"A natural courtesy"

• Kate Feld
• 12 Apr 07, 08:06 PM

The hot topic online in Manchester and elsewhere this week is the Blogger’s Code of Conduct floated by interweb bigwigs Tim O’Reilly and Jimmy Wales. Their guidelines have unsurprisingly met with a frosty reception from many bloggers. Weighing in from Heaton Moor, political blogger Skipper was a bit more measured in his response:

”It would be nice if everyone agreed with us but this is not the nature of democracy; nor is it the case that debate remains always polite; my advice in these circumstances is for the sinned against to ignore the abuse and carry on trying to making their points. The aim of democratic debate is to win over the undecided and the best way to lose their sympathetic attention, is to descend into rudeness. What about the suggested code? I'd be prepared to support it- what is proposed would not limit free expression- but would hope that, given blogging is not even in its teens, we should give it a chance to mature and evolve a natural courtesy.”

On to less serious matters. You may not realise it, but Easter is an especially stressful time for some of us. “Who invented this whole chocolate egg thing?” demands Sessy, who works in a supermarket. “Because whoever it was I am going to find them and dance on their bloody grave. If I had a pound for every person who has asked me for sodding Easter eggs this past week I would be a rich woman indeed!

”The special offer eggs have been limited to 8 per customer. Most seem to take this as a challenge blatantly taking more than they need. Others come in demanding we sell them 60 eggs. Erm, no.”

Another thing making many people stressed out around this time of year is taxes. Northernlight is one of them:

Dealing with the Inland Revenue is not easy. Especially when out of the blue you receive a bill saying you owe £2,227.40. Even more irritating when you don't actually owe them the money," she writes. ”They are supposed to be trained to remain calm on the phone. I was clearly trying the poor woman's patience during our 15-minute conversation, in which I may have said: "If you will let me finish," in a slightly grumpy voice on more than one occasion. Apparently it's my fault. I don't really care whose fault it is because I now only owe them a measly £25. Yippee.”

Several Mancunian bloggers celebrated Easter weekend by meeting their fellow bloggers for a pint, as the Spring 2007 blogmeet took over the Hare and Hounds on Shudehill Saturday afternoon. Julia from Notebooks filed a report:

"Craig McGinty was there, as well as James from YerMam and guys from Indie Credential. We had a nice time, and people were still staying in the pub when I left. The pub seems to be quite old, with lots of period paintings and photographs on the walls. Its karaoke is very popular, with people taking the centre stage to sing anything from Neil Diamond, The Monkees, and Van Morrison. As I was leaving, I witnessed a man in a yellow duckling suit (so I think), with a glass of beer in hand; the suit was unzipped on the back. I suspect he was dropping in after a hard day's entertaining children or giving out leaflets.”

Ah, there’s one at every blogmeet, isn’t there?

https://yermamontoast.blogspot.com/