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Often a fine line between creativity, disinformation

By Scott Barancik
Published April 10, 2007

Tommy Duncan the rock 'n' roll singer isn't too keen on censorship.

But asked about Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales' plan to draft voluntary codes of conduct for Internet blogs, Tommy Duncan the blogger is more conflicted.

Although anyone can post an anonymous message to his acclaimed Tampa Web site, SticksOfFire.com, Duncan said he has edited or deleted at least a few messages that he felt crossed a line. And like many bloggers, he worries about spreading disinformation - and about being sued.

"It's a conundrum," said Duncan, the lead singer of the Johnny G. Lyon Band. "You want the Internet to be as free-wheeling as possible. But that means letting in anybody, which can lead to all sorts of distress, or greatness."

Duncan said he edited out one post that accused a well-known bay area figure of illegal behavior without offering proof. Another time, he deleted a message that purported to be written by a public figure but wasn't. Though both comments were made in jest by regular contributors, he worried some readers might be fooled.

"Basically, the legal defense right now for posting whatever you want to post is that, 'Well, everybody knows that the Internet is nothing but a bunch of yahoos' (and) that nobody should be relying on the Internet for accuracy anyway," Duncan said.

Although he admits that voluntary principles may be a good idea, Duncan believes in a sort of natural law of censorship. If blogs regularly traffic in untruths, slander and meanness, most readers will simply stop reading them.

Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.

[Last modified April 9, 2007, 23:30:03]