"Netiquette," the etiquette of the Internet Introduction The Internet is an international network of networks connecting millions of computers and users. made up of more than computers and commands. All of the computers and commands would be useless if it weren't for the people who used the computers and commands. The commands are neat, but it is the PEOPLE who make the Internet what it is. This document suggests minimum guidelines for Internet Etiquette (Netiquette) which you may adapt for your own use. There are many Netiquette guides available on the Internet and several links are provided at the end of this document. Remember that the INTERnet is INTERnational. We Americans have made fools of ourselves by forgetting this everywhere else. Let's try to behave a little better on the net. In the past, the population of people using the Internet had "grown up" with the Internet, were technically minded, and understood the nature of the transport and the protocols. Today, the community of Internet users includes people who are new to the environment. These "Newbies" are unfamiliar with the culture and don't need to know about transport and protocols. In order to bring these new users into the Internet culture quickly, this Guide offers a minimum set of behaviors which organizations and individuals may take and adapt for their own use. Individuals should be aware that no matter who supplies their Internet access, be it an Internet Service Provider through a private account, or a student account at a University, or an account through a corporation, that those organizations have regulations about ownership of mail and files, about what is proper to post or send, and how to present yourself. Be sure to check with the local authority for specific guidelines. The problem is that every grouping of people develops its own culture and common rules that governs the behavior of the people. how to avoid some of the mistakes that EVERYONE makes when they start out on the Internet. If you can take what is said in this lesson to heart, you are going to find that your travels on the Information Superhighway are going to be a whole lot smoother. Users eventually tire of being passengers on the infobahn, just surfing or listening in on LISTSERVs, IRCs, Usenet newsgroups or whatever, and you're going to want to contribute something yourself. At that moment your life will change. Since the Internet spans the globe, remember that information services such as listservs and web pages may reflect culture and life-style markedly different from your own. Materials you find offensive may originate in a geography which finds them acceptable. Keep an open mind. Remember the following: you're not in Oz anymore; and (thankfully) not everyone thinks like you do. :-) Forgive the mistakes of others. You were a newbie once too! This material is organized into four sections: General issues; one-to-one communication such as email; one-to-many communications, which includes mailing lists and Usenet; and Information Servers, including ftp, WWW, Gopher and telnet. General Ever notice how people will drive their cars in ways they'd never dream of driving a shopping carriage? Anonymity can change people-don't let it change you. If you are moved to an angry reply, by all means write it. Then delete it. Mom's advice about sleeping on a decision is worth remembering here. Once you hit the Send command you lose control of your words. compose it, walk away, think about it. If you have problems with any form of information service, start problem solving by checking locally: Check file configurations, software setup, network connections, etc. Do this before assuming the problem is at the provider's end and/or is the provider's fault. Remember that the nuance of face to face (FTF) communication is lost to the electronic medium. A wink, smile, or nod of the head that would take the bite out of a verbal comment is unavailable to email. Always proof read your emails-both for grammar and content-before hitting the Send command. If it is possible someone could misinterpret what you have written, they will. Treat others as you want to be treated: with dignity and respect. Remember that the person reading your mail or posting is, indeed, a person, with feelings that can be hurt. Never mail or post anything you wouldn't say to your reader's face. Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life. Be ethical and abide by established conventions (such as this one) and common sense. Know where you are in cyberspace. Netiquette varies from domain to domain. Respect other people's time and bandwidth. It's OK to think that what you're doing at the moment is the most important thing in the universe, but don't expect anyone else to agree with you. Conserve bandwidth when you retrieve information from a host or server. Share the knowledge you have accumulated. Offer answers and help to people who ask questions on discussion groups. If you've received email answers to a posted question, summarize them and post the summary to the discussion group. Respect the privacy of others. Don't read private email not meant for you. There is nothing you can say that won't offend somebody: Flames (violent verbal expressions of disapproval), misunderstandings, overreactions, and hurt feelings are par for the course. Help keep flame wars under control. Don't respond to flame-bait. Don't post spelling or grammar flames. If you've posted flame-bait or perpetuated a flame war, apologize. Notify your readers when flaming. 1. Hedge your bets. Rather than saying, "Metal rules! Death to all that appose!!" try saying "In my humble opinion (often abbreviated IMHO) metal bands perfectly express my feelings, choices, and lifestyle. Your mileage may vary" (another net cliche', less frequently abbreviated YMMV). By the way, BTW is another frequent net abbreviation, for what it's worth (FWIW). 2. Apologize. When misunderstanding is the culprit, and especially if you respect the person who misunderstood, take the blame on yourself for being unclear, apologize, say what you meant more clearly (if appropriate) and put it behind you. As in real life (remember that?) people who are quick to anger are often equally quick to forgive. 