Netiquette Netiquette – Internet Etiquette o Understanding netiquette, or Internet etiquette, will keep you from making an electronic faux pas and will enable you to tell when others do. o Netiquette is as close as the Internet comes to having rules. Electronic Communications Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point. Focus on what subject per message and always include a pertinent subject title for the message, that way the user can locate the message quickly. Don’t use academic networks (like Spectrum’s, or the U of M’s) for commercial/personal or proprietary work. Include your signature at the bottom of email messages. Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or to distinguish a title or heading. o *Asterisks* surrounding a word can also be used to make a stronger point. o Capitalizing whole words that are not titles is generally termed as SHOUTING! Limit line length and avoid control characters (non-language characters). Follow chain of command procedures for corresponding with superiors. For example, don’t send a complaint via Email directly to the “top” just because you can. Be professional and careful what you say about others. Email is easily forwarded. Cite all quotes, references and sources and respect copyright and license agreements. Cite all quotes, references and sources and respect copyright and license agreements. HIIIII!!!!!! I’m SHOUTING AT YOU!!!!!!!!! (This is a couple from Emma, see. I cited it. That’s correct Netiquette!) It is considered extremely rude to forward personal email to other users without the original Acronyms can be used to abbreviate when possible: o Examples (some of these you definitely know) IMHO= in my humble opinion/ honest opinion FYI= for your information BTW= by the way Flame = antagonistic criticism :-) = happy face for humor However, messages that are filled with acronyms can be confusing and annoying to the reader. i.e. FYI IMHO I FLAME newbie’s who don’t RTFM. Capitalization These folks are newbies (or new users) and should be treated gently. Emoticons, Emoji, & Smileys Emoticons – Symbols that stand for emotive content o A.K.A. Emoji or Smileys Emoticon Exampls :-) The “sarc-mark.” Flaming Flaming is an often-angry, mean-spirited attack on another person via email. Subject Headings Subject Headings are a short description of what the email is regarding. ALWAYS be as descriptive as possible in the space provided NEVER leave your subject heading blank. Message & Signature Length There’s nothing wrong with sending a long message per se. You want to be sure of two things: o Your recipient(s) will actually want to read the whole message o That you let them know in the subject line that it is a long message.