More on Blog conduct

I was interested in seeing how many comments Jonathan Freedland's article on the Guardian's comment is free section had received.

Jonathan's article "The blogosphere risks putting off everyone but point scoring males" likens the internet debate to an out of order public meeting:

It is a question of balancing an "enormous democratic opportunity"


"Whether it's the Baghdad Blogger or the public service workers highlighted in today's Society section, free expression is now just a click away."

Against

Even a brief, light piece can trigger a torrent of abuse, usually directed at the author and rapidly diverted by the commenters to each other. If the topic touches, even indirectly, on race or religion, then you'd better brace yourself. If it's Israel-Palestine, you might need to take the afternoon off.

He continues by saying that journalists have to be able to defend what they have written and ponders the ways that the web can be regulated.One way maybe Neil Levine's idea that gives a rating to comments,the higher the rating,the higher subsequent comments will appear.

Anyway 196 comments to date,the most popular incidently at the moment an article about a Jewish man giving up his passover to show people around Nazi death camps(460)

Terence Blacker writing in the Independent continues the debate in his article The web holds up a mirror to our cruelty

"the internet has not been the joyful free-for-all of information and contact that had once been hoped."

He continues to say that

Far from being an expression of freedom, cyberspace is rapidly becoming synonymous with power and its abuse. It allows various and significant invasions of privacy. The jolly rough-and-tumble of debate between bloggers has turned ugly, with such foul and abusive postings, sometimes with faked-up pornographic pictures, that there have been calls for a code of practice. The very forum which delighted in the lack of rules now seems anxious to introduce them.