3. Avoid flame bait (conduct which gravely offends the norms, mores and folkways of a particular group). "Now wait a minute!" you say. "Do you mean that something that's accepted behavior on one list or newsgroup will draw dozens of stinging, ridiculing comments in another?" I sure do. Lurk a while before you post. Read what's said trying to discover what the big no-nos are. The beginning of a school term is a wonderful time to do this, as you will observe the clueless newbies who weren't smart enough to read this paragraph being torn to shreds. There are some things you should NEVER do, and we'll list them in a minute, but let's get to the last bit of advice. 4. Bow down to the group's gods. In every Usenet newsgroup and listserv mailing list there are old, grey heads who have earned the respect of everyone in the group. For example, amongst the subscribers to the list discussing the late American bandleader Stan Kenton are the producer of a Kenton box set and the authors of definitive Kenton biographies and discographies. You are entirely ignorant compared to those people. Never pretend you're anything else. They would dearly love to help you -- to answer a question, help you find a rare record -- but you'll always come out second best in a head-butting contest with them. Still other group members have earned their status through long service. Friendships have developed over many years, and marriage is not unknown. By commenting abusively to or about one of these gods, you'll earn not only her enmity, but the enmity of all of her friends -- which may be everyone in the group but you! One-to-One Communication (electronic mail) One-to-one communication occurs when a person communicates with another person as if face-to-face: a dialog. Rules of common courtesy should be observed for any situation and on the Internet it's doubly important where, for example, body language and tone of voice must be inferred. Know how to get help. Usually you will have resources close at hand. Check locally for people who can help with software and system problems. Also, know whom to go to if you receive anything questionable or illegal. Most sites also have "Postmaster" aliased to a knowledgeable user, so you can send mail to this address to get help with mail. Unless your Internet access is through an Internet Service Provider (ISP), check with your employer about ownership of electronic mail. Laws regarding ownership of electronic mail (and its privacy) vary. Unless you are using an encryption device (hardware or software), you should assume that mail on the Internet is not secure. Never put in a mail message anything you would not put on a postcard. Treat every email and posting as though you were sending a copy to your boss, your significant other, and your worst enemy. Mail should have a subject heading which reflects the content of the message; the subject heading should follow the conventions of the person or group with which you are corresponding. If you are forwarding, re-posting or replying to a message you've received, do not change the wording. If the message was sent to you and you are re-posting to a group, ask the author's permission first. You may shorten the message and quote only relevant parts, but be sure you give proper attribution. DON'T include the entire contents of a previous posting in your reply. DO cut mercilessly. Leave just enough to indicate what you're responding to. Don't include mail headers except perhaps the "From:" line. If you can't figure out how to delete lines in your mailer software, paraphrase or type in the quoted material. Never send chain letters via electronic mail, they are forbidden on the Internet. At best you will be swamped with flame mail, at worst your network privileges will be revoked. Notify your local system administrator if you receive one. In general, it's a good idea to at least check all your mail subjects before responding to a message. Sometimes a person who asks you for help (or clarification) will send another message which effectively says "Never Mind". Also make sure that any message you respond to was directed to you. You might be cc:ed rather than the primary recipient. Make reading easy for the recipient. Many mail programs strip header information including your return address. In order to ensure that people know who you are, be sure to include a line or two at the end of your message with contact information. You can create this file ahead of time and add it to the end of your messages. (Some mailers do this automatically.) In Internet parlance, this is known as a ".sig" or "signature" file. Your .sig file takes the place of your business card. (And you can have more than one to apply in different circumstances.) Be careful when addressing mail. There are addresses which may go to a group but the address looks like it is just one person. Know to whom you are sending. Watch cc's when replying. Don't continue to include people if the messages have become a 2-way conversation. In general, most people who use the Internet don't have time to answer general questions about the Internet and its workings. Don't send unsolicited mail asking for information to people whose names you might have seen in RFCs or on mailing lists. Remember that people with whom you communicate are located across the globe. If you send a message to which you want an immediate response, the person receiving it might be at home asleep when it arrives. Give them a chance to wake up, come to work, and login before assuming the mail didn't arrive or that they don't care. Verify addresses before initiating long or personal discourse. It's also good practice to include the word "Long" in the subject header so the recipient knows the message will take time to read and respond to. Over 100 lines is considered "long". Remember that correspondents are human beings whose culture, language, and humor may differ from your own. Date formats, measurements, and idioms may not travel well. Be especially careful with sarcasm. DON'T rely on the ability of your readers to tell the difference between serious statements and humor. It's hard to write funny. It's even harder to write satire. Remember that no one can hear your tone of voice. Use emoticons (or smilies) like :-) or ;^) -- look sideways to see the smile, but use them sparingly. Don't assume that the inclusion of a smiley will make the recipient happy with what you say or wipe out an otherwise insulting comment. Make your message inviting to readers. Use caps or symbols for emphasis or for italics and underlines. This *is* what I mean. Use underscores for underlining. _War and Peace_ is my favorite book. DON'T