As part of my day job, I was reading a post on Comment is Free by Jonathan Freedland about the proposed blogger code of conduct following the threats against Kathy Sierra.

One commenter responded with some force and more than a little eloquence:

Must have been so nice to be a journalist or commentator in the old days. Just lock what you say in print and damn the masses. Times have changed. You can lock the doors, but then there’ll just be you.

Brilliant. Certainly there are risks to opening up and engaging, but this comment succinctly highlights the risks of doing nothing.

And just to be clear, this isn’t me having a go at a colleague on my own blog. I’d do Jonathan the professional courtesy of responding on Comment is Free, either in the comments or most likely in a proper post. This is just one of those brilliant comments that sums up some of the changes in media these days. It’s as if, suddenly journalists have been transported into the kitchens and lounges of our readers and viewers as they scream at the paper and swear at the telly.

There are some great comments on that post highlighting the range of opinion about blogging and freedom of speech online. If you’re running or considering running a site like Comment is Free, it’s well worth the effort to read.

I just spent the last hour have a very enjoyable time writing a post on the Guardian’s News blog about the ‘hack’ of John McCain’s MySpace page. I put hack in quotes because I really don’t like how the media uses the term. It’s very unsophisticated, and they usually mean breaking into computers you don’t have permission to use.

But the defacement of John McCain’s MySpace page is sure to go down as Mike Davidson, the ‘hacker’ and CEO of NewsVine, has dubbed it: The ‘immaculate hack’.

Mike gives Team McCain some criticism that rings true for political candidates but also for many news organisations who believe their staff needn’t be involved in their communities:

But then I read the article in today’s Newsweek about how politicians are all setting up MySpace pages in order to “connect” with younger audiences. McCain’s MySpace page is listed, as are the pages from several other candidates. I think the idea of politicians setting up MySpace pages and pretending to actually use them is a bit disingenuous, so I figured it was time to play a little prank on Johnny Mac.

Todd Zeigler in this post at the Bivings Report put it more directly:

This is another example of the point I made in my last post: if campaigns are going to play in these social communities they need to understand the rules and respect the culture.

It’s pretty easy to see through these cheap ploys, and they feel disingenuous. Setting up a static page on a social networking site actually makes it look even more static, not at all interactive. Just by being in MySpace, or having a Twitter feed or putting the odd video up on YouTube doesn’t make a media organisation more interactive if you don’t actually interact.

Publishing on an interactive platform is still just publishing. What happens when people ask your ‘content’ questions, and there isn’t a human being there to answer? Well, at the very least, nothing happens. People get bored and go away. But, sometimes bad things happen, especially when you’re not particularly clueful with your approach and don’t understand the space. If you want community and participation, be ready to participate.