The Robb Report

Does a person commenting on a blog have an ethical duty to write only genuine, hand-typed comments?

The Backstory

Minutes after I posted my blog entry about Randi Rhodes getting suspended, my site notified me that I had a new “comment” for me to moderate (that is, to either approve or reject):

I just stopped by your blog and thought I would say hello. I like your site design. Looking forward to reading more down the road.

Robert Michel

I saw that he had also entered the URL for his website, Social Network Skills / Skills you need to become a better networker.

For a brief second, I thought to myself, “How friendly! How engaging and welcoming! It looks like I have a new Internet friend who shares some of my interests.” Well, not exactly that, but you get the idea.

The Reality

I was disappointed to see that Michel appears to be promiscuous and deceptive in his friendship-making. I have to admit, I was skeptical when I read his comment. As any visitor to my site circa 4/2008 would see, there’s nothing special about its design: it’s just the plain, default Wordpress installation. So I plucked a phrase from his comment, did a Google search, and found 390 posts where he had written the identical sentiment.

This is most likely all about “page rank”, and the quest for higher prominence on Google search results. Google uses the number of “incoming” links to one’s site as a factor in their calculation of how important the website is. Thus, some people go to lengths to artificially create incoming links in an attempt to elevate their search rankings. And some people, apparently including Michel, spam websites in clever ways that cause incoming links to be created.

The Ethics

It’s ironic that the site being promoted purports to teach how to “become a better networker.” Do ethics go out the window when one builds business relationships?

The Josephson Institute of Ethics describes six pillars of character, the first two of which are likely inconsistent with this spam-networking:

Trustworthiness

Be honest • Don’t deceive, cheat or steal • Be reliable — do what you say you’ll do • Have the courage to do the right thing • Build a good reputation • Be loyal — stand by your family, friends and country

Respect

Treat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule • Be tolerant of differences • Use good manners, not bad language • Be considerate of the feelings of others • Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone • Deal peacefully with anger, insults and disagreements

And one last question: Am I acting ethically by publicly discussing Michel’s submitted comment and website in this way? I think so: I’m doing my best to not make unfounded conclusions, and I’ve contacted Michel to allow him to refute or respond to what I’ve written. It’s entirely possible I made an error, in which case writing a retraction is the right thing to do.

Tags: Ethics, Internet

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Just a Thought. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.