SEND A MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS. CAPITALIZED MESSAGES ARE HARDER TO READ THAN LOWER OR MIXED CASE, plus it looks like you're SHOUTING. Use normal capitalization and proper punctuation. Separate paragraphs with blank lines. Your posting speaks for you, it should look good. Check grammar and spelling before posting. Know what you're talking about and make sense. DON'T send lines longer than 70 characters. This is a kindness to folks with terminal-based mail editors or newsreaders. Some mail editor tools only SEEM to insert line breaks for you, but actually don't, so that every paragraph is one immense line. Know what your mail editor does. Avoid sending heated messages (called "flames") even when provoked. Don't be surprised if you get flamed and it's prudent not to respond to flames. Wait overnight to send emotional responses to messages. If you have really strong feelings about a subject, indicate it via FLAME ON/OFF enclosures. For example: FLAME ON: This type of argument is not worth the bandwidth it takes to send it. It's illogical and poorly reasoned. The rest of the world agrees with me. FLAME OFF If you send encoded messages or attachments make sure the recipient can decode them. Be brief without being overly terse. When replying to a message, include enough original material to be understood but no more. It is extremely bad form to simply reply to a message by including all the previous message: edit out all the irrelevant material. A good rule of thumb is to limit line length to fewer than 65 characters and end a line with a carriage return. Leave some right margin; don't write to the edge of the screen. If you include a signature keep it short. Rule of thumb is no longer than 4 lines. Remember that many people pay for connectivity by the minute, and the longer your message is, the more they pay. Just as mail (today) may not be private, mail (and news) are (today) subject to forgery and spoofing of various degrees of detectability. Apply common sense "reality checks" before assuming a message is valid. "Reasonable" expectations for conduct via e-mail depend on your relationship to a person and the context of the communication. Norms learned in a particular e-mail environment may not apply in general to your e-mail communication with people across the Internet. Be careful with slang or acronyms. The cost of delivering an e-mail message is, on the average, paid about equally by the sender and the recipient (or their organizations). This is unlike other media such as physical mail, telephone, TV, or radio. Sending someone mail may also cost them in other specific ways like network bandwidth, disk space or CPU usage. This is a fundamental economic reason why unsolicited e-mail advertising is unwelcome (and is forbidden in many contexts). Know how large a message you are sending. Including large files such as Postscript files or programs may make your message so large that it cannot be delivered or at least consumes excessive resources. A good rule of thumb would be not to send a file larger than 50 Kilobytes. Consider file transfer as an alternative, or cutting the file into smaller chunks and sending each as a separate message. Don't send large amounts of unsolicited information to people. Your communication relies on both bandwidth (the size of the pipe) and latency (the speed of light). Be sure you have established written guidelines for dealing with situations especially illegal, improper, or forged traffic. Respond to electronic correspondence in a timely fashion (as you would return a telephone call- by the next business day. If you think the importance of a message justifies it, immediately reply briefly to an e-mail message to let the sender know you got it, even if you will send a longer reply later. Understand system rules such as disk quotas and supported software. Make sure you understand implications of requesting files by mail such as: Filling up disks; running up phone bills, delaying mail, etc. Remember that mail, news and web pages take system resources. Pay attention to the specific rules of your organization or service provider. It is entirely appropriate to abbreviate as it saves both writers and readers time and bandwidth. Common abbreviations include: <g> Grin ROFL Rolling on the floor, laughing LOL Laughing out loud IMHO In my humble opinion FWIW For what it's worth BTW By the way RTFM Read the f****** manual One-to-Many Communication (Mailing Lists, Listservs, Usenet) Rules for one-to-one email also apply to one-to-many communication. But the stakes are higher because you can offend many more people than in one-to-one communication. Therefore, it's quite important to know as much as you can about your audience. Listservs, mailing lists, newsgroups and chat rooms. Listservs can be an astounding source for information. Allowing you to communicate with individuals around the world who have interests similar to your own, they often attract the leading name in that field. There are newsgroups and mailing lists which discuss topics of wide varieties of interests. These represent many lifestyles, religions, and cultures. Posting articles or sending messages to a group whose point of view is offensive to you simply to tell them they are offensive is not acceptable. If you disagree with the premise of a particular discussion group, don't waste the time and bandwidth of the members by telling them how stupid they are. Just stay away. Sexually and racially harassing messages may have legal implications. There is software available to filter items you might find objectionable. Post messages to the appropriate discussion group. Remember that you send letters to the list address and commands to the LISTSERV address. Try not to ask stupid questions on discussion groups. Read the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document, that's what it is there for. When appropriate, use private email instead of posting to the group. DON'T reply to a point in a posting without quoting or paraphrasing what you're responding to and who said it. Reason: a dozen postings may occur between the original message and your reply. At some sites your reply may get there before the original. (2) DO quote (briefly) or paraphrase. If the original "Subject:"line was "Bison" make sure yours says "Re: Bison". Some REPLY functions do this automatically. By net convention, included lines are preceded by ">" (greater-than