Netiquette
What is it? Set of rules for behaving properly online
Where online? Wikipedia, email, chats, facebook, myspace, msn, blogs, wikis
What kinds of postings can bad netiquette happen? Words, pictures, videos
Who cares how you behave online? Your face to the world: work, education
How do we avoid behaving badly? See “The Core Rules of Netiquette”
1.
Remember the Human:
- Just looking at a computer screen you might forget that you’re “talking” to a real person
who has feelings
- Remember the golden rule – Do unto others as you’d have others do unto you;
- Ask yourself, would you say it to the person’s face?
- Put yourself in someone else’s shoes before hitting the “send” key
- Need to be careful what you say because words don’t contain facial expressions,
gestures, tone of voice and therefore can be misinterpreted
- If you choose to be rude, remember that there is now a copy of what you have said in
writing or whatever you have posted and this can come back to haunt you; after its sent,
you have no more control over what is done with it
- Did you know that what you write or where you visit online can be tracked? Facebook
gears advertising based on the sites you have visited ; 123People is a record of
everything you put online; division can read your email and see your files
- Future employers or potential universities can search for information about you online
2.
Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life:
- Just because someone is conversing or talking online, there isn’t a lower standard of
ethics or personal behavior – it’s the same
- Some people are finding themselves being sued for what they have said online
- If you use shareware like music or video downloading sites, then pay for it
- If you’re tempted to do something that’s illegal in cyberspace, chances are it’s also bad
netiquette
3. Know where you are in cyberspace
- Netiquette varies from domain to domain: what’s acceptable in one place might not be
in another
- When entering a new space, spend time just “listening” to the chat or reading archives
so you can get a sense of how you should “act”
4.
Respect other people’s time and bandwidth
- Time: it’s your responsibility to ensure that the time others spend reading your work
online isn’t wasted, particularly using email where people get tons each day – be specific
to whom the email is intended so it doesn’t waste the time of those to whom it doesn’t
apply; make emails short and to the point; only share what’s really necessary
- Bandwidth: how the information flows from person to person on the net or how much
storage space a particular site has
- When you accidentally post the same note to the same group five times, you are
wasting both time and bandwidth
5.
Make yourself look good online
- Proofread what you send out: employers or professors or even potential dates won’t be
impressed if you have spelling errors or don’t know what you’re talking about
- Don’t use offensive language
- Be pleasant and polite
You can’t get the email or posting back once you’ve sent it
6.
Share expert knowledge
- The Internet was founded on the principal of the benefits of sharing knowledge and
making the world a better place so if you have something great to offer, by all means
share it
7.
Help keep flame wars under control
- Do your part to stop the perpetuation of flame wars – series of angry discussion, most of
them from two or three people directed toward each other, that can destroy the
camaraderie of any online group
- They’re also an unfair monopolization of bandwidth
- Do your part to stop cyberbullying: take a screen shot and report it to an adult when it
occurs
8.
Respect other people’s privacy and keep your own confidential information offline
- You do not have the right to share anyone’s personal information with others online
including email addresses, address, school, family information (use blind emails when
sending to more than one person – follow the instructions in the help section)
- For safety reasons, you need to keep your own information confidential; visit the privacy
settings on all the sites you share information, pictures, videos with others (put on only
friends)
- If someone asks for your information, including banking information, do not give it
- There are privacy laws in Canada that you must respect; you can end up losing your job
if you don’t
9.
Don’t abuse your power
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Some people in cyberspace have more power than others due to their knowledge in a
particular field or application or they have access rights: knowing more than others or
having more power than they do does not give you the right to take advantage of them;
Administrators of systems should not be reading private emails
10. Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes
- No one is perfect so if someone makes an error – spelling mistake, asks a stupid
questions, writes a really long answer to a question – think twice about reacting.
Having good manners yourself doesn’t give you a license to correct everyone else
- If you do decide to point out someone else’s mistake, point it out politely in a private
email and not in a public space
- Give people the benefit of the doubt
Credit: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/rule10.html