I don’t think what the blogosphere needs is more civility. What we need is to stop having our buttons pushed by every little sound someone makes.
You want timely? You have to accept that the choice of words will not be perfect. You want honesty? You have to accept that ideas won’t come wrapped in qualifiers intended to devalue them of any meaning.
Deal.
To recap, this week we had the Les Blogs backchannel controversy, which took me back to high school. There was Jeremy saying some smart things and pissing off the elders. And Tara had to deal with this reaction. Or maybe that was just quote Tara out of context month.
The point I’m trying to make is simple. On the Web you want to be strict in what you say, liberal in what you accept. Accept that not everything is written specifically to turn your grapes sour.
But that’s just my opinion, and it’s pretty damn irrelevant. Why? Because networking and socializing has a predictable evolutionary path, the same old story over and over. And those who don’t remember Usenet are doomed to repeat it. Here’s a brief recap.
In the beginning there is the network and the network is cool. Then socializing in meatspace starts mirroring socializing on the network, and it becomes a life changing experience you will never forget. Or at least something a few notches above cool.
Then there’s drama. Someone gets quoted out of context, someone else is having a bad day, someone else is just really sensitive to words beginning with the letter F. And the sky fall down.
Except they don’t, and so we start talking about drama, and initiate the Drama Reduction Act of ____. Write more civil, think before posting, using lots of qualifiers and I statements, don’t feed the trolls. And then there’s peace. For like a week.
Because new blood comes in, who wasn’t part of the original round table talks, who didn’t learn the lesson first hand, who don’t want to follow but want to understand. And the story repeats itself.
And what about the veterans of the first round? Those who are not seasoned trolls, or spelling nazis, learn to accept that you just can’t educate the world about netiquette, but you can sure learn how to let go, relax and start having fun.
So with that, have a good weekend, don’t take life or blogs too seriously, and see you at the usual hotspot.
sean coon
Jeremy Wright