Comments on: A Blog-Poster’s Code of Ethics

By: theostask

theostask — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:33:50 +0000

Stunning, I didn’t know about that up to now. Cheers!

By: Robert Czerny

Robert Czerny — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:18:11 +0000

I was trying to shorten this admirable code but now can relax, having seen Sher O’s excellent rendering (comment 7 above). The brief statements communicate very well. Background explanation and expansion could be linked, as Bob Stone suggests (comment 8). In fact, that’s where the ‘community’ statement from the lead-in could go (”…that create and sustain healthy communities”). The lead-in makes sense without it; and the reader of a blogging code of ethics should not be diverted immediately into thinking about a different though related subject.
Robert Czerny, Ottawa, Canada

By: Babs

Babs — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:59:19 +0000

The bloggers’ Code of Ethics is a fine idea but if it is anything like the risible “Community Policy” of Guardian Unlimited’s “Comment is Free” it will be more honoured in the breach than in the observance. I invite your readers to visit that blog and spend time there to see for themselves.

By: admin0

admin0 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:40:38 +0000

Dear Kristina,
By all means, please use the values for your blog. We would appreciate it if you would mention where they came from so we can spread the word that values and ethics really matter.
Linda
Linda J. Leach
Information Officer

By: Yoshimi Miyazaki

Yoshimi Miyazaki — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:38:18 +0000

To Whom It May Concern:
I am not a blogger — in my professional life I have signed up for such sites as Twitter and LinkedIn. On a personal level I am a friend on Face book; however I am not a blogger. I sign up for these sites and have not “taught” myself to spend much time on these sites. Perhaps I am naive — blogging just doesn’t “move” me — I don’t understand the point of it. Let me be a bit judgmental and state that some bloggers must live life rather than vicariously experiencing life online.

I want to applaud you for your Bloggers’ Code of Ethics. As a professional I must sign a code of ethics in order to maintain my certification; more importantly as a person with over 28 years in recovery, integrity and ethics are important personal goals. I sometimes think this way of being is somehow seen as “soft” or “co dependent”. I feel strongly that being in recovery has taught me that being in integrity and having ethics are neither “soft” nor “co dependent” — they are the very core of every one of us who has compassion and respect for others. Character assassination is the choice of cowardly and ignorant people who appear to take pride in being part of the herd instead of thinking/feeling out their own choices and finding their own voices.

Your Ethics Newsletter is important to me — I read, I think, I process, and I agree or disagree. I am free to choose.
Sincerely, Yoshimi Miyazaki

By: Kristina Schwende

Kristina Schwende — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:48:31 +0000

I too feel that having a blogging code of ethics is a great idea. It will help this community, which is already strong and ethical, to uphold those standards and help newcomers to follow suit.

In fact, I like the values you have set out so much that I would like to use them for my blog. May I have permission to do so?

Kristina Schwende, Richmond, BC

By: Bob Snipes

Bob Snipes — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:15:57 +0000

I’m compelled to comment on your most recent Ethics Newsline® commentary. Wow, what a contribution — to pioneer a code of ethics for blogging. As long as you’re at it, might you craft a version that could serve as a standard for content forwarded by email? It would be a great device to use in asking to be removed from mailing lists of well-meaning friends whose forwards violate the essence of the code you have drafted for bloggers. Objecting to unsolicited emails based on one’s adherence to a standardized code of ethics would be an elegant and inoffensive way of alerting the sender to the underlying issue. Because the delete key is such an expedient way of dealing with unwelcome emails, senders of such material receive no negative feedback about the quality of what’s sent — which is different from the particular viewpoint it represents. And forwarding of substandard material continues unchecked.

Thanks for the continuous flow of high quality material each week!

Bob Snipes, Shepherdstown, WV

By: Jennifer Trimble

Jennifer Trimble — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:50:17 +0000

Sounds ideal. and the 1/3 or 2/3 number these posts predict it will eliminate are probably the unproductive and only insulting ones anyway. but how legally binding is this code? Even I, who agree with all of it, would be weary of checking a box if it meant what I write could be interpreted wrong and lead to lawsuits instead of web insults. And what about on a website that is itself inherently biased?

By: RAGordon

RAGordon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:16:14 +0000

Thank you for posting this. I believe that it is becoming increasingly important to instill a sense of universal ethics into all avenues of human activity. Blogging, and the internet in general, is no different. Indeed, in many respects, it is further behind than most spheres because of the sense of anonymity and ‘anything goes’ attitude that often comes along with our use of the internet.

I have highlighted your post on our blog, Future Conscience, as we have recently done a series on ethical blogging that covered many different practical aspects of blogging in detail. When we all have the opportunity to have our voice heard, it is important to ensure as much as possible that we use it responsibly and in a way that makes the internet a better place for all those who use it.

By: Ed Collins

Ed Collins — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:10:17 +0000

It’s the quintessence of the ethical code. What’s not to like ?