Over the past few years I’ve seen a good bit of discussion (if you can call it that) about “readers behaving badly” and “authors behaving badly.” I’ve thought, on and off, about what this means and in general, what sort of etiquette I think readers and authors should use.

We’ve always encouraged discussion on our network and drawn a hard line against flame wars. Things can get out of hand really fast on the web where no one is sitting across the table from you.

Are we past the place where we can expect thoughtful arguments and discussions about books? If we disagree with an author or a reader or a book, are we entitled to express our opinions in a hurtful way? Is it okay to publicly call out people we perceive are “behaving badly?” Is there a different level of professionalism in publishing than other industries?

In general, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Life can be a struggle for anyone. It can affect others in ways it might not affect me. Some books won’t be as good as other books. Email gets caught in spam filters. Editors retire and play musical chairs. Agents don’t always get back to you. At the end of the day, I think it’s good to remind myself to follow that golden rule: do unto others as you’d have them do to you. It’s a tough rule. I fail more often than not. But I’m human. So are readers. So are authors.

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