Jimbo Wales to lead development of 'code of conduct' for bloggers

There are no reviewed versions of this page, so it may not have been checked for adherence to standards.

Monday, April 9, 2007

This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Correction — April 14, 2007

This article earlier reported that the code of conduct also applied to the Wikimedia Foundation. This statement is unsubstantiated and has therefore been removed.

Jimmy Wales at the Wikimania, Frankfurt, August 2005.

Jimbo Wales is teaming up with book publisher Tim O'Reilly to create a "code of conduct" for bloggers.

The code is expected to address issues of free speech and the practice of allowing mean-spirited comments made by users to remain in the blogosphere. It will also address a perceived need to delete posted comments, particularly those by anonymous users, that are at odds with the code of conduct. Under consideration is the question of whether it is an admissible action in a public forum to delete a comment if it meets one of several objectionable reasons for removing it.

"That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make, believing that uncensored speech is the most free when in fact, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech," said O'Reilly.

Some of the proposed rules of the code, as it is being discussed, might include:

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

The code is a draft proposal undergoing development at Wikia, a privately held web hosting company founded by Wales and Angela Beesley.

"If it's a carefully constructed set of principles, it could carry a lot of weight even if not everyone agrees," said Wales.

The reception of the code is mixed, but there are many bloggers who feel that such a code of conduct would reduce the effects of unpleasant or malicious speech. "I’ve been assaulted and harassed online for four years," Richard Silverstein of richardsilverstein.com said. "Most of it I can take in stride. But you just never get used to that level of hatred."

Sources

Heather Havenstein. "O'Reilly proposes blogging code of conduct" — Macworld, April 9, 2007
Jack Schofield. "The Blogger Code" — Guardian Unlimited, April 9, 2007
Brad Stone. "A call for manners in the world of nasty blogs" — CNET News.com, April 9, 2007
"Code Of Conduct Proposed For Blogosphere" — Playfuls.com, April 9, 2007
Brad Stone. "A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs" — New York Times, April 9, 2007

External links

Blogger's Code of Conduct at Wikia
Call for a Blogger's Code of Conduct at O'Reilly Radar

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.