signs). Some mail editors and newsreaders do this automatically. Others require you to do it manually or set the "indent character"to ">". DON'T send a message saying "Why doesn't anybody say anything about X?" or "Who wants to talk about X?" It's always a risk to start a new topic (often called a thread).The group may have just finished a long, bitter war about that very subject. But if you want to take the risk, SAY SOMETHING yourself about the subject you're raising. DON'T betray confidences. It is all too easy to quote a personal letter in a posting to the entire group. DO read the "To:" and "Cc:" lines in your message before you send it. Are you SURE you want the mail to go there? DON'T make statements which can be interpreted as official positions of your organization or offers to do business. Don't waste expert readers' time by posting basic information. Listen in on mailing lists and newsgroups for a time before you post (this is called lurking). This gives you an understanding of the culture of the group. Respect the guidelines of the group. Look for introductory materials for the group. Many groups write down some of their norms and folkways in a frequently asked questions (FAQ) list along with the answers to these questions. Many Usenet FAQs are posted on news.answers. Listowners of listservs are often willing to email the FAQ for their list. In fact, they may have already told you where it is in the letter you get welcoming you to the list. If posting in response to a list, post so that list lurkers, not just your correspondent, will benefit from your comments. Remember that many others beside your correspondent will read your posting. Have you placed you comments in a context that will allow lurkers to benefit? When responding to a message don't assume your correspondent will remember the contents of the email to which you are responding. Include in your response pertinent information from the first email so that it will be apparent what it is you are responding to. Do not blame the system administrator for the behavior of the system users Remember that a large audience will see your posts. That may include a present or future employer. Take care in what you write. Mailing lists and newsgroups are frequently archived, and that your words may be stored for a very long time in a place to which many people have access. Assume that individuals speak for themselves, and what they say does not (unless stated explicitly) represent their organization . Messages and articles should be brief and to the point. Don't wander off-topic, don't ramble and don't send mail or post messages solely to point out other people's errors in typing or spelling. These, more than any other behavior, mark you as a newbie. Avoid sending messages or posting articles which are nothing but replies to replies: postings such as "Me, too" or "I don't know." Advertising is generally discouraged on most lists and Newsgroups, and should be avoided. Know your audience before you post. Unsolicited advertising will virtually (no pun intended) guarantee that you'll get flamed. When you reply to a message or a posting be sure to summarize the original at the top of the message, or include enough of the original text to provide context. This will make sure readers understand when they start to read your response. Since it is often possible to see a response to a message before seeing the original, some context helps everyone. But do not include the entire original! Be sure to attach a signature to your message. This will guarantee that any peculiarities of mailers or newsreaders which strip header information will not delete the only reference in the message of how people may reach you. Be careful when you reply to messages or postings. Frequently replies are sent back to the address which originated the post - which in many cases is the address of an entire list or group! You may accidentally send a personal response to a great many people, embarrassing all involved. It's best to type in the address instead of relying on "reply." If you accidentally send a personal message to a list or group, send an apology to the person and to the group. If you should find yourself in a disagreement with an individual, conduct your correspondence via mail rather than continue to send messages to the list or the group. If you are debating a point on which the group might have some interest, summarize them later. Don't get involved in flame wars. Neither post nor respond to incendiary material. If you are caught in an argument, keep the discussion focused on issues rather than the personalities involved. Listservs (Mailing Lists) There are several ways to find information about what mailing lists exist on the Internet and how to join them. Make sure you understand your service provider's (UMass Boston) policy about joining and posting to lists. In general it is always better to check local resources first before trying to find information via the Internet. Nevertheless, there are a set of files posted periodically to news.answers which list the Internet mailing lists and how to subscribe to them. This is valuable for finding lists on any topic. Send subscribe and unsubscribe messages to the appropriate address. Although some mailing list software is smart enough to catch these, not all can ferret these out. It is your responsibility to learn how the lists work, and to send the correct mail to the correct place. Although many many mailing lists adhere to the convention of having a "-request" alias for sending subscribe and unsubscribe messages, not all do. Be sure you know the conventions used by the lists to which you subscribe. Save the subscription messages for any lists you join. These usually tell you how to unsubscribe, digest and search list archives. Consider unsubscribing or setting a "nomail" option (when it's available) when you cannot check your mail for an extended period. In general, it's not possible to retrieve messages once you have sent them. Even your system administrator will not be able to get a message back once you have sent it. This means you must make sure you really want the message to go as you have written it. The auto-reply feature of many mailers is useful for in-house communication, but quite annoying when sent to entire mailing lists. Examine "Reply-To" addresses when replying to messages from lists. Most auto-replys will go to all members of the list. Don't send large