Stifling blogs?

A proposed code of conduct for bloggers has been suggested. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

A proposed code of conduct for bloggers, aimed at discouraging personal
attacks, has been met with intense criticism by many of the Internet
denizens it would supposedly affect.
Tim O'Reilly, chief of O'Reilly Media Inc., a book publisher and
conference promoter who is a central figure in the Web 2.0 world, posted
recommendations Sunday that he hoped would insure civility online.
The guidelines, which call for banning anonymous comments and deleting
abusive posts, were almost immediately denounced by many in the
blogosphere, a cacophony of online journals filled with opinion,
thoughtful essays and rants. They described O'Reilly's guidelines as
excessive, unworkable and an open door to censorship.

As a rather new medium, one of the best aspects of the internet is the ability for people to speak their minds. An open public space, it would be a shame to curtail the freedom of bloggers. We count on bloggers as yet another check and balance for the media. Bloggers often publish information that traditional media is afraid to print. Although there are those who abuse the medium, that reflects society as we know it. There will always be people who abuse the system, but we need to consider whether the ends justifies the means. In this case, I think the freedom of the internet and the content contained within it should be left alone. Don;t try to fix something that is not broken.