A License To Blog?

The fracas over the recent incident with blogger Kathy Sierra receiving death threats and threatening posts has turned into a classic action/reaction/overreaction episode. While the messages targeted at Ms. Sierra are more than objectionable and despicable, the overreaction now underway seems to be teetering that way as well.

Tim O'Reilly has called for a Bloggers Code of Conduct, complete with its own blog badge to identify to those who subscribe to the code. A number of the big names in the blogosphere are urging that we stall the ball on that kind of effort. Scoble, Mike Arrington, Dave Winer, Jeff Jarvis, and others are saying no way. Looks like this discussion is going to continue in the Carnival that is the blogosphere for some time. To be fair, O'Reilly also says there needs to be an "Anything Goes" badge as well that warns users to participate at their own risk.

Umm? We participate in life at our own risk, last I checked.

I'm in the same camp as those who think this is not a good idea. It smacks of trying to control that which is, in essence, uncontrollable, and will only lead to a lot of finger pointing when someone thinks their interpretation of the "code" has been violated.

There are many reasons I can see to disagree with this, and others have already stated them better than I can. Sure, I'd like to see the blogosphere be a nice, civil place for discourse, but it just ain't going to happen in any sort of grand let's all get together and hold hands and make nice kinda way. I don't care how many codes, licenses, or mechanisms get put in place. Human nature just doesn't like to be controlled and most experiments in trying to do so only work at the point of a gun, for awhile, before they inevitably fail because the cure becomes worse than the disease. A new form of intimidation will be the only result. Stalin would be proud.

Just because we issue drivers licenses doesn't mean everyone who has one is a safe driver and should be allowed on the road.

The next step in this chain of overreactions is blogger's insurance.