Livin' the life...

Believe it or not, persons out there are now calling for a Bloggers Code of Conduct! Included in this code of conduct are points such as: "We [bloggers I assume] take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog.", "We won't say anything online that we wouldn't say in person." and "We do not allow anonymous comments."..

Personally, I'm not which sure what side of the fence I am on in this topic. I understand that bloggers should be made to take some responsibility but like someone else had noted.. anonymity is KEY online. By anonymity I mean: (a) If you don't what to disclose who you are, why should you? Especially for anonymous comments.. and (b) Even though someone may know who I am online because I disclose my name for e.g., there's still a "can't touch me offline"-facet associated with the Internet in general.

On the other side however, as a blogger, I believe things like Comment approval should me maintained so a blogger is forced to approve comments before they are made public. Here the blogger should use his/her "good sense" to filter comments. When dealing specifically with blogger content, I can relate to the drafted Code of Conduct with respect to not posting content that is:  "is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others .. is libelous, knowingly false, ... violates the privacy of others". You know..basically, BE CIVIL!

Hmm.. as I look to the side of my blog window I see my disclaimer.. interestingly, these days I doubt you'll find a blog without one, .. some I've seen even declare that all the content is unreliable and readers should peruse at their own peril! *sigh.. I wonder where this topic will end up!