One of the reasons I admire my friend Mena is that she is remarkably prescient. I think it's worth revisiting these posts that she wrote a year and a half ago.

Her first post was a transcript of a speech she delivered, with the core concept that we should hold ourselves to the same standards in conversation online that we do face-to-face. Some key quotes:

For this reason, many people are afraid of bloggers. Frankly, I'm a blogger and I'm afraid of bloggers...

If we want to bring a new generation to weblogging ... we need to create an environment where people feel welcomed.

And then, her follow-up post:

There are really two points I want to emphasize.

• It's not about being nice—it's about accountability.
• Ultimately, we need to get more people blogging.

I'd posted a bit about the unkindness of our communities online as well. There's more to come, but I think some of the ideas in all of these posts are still relevant.