Topics:

What is Netiquette?
Newsgroups
IRC/Chat Channels
E-Mail
The Web
Closing

What is Netiquette?

Netiquette is similar to another word that it is derived from, etiquette. But with a slight twist. To be able to better understand the concept of netiquette, one must know the definition of etiquette. Webster defines etiquette as:

The forms, manners, and ceremonies established by convention as acceptable or required in society, a profession, etc.

Essentially, netiquette is to the cyber world that etiquette is to the phycial world. As there are certain acceptable forms of behavior when we interact with people in public, there are also acceptable forms of behavior and actions in the cyber world. The following are just a few points on netiquette that should be followed when interacting on the Internet. These are just my opinions and do not constitute any written rules or policy. Each different Internet Service Provider has their own policies and rules that they expect each of their subscribers to follow. It would be a good idea for you to read and follow those policies.
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Newsgroups

The newsgroups on the Internet (often referred to as Usenet) generally each have their own set of rules. These rules, parameters, policies, or whatever they may be called are usually found in Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's). Before joining in on a newsgroup's discussion and posting messages of your own, there are a few simple precautions that should be taken:

1. Take a period of time to follow the message topics. After a certain point you will be able to tell which direction a thread is proceeding and you'll have a better idea of the premise of the topic.
2. Find the FAQ for the newsgroup that you're interested in. Almost all the newsgroup's FAQ's are stored at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub (or click on the FAQ linked words in my page). When you find the FAQ that pertains to the newsgroup that you're interested in, make a point of reading it thoroughly. There may be cases where the FAQ for the particular newsgroup may not be listed or archived. In those cases, if you wait long enough someone on the newsgroup will post a FAQ for the newsgroup or you may just want to send an e-mail to one of the participants asking about it. Another option, is to post a message with the subject FAQ that requests information on where the FAQ for the newsgroup can be found.
3. Keep the topic that you're posting related to the newsgroup to which you are posting the message. And don't post gibberish or something to just see your message posted on the newgroups; make sure that your message contributes something to the discussion. To do otherwise is considered spamming. And if you spam, be prepared to receive quite a few flames (insults) and angry responses in your e-mail. Continual spamming may cause complaints to your service's postmaster and may cause action against you. Free speech does entitle you to voice your opinions, but what holds true for you holds true for others. And spamming, very loosely, may be covered by free speech but it is still meaningless and annoying.
4. There will be cases when you will come across people who will degenerate discussions to a level of name-calling and abusive language. Everyone on the newsgroups should be extended a certain amount of dignity. Try not to make a point of constantly doing this. There are others that will be self-appointed "authorities". By this I mean individuals or groups who have taken upon themselves the unofficial authority to "speak" for other members/users. You will see some of them within the newsgroups and they will state some reference to it (as within their signature on a message posting "Troll Patrol", "member The Cabal", or even "Usenet Information Council"). As far as I am aware, there is no governing body within the newsgroups. Deal with these people as best as you can and, my suggestion, don't let it bother you.
5. Minimize the crossposting of messages. Crossposting is posting the same message in multiple newsgroups. Some newsreaders allow the simultaneous posting to multiple newsgroups. Make sure that when you do this that the subject would be related to the specific newsgroups and would be of interest to those participants in those newsgroups.
6. Replies to posted requests or offers should best be done through e-mail to the originator of the message. Unless your reply would be of interest to everyone on the newsgroup. If you are interested in receiving the information being requested also, again, send an e-mail to the poster asking that he/she forward a copy of the information to you through e-mail. Almost all FAQ's deal with this issue; read up on it.
7. Another issue that is normally dealt with in FAQ's is the issue of quoting. When replying to a message make sure that you quote enough of the message that you are responding to so that others can follow your thread.

The Usenet newsgroups are, in my opinion, the largest segment of the Internet that the lack of netiquette is most prevelant.
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IRC/Chat Channels

As far as I'm aware, there are no FAQ's or policies that govern IRC's (Chat Channels). So, basically, it's a free-for-all. There are a few simple guidelines that can make the experience more pleasurable for you and for others:

1. When creating a chat channel (or room), name the channel that can be associated with what the channel's purpose or topic is. Nothing is more annoying or irritating than to join a channel to find out that the purpose of the channel is NOT what you interpretted from the channel name to be.
2. If possible, ask someone through direct chat what the purpose of the channel is if the channel name is somewhat ambiquous or could have multiple meanings.
3. Do not join a channel just so that you can go in and annoy all the others by either repeatedly keying in gibberish or being abnoxious. If you have nothing to add or contribute to the discussion on the channel, LEAVE.
4. If you are the only one on the channel and you get distracted or "called away" from it, use one of the slash commands to note on your information that you are not there at that time. That maybe they should beep you (if you are involved on another channel) or patiently wait (if you had to leave your computer for a few minutes). It is very annoying to join a channel to find that there is one person there, but your messages are not acknowledged. If you do a WHOIS you can see if that person is also on another channel or maybe they are away from their computer. If there is no information as to them being AWAY or no other channel shows up that they may have joined, then you don't know what to think. Maybe they were expecting someone else, maybe they're just rude.
5. Try not to join more channels than you can possibly keep track of or participate in. For the same reasons as listed above.

