Tim O'Reilly, we don't need more rules. People just need to be educated.

In light of recent death threats to Kathy Sierra and the unfortunate outcome of her situation, Tim O'Reilly and others have put forth a draft of the Bloggers Code of Conduct. I once met Tim and he's a nice guy. Like any good geek I'm enamored with O'Reilly books, but more rules aren't the fix.

This might sound strange coming from a career IT guy. To live in IT, you need rules and procedures. What's more, you need people to follow them. The way we get people to follow rules is not by imposing more, it's by education. The code of conduct isn't exactly rules, but more akin to how I agree to act and how I expect others to act on the Internet. Well guess what? It already exists. Its called RFC 1855.

I've already called attention to RFC 1855 on this blog. It is something that everyone should read. Granted, it needs some updating for terminology and technology. However, the basis for which it rests and the ideologies for which it support are still valid.

Scoble responded to O'Reilly's post. In his response he noted something important that many people don't understand.

Second, I engage with my trolls. Why? Cause if they show up here I think they deserve an answer and I find they often get me to think deeper about the topic that I'm writing about than if we didn't engage in a little gutter wrestling.

I absolutely agree. Those who disagree with you should be invited to the conversation. None of us are all knowing. The act of disagreeing furthers the topic. Sometimes having to explain your position to a naysayer will force you to review your own opinion. At worst, you'll be back to the same conclusion. At best, you'll have a new understanding of which you can put in your toolbox for another day.

Lets turn our attention to something more productive - education. Spend a few minutes each week educating your user base. Instead of slapping someone for using an easy password, educate him or her on why the policy exists. Don't create more rules when rules are being broken. Get to the root of the problem. Spend time with your users. Let them complain and allow yourself to listen. Before conduct gets out of hand, pull out RFC1855. Let it be a course in history and manner.