O'Reilly's idea was motivated by anonymous death threats against blogger Kathy Sierra, and her reactions, which included refusing to leave her house to make previously arranged speaking engagements, as detailed on her blog.
O'Reilly's original suggestions were built into a draft of a proposed Blogger's Code of Conduct within a week. The Code of Conduct was noticed by the New York Times in an article May 9.
The Code of Conduct has not received universal support. The same day that O'Reilly proposed it, Tony Hung took issue with it in The Blog Herald.
"I’m not sure if a Blogger’s Code of Conduct would have prevented the entire [Kathy Sierra death threat] fiasco, or even if it's a good idea at all. ... There are no real consequences that come of breaking an Official Blogger Code of Conduct."
Internet marketing expert Andy Beal took issue with almost every element of O'Reilly's proposal in an article titled Why O’Reilly’s Blogger’s Code of Conduct Must Die, ending with the observation, "I don’t believe any broad code of conduct is going to do any good in preventing abuse, libel or threats on blogs. If someone is hell-bent on being abusive, a pretty badge on your site is not going to deter them."
In O'Reilly's latest blog on the subject, he suggests that the Code of Conduct be made modular — bloggers can choose which parts of the Code to abide by — and looks favorably on systems that allow users to flag offensive and potentially-offensive posts, but enable interested readers to view the posts with a click if they choose.
The discussion of the individual elements of the proposed Code continues at Blogging.Wikia.com
