Blogger Nobisha of Bicara Nobisha, has posted an entry that I believe proposes what the Malaysian blogosphere badly needs: a blogger's code of ethics. In his latest post titled "10 BLOGGERS CODE OF ETHICS", this is what he writes:
- I will tell the truth.
- I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
- I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
- I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly.
- I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking.
- I will stay on topic.
- I will ensure that entries, quotations, headlines, photos and all other content do not misrepresent.
- I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
- I will recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention.
- I will abide by the same high standards to which I hold others.
In a reply I posted there, I suggested adding the following two clauses:
- I will disclose conflicts of interest. (from here)
- I will use honest arguments & never resort to crooked thinking and dishonest tricks. (from here)
Overall, I think this is a great idea. As I have written about before, I believe that the Malaysian blogosphere is becoming a seedy back alley for spreading bigotry, with spin, smear, insinuation and dishonest arguments; all done for partisan interests.
Democracy needs a forum for open minds to honestly discuss and debate issues of National interest, as we work towards a Malaysia that is free from racism, bigotry, corruption, oppression, bad governance and tainted judiciary. Bigotry, on either side of the political divide, will destroy our blogosphere; it has already infected our mainstream media and blighted inter-community relations in the past, with dire consequences. If we care for our Nation's future, we need to reclaim this space for enlightened public discourse.
All of us have our own political beliefs and affiliations, there's nothing wrong with that. However, whatever those beliefs are, we have a responsibility to argue our cases justly and honestly.
What do you think? Will our blogosphere benefit from such a code of ethics?
Sincerely,
Malaysian Heart
- I will disclose conflicts of interest. (from here)
- I will use honest arguments & never resort to crooked thinking and dishonest tricks. (from here)
Overall, I think this is a great idea. As I have written about before, I believe that the Malaysian blogosphere is becoming a seedy back alley for spreading bigotry, with spin, smear, insinuation and dishonest arguments; all done for partisan interests.
Democracy needs a forum for open minds to honestly discuss and debate issues of National interest, as we work towards a Malaysia that is free from racism, bigotry, corruption, oppression, bad governance and tainted judiciary. Bigotry, on either side of the political divide, will destroy our blogosphere; it has already infected our mainstream media and blighted inter-community relations in the past, with dire consequences. If we care for our Nation's future, we need to reclaim this space for enlightened public discourse.
All of us have our own political beliefs and affiliations, there's nothing wrong with that. However, whatever those beliefs are, we have a responsibility to argue our cases justly and honestly.
What do you think? Will our blogosphere benefit from such a code of ethics?
Sincerely,
Malaysian Heart
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How to Paste Text into Comment Boxes
Google seems to have disabled pasting text (including ctrl-v) into blogger comments boxes in Firefox. The good news is that:
1. You can still copy paste using Internet Explorer (I successfully tried it with IE7)
2. With Firefox, you can still "Drag and Drop" text into the comment form. I have successfully dragged and dropped text from MS Word, websites (HTML) and from ScribeFire (plain text and HTML). Just do the following:
a) reduce the size of the window you want to take the text from, and place it near the comment box
b) Highlight the required text with cursor
c) Click on the highlighted text and drag it over to the comment box and drop it there.
Happy commenting!