Tim O'Reilly proposes "Blogger Code of Conduct" for internet civility
Blogger and developer Tim O'Reilly put forth a draft of his "Blogger's Code of Conduct" earlier this week. Included in it are six principles for bloggers and those who frequent such sites. The code includes "civility enforcement" such as deleting offensive comments, something which has proved to be one of the more controversial parts of the code along with the disallowance of anonymous commenting. Also included is the age old axiom "ignore the trolls," a call for private communication to be the first means of conflict resolution, a call to action to defend those being attacked unfairly and the pledge to not say anything online that one wouldn't say in person.
O'Reilly and friends have proposed a badge for those sites that wish to follow the BCC, as seen here. For those sites that wish to allow open, uncensored dialogue they have created this "Anything Goes" image.
Many have weighed in on the proposal, including the well respected ArsTechnica. Writer Nate Anderson's take on it is summed up by the heading "consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Anderson seems to suggest a more situational approach to user moderation, giving more control over to the site administrators: "Judgment calls are difficult to make, and won't always be made consistently, but that doesn't mean they can't play an effective part in creating a community that people want to join."
You can follow and participate in the evolution of the code at Wikia.
We're interested in knowing what Punknews.org readers and regulars think about such a code. Does it go too far, not far enough? Would you be more interested in participating in a community that disallowed anonymous comments or was completely uncensored? Is Anderson right by suggesting a situationist approach rather than a hard-and-fast code to follow?