Civil Discourse on the Web
I was distressed over the last couple of weeks to watch one of my favorite blogs (which I have referred to here in the past) basically shut down. Kathy Sierra has written Creating Passionate Users, a blog that covered business practices, customer service, adult learning, and a wide variety of related topics. She writes in an engaging way, and pulls together a variety of resources and blends them together into clear, concise, and easily understood commentaries.
Sadly, as of two weeks ago, she has stopped public speaking engagements and blogging. She became the target of such intense online harassment that she could no longer tolerate it. I won’t discuss in even vague detail the kinds of threats and vulgar material she was subjected to, but it was the kind of thing that no person should ever have to deal with.
As depressed as I am about Kathy’s decision (I spoke of her blog so often around the office that I have been accused of having a crush on her), I was even more depressed by the responses posted in some of the many online discussions about her situation. While the huge majority of people were in complete agreement with her concerns, there was a very small but very vocal minority that seemed to think she was a crybaby who was just looking for attention, and if she couldn’t handle the stress she was just a wimp and good riddance.
I refuse to accept that in the online world, which holds so much promise, must be reduced to the lowest common denominator, where the most vulgar voice in the room defines the level of discussion.
The only good thing to come out of this mess is that Kathy’s choice to go public with her situation has created an enormous amount of awareness, and has resulted in many people examining this kind of online behavior. The New York Times has an article about a new code of ethics for bloggers. I think it’s a great idea. Some people think that having a cultural norm for civil, respectful discussion is a form of censorship, but as Tim O’Reilly points out in the article,
?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,? he said. ?Free speech is enhanced by civility.?
Harassment is a form of censorship, too. How many other voices such as Kathy’s have been silenced by threatening, boorish behavior?