files to mailing lists or individual correspondents when Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) or pointers to ftp versions will do. If you want to send it as multiple files, be sure to follow the culture of the group. If you don't know what that is, ask. When sending a message to more than one mailing list, especially if the lists are closely related, apologize for cross-posting. If you ask a question to which others respond, be sure to post a summary of responses. When doing so, truly summarize rather than send a cumulation of the messages you receive. Some mailing lists are private. Do not send mail to these lists uninvited. Do not report mail from these lists to a wider audience. Usenet Usenet (User's Network) is a globally distributed system which allows people to communicate on topics of specific interest. It is divided into hierarchies, with the major divisions being: sci - science related discussions; comp - computer related discussions; news - for discussions which center around NetNews itself; rec - recreational activities; soc - social issues; talk - long-winded never-ending discussions; biz - business related postings; and alt - the alternate hierarchy. Alt is so named because creating an alt group does not go through the same process as creating a group in the other parts of the hierarchy. There are also regional hierarchies, hierarchies which are widely distributed such as Bionet, and your place of business may have its own groups as well. Recently, a "humanities" hierarchy was added, and as time goes on its likely more will be added. In newsgroup parlance, "Posting" refers to posting a new article to a group, or responding to a post someone else has posted. "Cross-Posting" refers to posting a message to more than one group. If you introduce Cross-Posting to a group, or if you direct "Followup-To:" in the header of your posting, warn readers! Readers will usually assume that the message was posted to a specific group and that followups will go to that group. Headers change this behavior. Read all of a discussion in progress (this is called a thread) before posting replies. Avoid posting "Me Too" messages, where content is limited to agreement with previous posts. Content of a follow-up post should exceed quoted content. Send mail when an answer to a question is for one person only. Remember that News has global distribution and the whole world probably is NOT interested in a personal response. However, don't hesitate to post when something will be of general interest to the Newsgroup participants. Check the "Distribution" section of the header, but don't depend on it. Due to the method by which mail is delivered, Distribution headers are unreliable. But, if you are posting something which will be of interest to a limited number of readers, use a distribution line that attempts to limit the distribution of your article to those people. For example, set the Distribution to be "nj" if you are posting an article that will be of interest only to New Jersey readers. If you feel an article will be of interest to more than one Newsgroup, be sure to CROSSPOST the article rather than individually post it to those groups. In general, probably only five-to-six groups will have similar enough interests to warrant this. Consider using Reference sources (Computer Manuals, Newspapers, help files) before posting a question. Asking a Newsgroup where answers are readily available elsewhere generates grumpy "RTFM" (read the fine manual - although a more vulgar meaning of the word beginning with "f" is usually implied) messages. Although there are Newsgroups which welcome advertising, in general it is considered nothing less than criminal to advertise off-topic products. Sending an advertisement to each and every group will pretty much guarantee your loss of connectivity. If you discover an error in your post, cancel it as soon as possible. DO NOT attempt to cancel any articles but your own. Contact your administrator if you don't know how to cancel your post, or if some other post, such as a chain letter, needs canceling. If you've posted something and don't see it immediately, don't assume it's failed and re-post it. Some groups permit (and some welcome) posts which in other circumstances would be considered to be in questionable taste. Still, there is no guarantee that all people reading the group will appreciate the material as much as you do. Use the Rotate utility (which rotates all the characters in your post by 13 positions in the alphabet) to avoid giving offense. The Rot13 utility for Unix is an example. In groups which discuss movies or books it is considered essential to mark posts which disclose significant content as "Spoilers". Put this word in your Subject: line. You may add blank lines to the beginning of your post to keep content out of sight, or you may Rotate it. Forging of news articles is generally censured. You can protect yourself from forgeries by using software which generates a manipulation detection "fingerprint", such as PGP (in the US). Anonymous postings are accepted in some newsgroups and disliked in others. Material which is inappropriate when posted under one's own name is still inappropriate when posted anonymously. Expect a slight delay in seeing your post when posting to a moderated group. The moderator may change your subject line to have your post conform to a particular thread. Don't get involved in flame wars. Neither post nor respond to incendiary material. Clarify any policies your site has regarding its subscription to Usenet groups and about subscribing to mailing lists. Be aware that the multiplicity of News Reader clients may cause the News Server being blamed for problems in the clients. Make sure the problem you experience is not related to your machine or client software before contacting (blaming) your network provider. Warn correspondents if you intend to ship large files. Sending unsolicited information (especially large files) without a warning is frowned upon. Don't assume that people who you don't know will want to talk to you. If you must send private messages to people you don't know, be willing to accept gracefully the fact that they might be busy or simply not want to chat with you. Don't ask other users for personal information such as sex, age, or location. After you have built an acquaintance with another user, these questions may be more appropriate, but many people hesitate to