The word Netiquette is derived from the words network and etiquette.
Communicating with other people on the Internet requires caution because it is not only necessary to obey the rather obscure law concerning the Internet, it is also advisable to consider the Netiquette rules. This is not an easy task, since the legal aspects of the Internet may not always be clearly defined (see (il)legal) and moreover, Netiquette rules are more guidelines - a code of conduct - than rules. Readers may wonder at this time how anyone can obey rules which are undefined. The peculiarity of Netiquette rules however is that they are subjective, since Netiquette is an ethical code. This means that people define for themselves what they think is proper behaviour on the Internet. However, there are some basic rules, accepted by the majority of Netizens. We will try and summarize those basic rules in the next paragraph.
Since Netiquette is an ethical code, legal action can not be taken against people infringing on the Netiquette rules, but those people can certainly expect an aggravated reply (or worse) from other Internet users. Newbies , often ignorant of Netiquette, may unintentionally break one of the rules and might be scared off the Internet by the nasty replies of other users. Therefore, it is recommended that users learn about Netiquette before entering the Internet arena. The above may suggest that Netiquette is something long-time users invented to keep newbies out of the "inner circle"; this is far from the truth however, since the purpose of the Netiquette rules is to make the Internet a workable place to interact with other people, even for newbies. (TOP)
As we explained above, there are a few Netiquette rules that are the same for everyone.
Rule 1: The first thing to remember when communicating on-line, is that you are talking to a person, not a computer screen. Written words on-line may hurt just as bad as words said face-to-face. It is not right to use the Internet to state things you otherwise would never dare say to someone's face. So if you wouldn't do something in real life, do not do it on the Internet either.
Rule 2: Since rule 1 states that there should not be a difference between real life and on-line life behaviour, the golden "real life" rule also applies on the Internet: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". If you would not like being flamed , do not flame others. This may sound simple, but it is very easy to forget this rule. In the future, before clicking that "send"-button, reread your message and ask yourself if you would like to receive that message. If the answer is no, rewrite it. In short, on-line you should try to adhere to the same standards that you follow in real life.
Rule 3: It is advisable to look around before you start interacting in a virtual community like a chatroom or a newsgroup. Because Netiquette is subjective, it may differ from one chatroom to another. Therefore, it is a good thing to learn what is accepted in a certain virtual community before trying to enter it. On the Internet, people often refer to this rule as "Lurk before you leap".
Rule 4: Another very important thing to remember, is that people reading your message may not have as much time on their hands as you have, nor may they have a fast Internet connection. Sending the same message to a whole list of people, is usually not recommended since that message will probably be irrelevant to half of the people on the list. Don't send anything unless you are sure the people receiving it, want to receive it. The same goes for attachments. Some people on-line have the tendency to forward every funny picture or (even worse) movie to almost everybody in their address book, without considering whether those people actually want that picture or movie. It is also not only a matter of bothering people with things they don't want, it may also take up a lot of their time if they have a slow Internet connection. Not to mention all the bandwidth sending and receiving pictures or movies demands. But this rule doesn't only concern attachments. It is also annoying for people short on time if they have to wade through paragraphs of chit-chat before they reach the gist of the text. It's your responsibility to ensure that the time they spend reading or downloading your message isn't wasted. In this case, less is definitely more. It is also a good idea to give descriptive subjects to your messages, so people instantly know if it's something they need to read and if it's urgent or not.
Rule 5: Mind your language. Not only is cursing (just like in real life) frowned upon on the Internet, incorrect spelling or misuse of grammar is also not appreciated. This does not mean of course that people will start a flame war if your text contains a typo, but you can hardly expect people to take you serious if you can not even compose a decent sentence.
