The NY Times reports today on a movement to enhance civility in the blogosphere. This code is based partly on the BlogHer community guidelines and a draft is delineated here and here.
This code was founded directly or indirectly due to a flamewar on a blog posting that was interpreted as misogynistic with threatening overtones (For details, follow any of those links above). I, personally, feel that a level of civility should be adhered to in any public forum where your words can be resurrected in later years, if only for your own protection. You don’t want to be twenty years down the line, running for mayor, and have someone dig up your old MySpace pages. Not good. Personal protection aside, the golden rule is always good to follow. Public discourse is not enhanced by crazy flaming.
This brings me to a small point I’ve been meaning to write about for a while:
Why the fuck to people write f*ck?
I see this often in the blogosphere. It seems a bit silly. It’s not like the most harebrained 8 year old can’t figure out what f*ck means. I don’t tend to use much profanity on my blog, but I feel that a well-timed expletive has some rhetorical value in a less formal setting (which most of my blog postings are). Putting an asterisk in a swear-word is a cop out. Use it, or don’t; half measures don’t get my respect.
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