give this information to people they don't know. If a user employs a nickname alias or pseudonym, respect their desire for anonymity. Do not use that person's real name without permission. With the help newsgroup moderators and listowners provide to users it is easy to have an enjoyable and productive experience on-line. There are also real time interactive services such as MUDs, MOOs, and (IRC) with which I am not familiar and have not specifically discussed here. World Wide Web (WWW) General Your Site Understand and abide by your service provider's policies. Ignorance of the rules is not a defense. When establishing a web site, verify guidelines with your local system administrator. Be familiar with how your own system works including file names etc. Include a statement of copyright for your site. Make clear what's available for copying and what is not. Respect the copyright on material that you reproduce. Ask the author's permission. Make sure your site has something unique to offer. Avoid developing web pages which simply point to other web pages. Describe what's available on your site, and your organization. Be sure any general policies are clear. Make sure that popular (and massive) information has the hardware and bandwidth to support it. Use thumbnail images to allow users to preview. For large files--text, audio, video or program, indicate the file size and, if possible, the approximate download time. For files meant for transfer, make filenames unique in the first eight characters. Use conventions for file extensions - .txt for ascii text; .html or .htm for HTML; .ps for Postscript; .pdf for Portable Document Format; .sgml or .sgm for SGML; .exe for non-Unix executables, etc. Although there are naming conventions for file types used, don't depend on these file naming conventions to be enforced. For example, a ".doc" file is not always a Word file. Don't point to other sites without asking first. Developing web pages is more than just design and implementation. It's also maintenance. Keep information up-to-date. Be sensitive to the longevity of your information. Be sure to date time-sensitive materials, and be vigilant about keeping this information well maintained. Have a consistent view of your information. Make sure the look and feel stays the same throughout your pages. Monitor the health of your site. Make sure your posted materials are appropriate for your organization or service provider. Test your web pages with a variety of browsers. Don't assume everything works if you've tested with only one client. Also, assume the low end of technology for clients and don't create applications which can only be used by Graphical User Interfaces. The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) provides a program cally "Bobby" which reviews web pages for their functionality with text browsers. And NetMechanic will tune up your web site. Tell users what you plan to do with any information you collect, such as WWW feedback. You need to inform people if you plan to publish their statements, whether by adding to a web page or remailing to an individual or mailing list. Other Sites Remember that these services belong to someone else. The people paying the bills make the rules governing usage. Information may be free - or it may not be! If you aren't sure-- check. When you have trouble with a site and ask for help, be sure to provide as much information as possible in order to help debug the problem. Information services also use conventions, such as www.xyz.com. While it is useful to know these conventions, again, don't necessarily rely on them. Do not assume that information you find or receive is up-to-date or accurate. Remember that new technologies allow just about anyone to be a publisher, but not all people have discovered the responsibilities which accompany publishing. Remember that unless you are sure that security and authentication technology is in use, that any information you submit to a system is being transmitted over the Internet "in the clear", with no protection from "sniffers" or forgers. When transferring information from a heavily trafficed server, be sure to use a mirror server that's close if a list is provided, or logging in during off-peak times.
The Netiquette Based on "A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community" Contents
* Preamble o About This Document o Starting Up * Summary of Things to Remember o Never forget that the person on the other side is human o Don't blame system admins for their users' behavior o Never assume that a person is speaking for their organization o Be careful what you say about others o Be brief o Your postings reflect upon you; be proud of them o Use descriptive titles o Think about your audience o Be careful with humor and sarcasm o Only post a message once o Please rotate material with questionable content o Summarize what you are following up o Use mail, don't post a follow-up o Read all follow-ups and don't repeat what has already been said o Double-check follow-up newsgroups and distributions o Be careful about copyrights and licenses o Cite appropriate references o When summarizing, summarize o Mark or rotate answers or spoilers o Spelling flames considered harmful o Don't overdo signatures o Limit line length and avoid control characters o Please do not use Usenet as a resource for homework assignments o Please do not use Usenet as an advertising medium o Avoid posting to multiple newsgroups
About This Document This document describes the Usenet culture and customs that have developed over time. Other documents in the newsgroup 'netannounce' describe what Usenet is and manuals or on-line help on your system should provide detailed technical documentation. All new users should read this document to acclimate themselves to Usenet. (Old users could read it, too, to refresh their memories.)
It is the people participating in Usenet that make it worth the effort to read and maintain this document. For Usenet to function properly those people must be able to interact in productive ways. This document is intended as a guide to using the net in ways that will be pleasant and productive for everyone.
