Following an 'anonymous' smear on myself and my work I have found myself thinking about ethics and etiquette online lately. Online we pretty much say what we like, what are the pitfalls of this? It's easy to slate someone online, damage a colleagues career in front on thousands of people or be snide, but do we take the sort of care being constructive in our feedback online as we would if we were looking someone in the eye? For instance, in a review online someone who is Oxford educated said they don't like my photo 'my whole pose'. If a writer had been writing a review for a national newspaper would they mention what the writer looks like as part of their argument? I don't think so. In reviewing for journals we take our time. The best reviews, even negative ones, offer constructive points, examples of what we are saying. We would consider our personal dislike of what someone looks like to weaken our professionalism at best, to be discrimination at worst. Online this sort of stuff largely seems OK. I don't think it is. At our fingertips now we can leave a review, anonymously. Just as writers form alliances they can as easily ellimnate their competition, anonymously.
It has made me consider conduct and ethics on the net. I can't change how other people behave online or elsewhere, but I have my own code of ethics as to what is acceptable nettiquette. I hope others have the same.
1) Reviews- I make a point of never doing reviews of books I didn't like or aren't my sort of thing.(eg:) I'm not a sci fi fan so I don't touch them, I can't treat it fairly or do justice to the genre it is. The reason is I'm not sure what the advantages of a review with no empathy to the work of the writer or its theme are except to make the reviewer look big and clever. I only review what I 'm interested in, hoping to encourage other people who may also be to look into it. If there are areas that could have been improved upon it's OK to mention it, but I don't see any advantage of reviewing just to destroy a writer or hinder a publishers sales (why bother? Being a writer or publisher isn't easy these days. Something like poetry is marginal enough without stabbing poets of any kind in the back.) If you want to trash someone aim for the big boys, writers on the major bucks, instead of any easy target. They have nothing lose.
2) Comments- I've always tried to encourage other writers on social networking forums and be friendly. Interesting discussion is fine, but I don't believe in slating anyone or being rude.
3) Never discuss someone who is not there. This is something I never thought about till recently, but I wonder how often people are publicly destroying the reputation of people who aren't party to the discussion? It may be fair game to question editorial policy of a press in an online discussion for instance, but isn't it somewhat cowardly to trash someone is not even there to defend their name? I don't think I have ever done this, but I now have a concious policy that I will never negatively discuss the work of any writer online if the writer is not present. It's only fair.
4) I will never make a negative comment about what someone looks like online. It's not relevant. It's akin to schoolyard bullying. It is not PC. It destroys confidence and isn't funny. (Come to think of it, I should really try to apply this principle to real life instead of muttering that guy down the road is Alvin the Squirrel.)
5) I will never put someone down in any way to make myself look good or clever. It isn't.
6) If I like someone or their work I will stand by that regardless of fashion, social cliques or an attempt to curry favour with presses, reviewers or writers. I won't cozy up to them in an attempt to further myself.
7) Consideration, Respect and Honesty. As easy as it to forget form behind the saftey of a screen I remember that on the other end lies a human being and consider what impact I may be about to do or say (or how I do or say it) may have on them personally or professionally.
I don't think this will take on, but this is my nettiquette. I aim never to say anything unfair or to which I wouldn't be willing to put my name.
Quaint old expression my grandparents used to say 'It's nice to be nice, costs nothing to be nice, if you can't be nice say nowt.' They might have been onto something. Online, off line, perhaps it isn't a bad idea to think 'did i do or say anything that may have made someone's day worse today?'
No comments:
Post a Comment