Fascinating to read the arguments zipping back and forth about the proposal from two Internet luminaries, Tim O'Reilly and Jimmy Wales, to establish a code of conduct for bloggers.

Now the blogosphere is full of over-the-top language and views. It's about freedom and pure self-expression. Some of the stuff is ridiculous and offensive, but it's a big world out there. No surprises then that bloggers have attacked the proposals.

Tim O'Reilly's Code of Crap is the screaming headline at anotherblogger.com.

The 901am site talks about O'Reilly unleashing his "weapons of mass stupidity" and introduces the code with the warning: Do Not Read On Full stomach.

Robert Scoble at Scobleizer says the code is impossible to follow.

Burningbird warns that this "Gestapo brave new world" is really all about control.

In other words, O'Reilly and Wales say it's all about bringing a bit of courtesy and respect into the blogosphere. The bloggers reckon it's just about heavy-handed bans. Courtesy vs Censorship.

All summed up with The Register quoting one comment on O'Reilly's blog: "Reminds me of some of the things America has done at its worst. Commies. Terrorists. Anonymous commenters. This makes me angry."

Patrick Thibodeau at Computerworld says the code is a pointless exercise and reckons there are smarter ways of of tackling the problem. "You need your wits, not a code of conduct, to survive as a blogger. Blogging can be a nasty, bare knuckle activity, especially on the local level."

Legal expert TJ McIntyre, the chair of Digital Rights Ireland, says it's unnecessary. The need for a code is no greater than "the need for a code of conduct for what people say in their telephone conversations or their letters," he told siliconrepublic.com.

"A blog is a medium in exactly the same way that paper is a medium and the notion that we have to have a code of conduct or that we have to have any new forms of intrusive State regulation is not one that needs to be taken seriously. If somebody says something rude or nasty in a conversation you don't suddenly hear calls for codes of conduct or state intervention."

The proposed code is unlikely to catch on in the blogosphere. Voluntary guidelines are all well and good but they're useless without everyone volunteering support.