Starting Up This document is not intended to teach you how to use Usenet. Instead, it is a guide to using it politely, effectively and efficiently. Communication by computer is new to almost everybody, and there are certain aspects that can make it a frustrating experience until you get used to them. This document should help you avoid the worst traps. The easiest way to learn how to use Usenet is to watch how others use it. Start reading the news and try to figure out what people are doing and why. After a couple of weeks you will start understanding why certain things are done and what things shouldn't be done. There are documents available describing the technical details of how to use the software. These are different depending on which programs you use to access the news. You can get copies of these from your system administrator. If you do not know who that person is, they can be contacted on most systems by mailing to account "news", "usenet" or "postmaster". Never Forget that the Person on the Other Side is Human Because your interaction with the network is through a computer it is easy to forget that there are people "out there." Situations arise where emotions erupt into a verbal free-for-all that can lead to hurt feelings. Please remember that people all over the world are reading your words. Do not attack people if you cannot persuade them with your presentation of the facts. Screaming, cursing, and abusing others only serves to make people think less of you and less willing to help you when you need it. If you are upset at something or someone, wait until you have had a chance to calm down and think about it. A cup of (decaf!) coffee or a good night's sleep works wonders on your perspective. Hasty words create more problems than they solve. Try not to say anything to others you would not say to them in person in a room full of people. Don't Blame System Admins for their Users' Behavior Sometimes, you may find it necessary to write to a system administrator about something concerning his or her site. Maybe it is a case of the software not working, or a control message escaped, or maybe one of the users at that site has done something you feel requires comment. No matter how steamed you may be, be polite to the sysadmin -- he or she may not have any idea of what you are going to say, and may not have any part in the incidents involved. By being civil and temperate, you are more likely to obtain their courteous attention and assistance. Never assume that a person is speaking for their organization Many people who post to Usenet do so from machines at their office or school. Despite that, never assume that the person is speaking for the organization that they are posting their articles from (unless the person explicitly says so). Some people put explicit disclaimers to this effect in their messages, but this is a good general rule. If you find an article offensive, consider taking it up with the person directly, or ignoring it. Learn about "kill files" in your newsreader, and other techniques for ignoring people whose postings you find offensive. Be Careful What You Say About Others Please remember -- you read netnews; so do as many as 3,000,000 other people. This group quite possibly includes your boss, your friend's boss, your girl friend's brother's best friend and one of your father's beer buddies. Information posted on the net can come back to haunt you or the person you are talking about. Think twice before you post personal information about yourself or others. This applies especially strongly to groups like soc.singles and alt.sex but even postings in groups like talk.politics.misc have included information about the personal life of third parties that could get them into serious trouble if it got into the wrong hands. Be Brief Never say in ten words what you can say in fewer. Say it succinctly and it will have a greater impact. Remember that the longer you make your article, the fewer people will bother to read it. Your Postings Reflect Upon You -- Be Proud of Them Most people on Usenet will know you only by what you say and how well you say it. They may someday be your co-workers or friends. Take some time to make sure each posting is something that will not embarrass you later. Minimize your spelling errors and make sure that the article is easy to read and understand. Writing is an art and to do it well requires practice. Since much of how people judge you on the net is based on your writing, such time is well spent. Use Descriptive Titles The subject line of an article is there to enable a person with a limited amount of time to decide whether or not to read your article. Tell people what the article is about before they read it. A title like "Car for Sale" to rec.autos does not help as much as "66 MG Midget for sale: Beaverton OR." Don't expect people to read your article to find out what it is about because many of them won't bother. Some sites truncate the length of the subject line to 40 characters so keep your subjects short and to the point. Think About Your Audience When you post an article, think about the people you are trying to reach. Asking UNIX(*) questions on rec.autos will not reach as many of the people you want to reach as if you asked them on comp.unix.questions or comp.unix.internals. Try to get the most appropriate audience for your message, not the widest. It is considered bad form to post both to misc.misc, soc.net-people, or misc.wanted and to some other newsgroup. If it belongs in that other newsgroup, it does not belong in misc.misc, soc.net-people, or misc.wanted. If your message is of interest to a limited geographic area (apartments, car sales, meetings, concerts, etc...), restrict the distribution of the message to your local area. Some areas have special newsgroups with geographical limitations, and the recent versions of the news software allow you to limit the distribution of material sent to world-wide newsgroups. Check with your system administrator to see what newsgroups are available and how to use them. If you want to try a test of something, do not use a world-wide newsgroup! Messages in misc.misc that say "This is a test" are likely to cause large numbers of caustic messages to flow into your mailbox. There are newsgroups that are local to your computer or area that should be used. Your system administrator can tell you what they are. Be familiar with the group you are posting to before you post! You shouldn't post to groups you do not read, or post to groups you've only read a few articles from -- you may not be familiar with the on-going conventions and themes of the group. One normally does not join a conversation by just walking up and talking. Instead, you