So in the wake of the Kathy Sierra situation, Tim O'Reilly has created a draft of a Blogger's Code of Conduct.
Frankly, I don't see why deciding to moderate one's comments is such a big deal. We all do it already in order to mitigate spam; this is not all that different. It doesn't need badges and it doesn't need a long, painfully worded Code.
Here's mine, from December 2005:
I reserve the right to remove any comment left on this site, for any reason or for no reason at all. I pay for the web hosting; I get to decide how my disk space and bandwidth are used. However, I do not edit comments; that seems unfair. If they do not get tossed into the bit bucket, they remain as their authors wrote them.
I see no need to change that policy. I support the rights of free, anonymous, and/or pseudonymous speech online. However, that doesn't give you the right to say something I don't like on my dime. Don't like it? Go over to Blogger or Vox or Wordpress and get your own site. Problem solved.
UPDATE 1:50 PM:
Tony Hung gets it absolutely right:
Bloggers don’t need a code of conduct, because it isn’t the content of blogs that are in the question. What’s being called into question is the cowardly personal attacks that are sent by email, and left in the comments sections of blogs.And if that’s really the issue, then calling for a Bloggers Code of Conduct is pointless.
