Rules Won’t Stop Crazy People from Acting Crazy
The regrettable and offensive Kathy Sierra situation has spawned a story from the BBC about calls for a “blogger code of conduct.” Frankly, the story is thin on facts, and carries little more than Tim O’Reilly saying
I do think we need some code of conduct around what is acceptable behaviour, I would hope that it doesn’t come through any kind of [legal/government] regulation it would come through self-regulation.”
But neither he nor anyone else in the piece offers up any specifics or explains how this might cause future situations like Kathy’s to be avoided.
And the fact is it won’t stop crazy people from acting crazy. Rules constrain those who generally behave well; those involved in this latest incident clearly aren’t inclined to behave well. Indeed, they have likely broken laws, so what makes anyone think they would be deterred by some “code of conduct”?
(hat tip to Neville Hobson for pointing out this story on Twitter)