eri on the interweb

I often bemoan the subjective and pithy remarks in blogs and blog comments. The internet is rife with invective. Radio National’s Media Report had a panel discussion on Civility Online (September 2008). The proposition was:

“Town Square or playground of the keyboard warriors? Why does so much online interaction end up agressive, polarised and anything but enlightening?“

The panel was comprised of Andrew Bartlett — blogger and former leader of political party the Australian Democrats; George Megalogenis — journalist and blogger; and Laurel Papworth —  blogger,  speaker and social networking consultant.

Unfortunately, the panel did not really address the question posed to them about the lack of civility online. Instead they had an, albeit interesting discussion, about their own blogs and their strategies of moderating comments. They discussed policies of behaviour on their blogs such as codes of conduct and rules of engagement. Papworth and Megalogenis debated rating systems. Papworth advocated this gaming strategy as a tactic for the community to self monitor bad behaviour and Megalogenis critisised it for potentially hiding content.