Why do conversations in the blogosphere often descend into personal abuse, attempted character assassination, and the misinterpretation of the general as the particular?

The answer is a lack of visual cues, but more than that, the basic fact that we don’t really know to whom we’re talking. The truth is, the Internet is more like a country than a global village. In a village, most people are related or know each other to some extent. In a country, 99.9pc of people are total strangers.

It’s true we get to know people reasonably well if we work in the same segment of the space and “bump” into them frequently. Our brain triangulates or triages the welter of facts and impressions we get into a coherent picture of them, which may be slightly wide of the mark, but probably by not that much.

All this is prompted by another outbreak of what I call Blog Network Fever in recent days. This is a sudden rise in temperature among normally sedate blog network owners, who muster in the blogosphere without warning, accompanied by their most loyal lieutenants and spear carriers. Others come out in force and shield walls are formed which move slowly towards each other with loud yells and bloodcurdling cries. Some participants may be covered from head to foot in the modern equivalent of woad, body tattoos and Adsense.

The last outbreak of this as-yet unnotifiable disease occurred this week and appears to have originated in that strange alien life-form the 9rules webring, thought to have been invented by Arthur C. Clarke. A sturdy fellow universally known as Scrivs (Dr Who, watch this one!) claimed that one Colbert Low, an unassuming blogger from Malaysia who authors two blogs for Syntagma Media, should not be putting his talents about on four blog networks. Scrivs claimed that only the 9rules view of the cosmos should prevail.

Well, the scrap was hard fought and spead like wildfire across the blosmic space we call home. If you’re interested you can sample it here and here.

So back to my original point: should we have a code for conversations in the blogosphere? Provided the U.S. Congress doesn’t legislate it, YES, I say. What then should it be?

Let’s take a little trip down Mexico way and alight upon a now long-forgotten people: the Toltecs. These were the philosophers of their day — a bit like Druids — who understood life better than we do with our metal-hard scientism.

They had four principles by which they lived. They perfectly anticipate the problems of the blogosphere because they are universal and apply to all peoples at all times. Here they are:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take anything personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

Do I see an olive branch moving in our direction? Why ever not?