Manners and courtesy are not the first things that come to mind when you think about blogging, but a proposition has been made to improve the quality of online communication. High on the list of things to fix is the anonymous comments left by visitors and the ability to delete threatening or libelous comments without a fight.

Conference Promoter and Book Publisher Tim O’Reilly along with Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales began a set of guidelines for online communication, otherwise known as blogging. After the recent outburst of hostility among well-known bloggers Mr. O’Reilly commented:

“(it) gives us an opportunity to change the level of expectations that people have about what’s acceptable online.”

He has already posted a set of tentative suggestions for improvement on his company website and is asking for comments and feedback. O’Reilly and Wales’ plan is actually to have a few sets of guidelines so that each blogger can pick which one best fits their page, post it, and the viewers know from the beginning what is allowed and what is not.

Mr. Wales said,

“If it’s a carefully constructed set of principles, it could carry a lot of weight even if not everyone agrees.”

Many bloggers already are becoming advocates of the set of guidelines. Popular blogger David Weinberger said,

“The aim of the code is not to homogenize the Web, but to make clearer the informal rules that are already in place anyway.”

O’Reilly and Wales lauched this endeavor after the well-known blogger Kathy Sierra reported getting death threats which brought up the issue of whether or not it is okay to delete certain comments. Sierra says she supports the move to make the web a more civil place.

Opponents of the set of guidelines say the rules violate their freedom of speech. The web is a place that has options - such as remaining anonymous and unaccountable.

Robert Scoble, a popular blogger who stopped blogging for a week when Kathy Sierra’s ordeal became public, says the proposed rules “make me feel uncomfortable.” He also adds, “As a writer, it makes me feel like I live in Iran.”

The guidelines are not meant to be restricting. O’Reilly says,

“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;Free speech is enhanced by civility.”

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