I must admit that sometimes the childish antics of otherwise normal, mature individuals can be frustrating for all of us.

There has been a furore about the Kathy Sierra death threats over the past week or two, attracting even mainstream media coverage and plenty of commentary from blogging heavyweights.

On the other side of the web, Litlove has documented the recent spate of blogging (mis)conduct, providing links to Tim O'Reilly's call for a rewrite on blogging ethics.

The reason I'm writing this post is not to show how much I know about what's hot in the blogosphere right now (Arrington and the guys over at Technorati should know better), but I'd like to point all UGSers to a case of such misconduct closer to home: over at Gabrielle's blog.

anonymous: "And guess who is the best speaker? Me, me, me and me!" show off!!
anonymous: boo
gabby: ahemzz...its called self-amusement la hor, tats y its me me me n me.
anonymous: to your point of view, it might be just self amusement but to others, it will look like a show off act.
gabby: the purpose of a blog serves for d blogger to spew out his mind and other ppl's point view are inadmissable when blogging as a blog serves to preservea part of the blogger's life not ppl's point of views.
anonymous: well, this chatbox here serves a different purpose. it's here for me to state what i think about ur blog and it seems like you can't do anything about this can't you?
gabby: i never said it was wrong for u to voice ur pov. and in deed there is much tat i can do about it hwether it pleases u o not. refer to my post.

What worries me is this reply of his:

anonymous: well, this chatbox here serves a different purpose. it's here for me to state what i think about ur blog and it seems like you can't do anything about this can't you?

Why is this wrong?

To treat a person's personal blog as a shouting space of your own is rude, certainly. As is commenting or ranting about the person whom the blog is about. But the anonymous commentor's point of view is not only harmful to the Gabby - he threatens the mood and the tone of the blog.

If everyone out there acted like this the blogosphere would be a cacophony of disagreements and childish spats. An opinion I agree with on this issue:

It’s disappointing when healthy discussion turns agressive and nasty. It just seems so unnecessary and unproductive. I usually try to avoid blogs where the discussion is on that level.

From Litlove's comments.

Think of a personal blog as kind of open house, a place where the usual rules of polite behavior are maintained. Readers are like visitors to the party, and the Blogger will try his/her best to make sure things are entertaining and interesting and pleasant. He/She maintains full right to kick rude visitors out of the house, as he/she is responsible for what is being said under his/her roof.

Personally I don't worry too much about nasty comments in my blog - if they are not the least constructive, I ignore them. If they do assault other readers then, and only then, will I take action.

What can we do?

Go to Gabrielle's blog. Show her your support. And make sure you're ready when something like this happens over at yours. UGSers will support other UGSers.

We are, after all, a family.