Civility and the Blogs of Boors



Lockwood

The first sentence in a recent NY Times article grabbed my attention: “Is it too late to bring civility to the Web?” Intrigued, I read on about how some folks, alarmed at the rich rankness of much of dialogue in the blogosphere, have proposed a set of recommendations to engender decorum among bloggers and bloggees. I hold scant hope that they will succeed to straighten out the slouch of barbarians any more than the Ten Commandments have curtailed lies.

Still, there’s merit in the idea. These folks suggest that blogs post and enforce a list of rules and regulations governing the level of decorum acceptable on a given blog. A standardized set of icons, such as the terror-threat level chart from Homeland Security, will apprise you of a blog’s social norms at a glance.

The recommendations are rational, ranging from banning anonymous postings and requiring bloggees to source the data they assert is true to reserving the right to delete threatening or libelous comments. Since a site will have posted guidelines, the group hopes to achieve more civilized behavior online without the blog sponsor facing criticism about censorial control. Further, if a critical mass of blogs adopts the motif, bloggees, such as carousing lads just out of the Forum, will gravitate to blogs that fit their comfort level. Ultimately, blogs discussing anything remotely controversial would be spared a lot of anti-social behavior.

Alas, I fear that these folks are wading into a new level of Dante’s inferno. They can forget about kid stuff like stalkers, misogynists, and other standard issue creeps. First Amendment crackpots, self-styled defenders of free expression, narcissists who believe their sensibilities are superior to yours, and argumentative knaves citing natural law in defense of profanities will heap dung upon these people in the name of civilization.

Im so sure of this because I was once charged with keeping civility alive online in a discussion system. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. I was harassed online, at home, and at work. I was called every name in the book just for asking people to observe the posted rules about their behavior. The whole job and that little communitys reaction was surreal. I felt like I was in A Clockwork Orange, only without the happy parts.

The problem with this idea is its rationality and the assumption that most of us are rational. Rationality is an alien concept in online speech because the other guy cannot flatten your snout no matter how snotty you are. Ergo, anything goes.

But you dont admit that. Rather, you argue, when it comes to my right to free speech online, you have no right to regulate my speech even though I agreed to uphold your posted rules of conduct before I gained admittance. If you were versed in the Regeringsformen, especially Chapter 2, youd know that

I wish these folks well in their quixotic venture. In the end, I think that most of us will develop an online version of that gut feel you have before entering a bar on Sixth Street in Austin. You just know which one has the types you want to hang out with. Until then, caveat blogger.

Thanks, Pal. Lockwood