jump to navigation

Handling criticism and dealing with trolls May 21, 2007

Posted by J.T Dabbagian in Blogging Ethics, Internet, Social Engineering, blogging.
1 comment so far

A few months ago, I posted an article on a website which I will admit wasn’t my best work, and a few people stated that, but then I got a little fucktard of a poster who decided to remain anonymous who said this:

Your profile says “freelance writer”. If by “freelance” you mean shitty and by “writer” you mean blogger, it all makes sense.

Shit like this is not cool, especially when you decide to cowardly hide under the shield of anonymity to deliver something like this. Yes, it may have sucked, but it DID NOT DESERVE someone mouthing off to me like that. You could argue that it is criticism, but it was criticism that was designed to hurt, rather then help.

People who do this will not fare well in the blogosphere. Nobody wants to deal with an asshole on their blog OR site. Even if you’re anonymous, your IP is still present, and one day, you’ll find yourself with a Forbidden error on your browser.

Bottom line: Don’t be an ass. We’re not here to let you say whatver you want to us.

Now, with that in mind, how to deal with idiots like this? Well, if it’s your blog, delete the offending criticism without a big show, unless the person has already created a comment war in the post. Then you say why the head comment got deleted later on.

If the person has a registered nick on your blog, and is a repeat offender, then you have more options. First, if it’s your blog, warn the person, and if they do it again, ban them. Second, if you’re on a service like wordpress.com, notify the admins about the troublemaker.

If it gets to the point where the person is consistently making new names or is constantly a bother, ban their IP. This also works when the person is “anonymous.” If the situation persists, or they start attacking you on AIM/Email, etc, write down everything they send you, and notify the authorities you are being harrased.

Whatever you do, try not to take any direct action by yourself that might be bad later on (i.e, no hacking, DoS attacks, etc.) You could land yourself in some serious trouble. Handle trolls as quick as possible.

Have you had trouble on your site? How did you deal with it?

A Code of Conduct for Bloggers? May 18, 2007

Posted by J.T Dabbagian in Blogging Ethics, Web 2.0, blogging.
1 comment so far

Last April, the folks at O’Reilly, who coined the concept of Web 2.0, declared that they want to create a code of conduct for Bloggers. I actually was talking about a concept of ethics in Blogology 101, so this is something I want to further my opinions on.

While there is nothing in the code concerning payolas or reviews, a good deal of the code is geared toward that sacred duty Google knows all to well: Do no evil. Also there are things such as Taking responsibility for your words, something I inferred but didn’t outright say with my Zune post. In addition, that one would never say anything on a blog they wouldn’t say in person. Wow, that takes out..well, pretty much every emo kid in LiveJournal. I would also like to say that I enjoy the fact that comment deletion is left solely to the blogger(s).

But there are other things I have problems with. One of those is Keeping the sources private. This was obviously added because of when Apple tried to sue a few bloggers to reveal their sources. I have a bit of experience in the journalistic world, and I’ve been told to cite sources whenever possible, but that anonymous sources are OK, so long as they can be confirmed.

Another problem that I have is with the rule of “Do no harm.” Rather vague, isn’t it? This is what the rule says according to the draft of the code:

A blogger must not use his or her blog to willfully cause harm. A blogger must consider the impact of his or her actions on others. A blogger must not send his or her audience to harass other bloggers or people.

Sounds good, but then again, what if a blogger discovers that people are going to be causing a problem, either writing something bad, spamming a forum, etc. Should they not attempt to do something to stop the problem? You could argue that it’s for the authorities to deal with, and I’ll agree. But I feel that as a blogger, your duty is to the Blogosphere first, and and code of conduct second. If someone has issued a libelous entry, or has otherwise commited a wrong, other bloggers and their audience should have the right to stand up.

Now, obviously, if a blogger decides to go on a harassment campaign simply because he hates the person, that’s stupid. You end up looking like a troll.

All in all, it’s pretty good for a start. If it’s made official, I might just adhere to it. Whether you do or not is up to you.

The Blogger’s Code of Conduct Draft.