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E-Mail

There are only a few things that would annoy me regarding e-mail. Remember, e-mail is very much like the U.S. Postal Service's mail. These are messages that are intended solely for those that are associated with the e-mail address that it is being sent to. E-mail is for personal correspondence, as oppossed to newsgroups' public messages.

There is an effort among some on the Internet to enact additional laws to regulate/eliminate UCE/UJE (Unsolicited Commercial E-mail/Unsolicited Junk E-mail). My opinion is that no further laws are required, utilize those that are already in affect. Follow this link for further information about SPAM/Junk E-mail.

Therefore: IMPORTANT!!!!

1. You should never post publically any e-mail that you receive unless you have the permission of the sender to do so. This is considered bad taste.
2. Never send out mass mailings unless the recipients have specifically requested that they be included in your mailing list. If you wish to acquire e-mail addresses for your mailing list, then post a classified ad on one of the online services that have such features or post a message on an appropriate newsgroup that is just for those type of messages.
3. On the same subject of mass mailings, if you maintain an e-mail group list make a point of sending any e-mails to the group with their e-mail addresses in the Bcc: instead of To:. The purpose is multi-fold: 1) it keeps the e-mail message from being 95% e-mail addresses, 2) any unscrupulous bulk e-mail address harvester does NOT get a whole slew of FREE e-mail addresses which they can then turn around and SELL. Also, these large e-mail listed messages bog down mail servers and take a tremendous amount of time to download onto your own computer. AND, if you use an e-mail filter, like I do, then this adds considerably more time to processing any incoming e-mail.
4. Along the same lines, it is bad form to send large file attachments to any recipient without first asking them if they wish to receive these attachments. Believe it or not, there are people on the Internet who do not use a Pentium 233 mhz computer with a 56K modem. Any large file attachments cause their systems to bog down and tie up their e-mail downloading. So, be sure to check with your recipients to see if they WANT file attachments. If anyone is using ICQ or AOL Instant Messenger, you'll notice that there are options where file transfers are NOT automatic and require the receiver to accept them. Why not extend the same courtesy to e-mail recipients?
5. If a recipient requests that you no longer correspond with them through e-mail, honor their request. Don't get into an e-mail flame war or force yourself onto them; this could be construed as harrassment.
6. In replying to e-mail, try to quote their message if your reply pertains to something they wrote to you. Nothing irritates me more than to receive a reply back from someone about something I wrote to them weeks ago. I read their message and they make reference to my message, but I may not remember what I wrote exactly.

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The Web

Everyone at some point will have an opportunity to create a Web Page for themselves. Essentially, creating a "presense" on the Web. Make sure that you give your Web Page considerable thought. There are a few things that you can do to make your Web Page one of the ones that are NOT annoying:

1. Take the time to plan out the layout of your page(s).
2. Learn HTML (HyperText Markup Language) so that you can more easily update your page(s) and in a more timely manner, when necessary.
3. Keep the page(s) relevant to something, don't let it be one of the "Kilroy Was Here" pages.
4. Maintain the validity of any links that you may have on your pages. Periodically verify that the linked pages are still on the Web and valid.
5. One of my latest pet peeves pertains to excessive graphics and sound/midi files. Remember: Not everyone surfing the Internet has a 200MHZ MMX system. Items that may be "kewl" to you, may be extremely annoying and bothersome to others. Keep these points in mind when you are designing your web pages:
   • Use thumbnails to display any pictures that you are proud of or want others to see. List the size of the graphic file with the thumbnail in order to allow the visitor to decide for themselves if they want to view the full screen version.
   • If the graphic serves no purpose, don't include it. It'll be just another series of graphics that the visitor has to wait for them to load before they can proceed on browsing your page.
   • One last point about graphics. Make a point of reading about linking to graphics on other sights at WidowsWeb.
   • Sounds/Midi files. This is the most misused feature that I've seen on many pages. For God's sake, have the files load in the STOPPED function. There is nothing worse than having a page load, and then the music (most of which I may not like) start playing. Now I've got to scroll to find the control panel on the page. BUT, WAIT!!! There is something worse! And that is pages that have no method of stopping the playing. These sites have sound/midi files that load and do not utilize any control panel........AND they set the music to LOOP! Be considerate.

These are just a few points that, in my opinion, makes a Web Page work well. Another source of information for Web Pages is the WWW FAQ.
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In closing this page.

The above are just my opinions. They are no more or no less important than anyone else's on the subject of Netiquette. As you travel through the cyber world we call the Internet, you'll begin to formulate your own interpretation of what Netiquette means to you. I have put on this page my views of netiquette and I have also included some other sources. Not necessarily those that match mine exactly, but there are some similarities. I welcome other ideas and comments. I enjoy stimulating discussions, but I have very little tolerance for flames and/or ramblings. I reserve the right to deal with those in whatever way I feel is appropriate. What do I feel would be appropriate? Well, that would depend on my overall mood on whatever day that I receive those types of correspondence.

I hope I have done my part, however small, in giving you some information. If you find any additional sites that either support my opinion or even oppose it, let me know and I will gladly review it to see if I would want to link it to my page.

Cuyahoga Community College has requested and has been granted permission to include this web page in it's student mannual for it's Information Literacy web-based course.

Arlene Rinaldi's Web Page pertaining to User Guides and Netiquette on the Net is a more detailed rendering of the use of netiquette.

In addition, you may want to check out this Welcome Newbie site.

Return to my home page.
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©1996,1997, 1998, T. R. Iwaniw