Rule 6: One of the things many people seem to forget on-line, is to be tolerant. Contrary to what people may think, if you nag about every little infringement of a Netiquette rule, you are not helping to build a nice, welcoming virtual community. People have to understand that newbies will make mistakes. Moreover, everyone was an Internet newbie once. If everyone started flaming newbies for every small mistake, that would only result in scaring off new users and making their group seem hostile. It is much more constructive to kindly explain what the person did wrong and give that person a second chance. Again, the same rule also applies to life off-line of course. Needless to say, good netiquette also includes not breaking the law (like using the network to infringe copyright, harm people, invade people's privacy, etc.).
If everybody works with these rules, the Internet would be a nicer place to communicate. Apart from these general Netiquette rules, there are also a few specific rules depending on the medium you use to communicate on the Internet. We will now briefly list some of the Netiquette rules for Usenet communication, chat rooms and e-mail. (TOP)
Netiquette in newsgroups on Usenet of course consists of the above six core rules, but there are also a few extra things that should be considered. One of those is that newbies are advised to read the FAQ of the newsgroup first, if there is one. This is to avoid having people ask the same questions over and over again. It is also a good idea to lurk for a considerable time before joining any discussion.
There is also an unwritten rule on Usenet that frowns upon everyone posting messages saying things like "me too" or "my thoughts exactly". It is a waste of people's time and bandwidth to reply to a message when you have nothing more to say than "me too". The same goes for posting off-topic messages. Usenet newsgroups are organized by subject and there is a newsgroup for virtually every topic you want to talk about. Therefore, people subscribed to a newsgroup hate seeing messages that don't belong there.
Two last Netiquette rules concerning saving bandwidth are the following. Firstly, when you reply to a message, only quote the part that refers to what you're saying. It is annoying for readers to scroll to a whole text, especially if there are a lot of replies to the same message, only to find that there is more quoted text than new text. However, it is advisable to quote at least a part of the message when you reply to it so readers shouldn't download the original text again to see what you're talking about. Secondly, it is okay to add a signature to your message (with a good quote, your e-mail address,...) but don't make the signature too long. Again it takes up bandwidth and it is annoying for people with a slow Internet connection if they have to wait longer for a message just because there is a long signature attached.
Finally we would like to remark that it is very bad Netiquette to posts advertisements for your website or the newest way to make money in newsgroups, especially when you send the same advertisement to several newsgroups (the so-called cross-posting). It will not attract more visitors to your website or shop. Contrary, it will only make people think badly of you.
If you want more information
about Netiquette on Usenet, be sure to check out the following link. Be warned,
it is a very sarcastic view about Netiquette. People with no sense of humour,
please refrain from clicking on the next link.
("Dear Emily Postnews") (TOP)
For communication in chat rooms there are also a few specific Netiquette rules. Two of the basic rules, are already mentioned above: do not advertise and stick to the topic. There are also a few small rules that apply to chat rooms. Many chat room operators don't allow swearing or any other foul language for example. In chat rooms (and in most newsgroups), typing in capital letters will be considered as shouting and will therefore also not be allowed. Using background colours and coloured text will often not be tolerated in chats. The same goes for repeating a sentence over and over again, called flooding. These two last rules prevent people from demanding attention from other chatters or even making it impossible for other chatters to have a normal conversation.
Most chat rooms operators automatically throw you off (or even ban you) when you infringe on one of the Netiquette rules, often without a preceded warning. (TOP)
Most of the Netiquette rules for Usenet, also apply to e-mail. Apart from those rules, the following things should be considered. Firstly, don't use any formatted text (special font, colours, background, etc.), special characters or HTML since not everyone uses the same e-mail reader and formatted text or HTML may turn out to be unreadable.
Be careful with humour in e-mail (and Usenet) messages. Since people can not see non-verbal signs link a wink or a smile or hear intonations in your voice when you communicate through e-mail, humour or other emotions will not be conveyed properly. There are, however, a few tricks to overcoming this problem. The use of smileys helps a great deal, as long as the other person is also familiar with smileys of course. You can also use asteriks or capital letters for emphasis and of course, correct punctuation can help as well. When sending an e-mail, you always have to remember that a message that might seem clear to you, might be completely misunderstood by the receiver. (TOP) (BACK TO HOME)