The Morality and Ethics of Blogging
by tdaxp ~ July 26th, 2005
I am in two conversations, one by private email and another on a blog I rarely link to, that made me think about morality and ethics in blogging. In one case a friendly acquaintance asked for my help in determining the real identity of an anonymous blogger. In another, a fellow blogger claims to have achievements which he refuses to identity in a way that would make them verifiable. His responses are always very vague or very defensive.
In neither case is safety an issue
Complicating this, I have twice on tdaxp referenced people I will not name — one because he asked me not to, another because I would not even ask the gentlemen it might affect. If I would criticize the gentleman with unverifiable accomplishments, would that make me a hypocrite? Now, the criticisms of my OODA loop are right or wrong regardless of the first gentleman’s position, and my enjoyment of the second gentleman’s company is a personal opinion that has no relevance to the accuracy of my analytical beliefs.
I’ve been called an atheist, a Nazi, a supporter of executing homosexualists, a supporter of raping heterosexual men, and other things online, so I don’t care if I’m criticized. I don’t care if I’m called a liar, and my “trustworthiness” isn’t even an issue for my analysis posts — I could be a murderous bank robber, and that wouldn’t make my 5GW thoughts more right or wrong.
Further complicating this is that the anonymous blogger is part of a network that has itself unmasked other anonymous bloggers. A blogospheric netwarrior, if you will. Must individual participation in such acts be found first, or is guilt-by-association (“participation in a corrupt organization”) enough?
The New York Times uses top 1% of income, not wealth. From the legend:...
July 27th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Interesting question Dan.
My policy is to respect polite requests for anonymity unless there is some obvious overriding good reason not to do so ( safety, legality primarily). In short, first do no harm but if someone emails me or posts a comment about assassinating somebody they don't like I'm CCing the FBI in a nanosecond.
Is there an overriding reason to try to ID this anonymous blogger for your friend or is your friend just looking to cause somebody trouble ? Can you forsee all the consequences for the target if they are outed ? If the target outing other bloggers is doing something morally wrong in your view why would you join them in doing something of which you do not approve ?
And lastly, how much of your valuable time do you have to waste being drawn into to a H.S. type drama being played out over the blogosphere ;o)
Never be too quick to hop on to somebody else's Karma train to mete out retribution because the train has a way of eventually pulling back into your station.
Hope that helped.
July 27th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Agreed. Very clearly said. You should start an “Ask Mark” or “SafranskiFatwa” section on your blog — it'd be a hit!
July 27th, 2005 at 12:00 am
“You should start an “Ask Mark” or “SafranskiFatwa” section on your blog “
LOL ! I'd be too worried about misinterpretation !
“…authorities say the alleged suspect drew his inspiration from an obscure blog on the internet…Federal agents have the blogger in custody for questioning in what looks to be a bizarre…”
July 27th, 2005 at 12:00 am
HAHAHAHA
I was drinking very hot coffee when I read that, and only luck stopped a disaster!!
July 27th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Ha ! Perhaps I should investigate blogging liability insurance:O)
July 27th, 2005 at 12:00 am
PS – Phaitc Communion has a new 5GW post up