Code of Conduct?

It makes me a little sad that Kathy Sierra has been intimidated by a handful of asshats who undoubtedly had their books dumped one too many times in high school. But, the uproar over the whole situation has gotten a little out of hand. I completely understand why something like this will trigger a zillion weblog posts, but enough already.

Suddenly there’s a call for a blogging code of conduct (BBC News). Really? Of course, death threats = bad. But those doing the threatening aren’t exactly the type to be dissuaded from doing so by a code of conduct. If trolls and bored cranks start to litter your comments and it bothers you, it might be time to moderate those comments. That’s really the only option apart from eliminating a commenting system entirely.

If things escalate to the point of actual death threats, by all means take it up with the authorities. Otherwise, ignoring the noise would probably be more effective.