A concise summary of blogging etiquette can be found at Info Theory today, with links to previous such posts. In “A Suggested Protocol for Blog Communication” the author, Paul Deignan, lays out five proposed principles of blogging protocol that seem quite reasonable. He is seeking out comments from the blogosphere as well.

The one that caught my eye was #3:

3. Comments allow blog authors and readers to correspond publicly in the context of a topic within the post cycle time of the blog. Authors that allow commenting should have the expectation that they will be available to respond to pertinent author-directed comments during the front page life of the post unless otherwise noted by the author. Commenters should limit themselves to the stream of discussion established or at least to the topic of the post. The role of the author is as a host to a party. The role of the commenter is to be a respectful guest. [emphasis mine]

Think on that a minute. Or three. Why not be respectful to your host? After all, they’re paying for the party and the invitation’s an open one. What a concept! One can argue and disagree, and still be respectful. Unless, of course, you are incapable of comprehending societal norms and don’t even know what etiquette means (let alone how to spell it).

What of consequences? Banning? Deleting? Publicly humiliating the offenders? There’s that. And, there is that free speech thing. I suppose if we must let the wee babies of the b’sphere be foul, then they can just sit in their own dirty diapers for all the world to see.

In light of the execution of Steven Vincent and this present topic: This was typical of a small number of comments in the otherwise polite and respectful thread today on Vincent’s blog, In The Red Zone:

Shit happens

Posted by: Diatric | August 3, 2005 11:57 AM

(link to comment)

I leave it for you to decide the decency of this comment.

Hat Tip for original Info Theory post: basil’s blog

A longer version of this was posted at TMH’s Bacon Bits.