Hi Harold--thanks for continuing this discussion. Over on my original post, Ken Allen made the excellent point that the terms "inappropriate" and "unprofessional" are subjective, which ties in with Jon's comment above about how ideas of how to comport ourselves in conversation with others (both on and off-line) are changing.

While there are some obvious violations, such as personal attacks and name-calling, you can also have genuine disagreements about ideas that some organizations would consider to be "inappropriate" or at least inappropriate for a public forum such as a blog or social network. That, in itself, would open up some interesting conversations about organizational culture--what is acceptable to discuss and what isn't?

I do think that in many ways you get what you expect and model. If you lead with a bunch of rules about appropriate behavior, you probably end up stifling a lot of conversation. You also leave the impression that you expect poor behavior, which sends its own messages.