listen first and then join in if you have something pertinent to contribute. Be Careful with Humor and Sarcasm Without the voice inflections and body language of personal communications, it is easy for a remark meant to be funny to be misinterpreted. Subtle humor tends to get lost, so take steps to make sure that people realize you are trying to be funny. The net has developed a symbol called the smiley face. It looks like ":-)" and points out sections of articles with humorous intent. No matter how broad the humor or satire, it is safer to remind people that you are being funny. But also be aware that quite frequently satire is posted without any explicit indications. If an article outrages you strongly, you should ask yourself if it just may have been unmarked satire. Several self-proclaimed connoisseurs refuse to use smiley faces, so take heed or you may make a temporary fool of yourself. Only Post a Message Once Avoid posting messages to more than one newsgroup unless you are sure it is appropriate. If you do post to multiple newsgroups, do not post to each group separately. Instead, specify all the groups on a single copy of the message. This reduces network overhead and lets people who subscribe to more than one of those groups see the message once instead of having to wade through each copy. Please Rotate Messages With Questionable Content Certain newsgroups (such as rec.humor) have messages in them that may be offensive to some people. To make sure that these messages are not read unless they are explicitly requested, these messages should be encrypted. The standard encryption method is to rotate each letter by thirteen characters so that an "a" becomes an "n". This is known on the network as "rot13" and when you rotate a message the word "rot13" should be in the "Subject:" line. Most of the software used to read Usenet articles have some way of encrypting and decrypting messages. Summarize What You are Following Up When you are following up someone's article, please summarize the parts of the article to which you are responding. This allows readers to appreciate your comments rather than trying to remember what the original article said. It is also possible for your response to get to some sites before the original article. Summarization is best done by including appropriate quotes from the original article. Do not include the entire article since it will irritate the people who have already seen it. Even if you are responding to the entire article, summarize only the major points you are discussing. When Summarizing, Summarize! When you request information from the network, it is common courtesy to report your findings so that others can benefit as well. The best way of doing this is to take all the responses that you received and edit them into a single article that is posted to the places where you originally posted your question. Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information, and write a short summary. Try to credit the information to the people that sent it to you, where possible. Use E Mail, Don't Post a Follow-up One of the biggest problems we have on the network is that when someone asks a question, many people send out identical answers. When this happens, dozens of identical answers pour through the net. Mail your answer to the person and suggest that they summarize to the network. This way the net will only see a single copy of the answers, no matter how many people answer the question. If you post a question, please remind people to send you the answers by mail and at least offer to summarize them to the network. Read All Follow-ups and Don't Repeat What Has Already Been Said Before you submit a follow-up to a message, read the rest of the messages in the newsgroup to see whether someone has already said what you want to say. If someone has, don't repeat it. Check the Headers When Following Up The news software has provisions to specify that follow-ups to an article should go to a specific set of newsgroups -- possibly different from the newsgroups to which the original article was posted. Sometimes the groups chosen for follow-ups are totally inappropriate, especially as a thread of discussion changes with repeated postings. You should carefully check the groups and distributions given in the header and edit them as appropriate. If you change the groups named in the header, or if you direct follow-ups to a particular group, say so in the body of the message -- not everyone reads the headers of postings. Be Careful About Copyrights and Licenses Once something is posted onto the network, it is *probably* in the public domain unless you own the appropriate rights (most notably, if you wrote the thing yourself) and you post it with a valid copyright notice; a court would have to decide the specifics and there are arguments for both sides of the issue. Now that the US has ratified the Berne convention, the issue is even murkier (if you are a poster in the US). For all practical purposes, though, assume that you effectively give up the copyright if you don't put in a notice. Of course, the *information* becomes public, so you mustn't post trade secrets that way. When posting material to the network, keep in mind that material that is UNIX-related may be restricted by the license you or your company signed with AT&T and be careful not to violate it. You should also be aware that posting movie reviews, song lyrics, or anything else published under a copyright could cause you, your company, or members of the net community to be held liable for damages, so we highly recommend caution in using this material. Cite Appropriate References If you are using facts to support a cause, state where they came from. Don't take someone else's ideas and use them as your own. You don't want someone pretending that your ideas are theirs; show them the same respect. Mark or Rotate Answers and Spoilers When you post something (like a movie review that discusses a detail of the plot) which might spoil a surprise for other people, please mark your message with a warning so that they can skip the message. Another alternative would be to use the "rot13" protocol to encrypt the message so it cannot be read accidentally. When you post a message with a spoiler in it make sure the word "spoiler" is part of the "Subject:" line. Spelling Flames Considered Harmful Every few months a plague descends on Usenet called the spelling flame. It starts out when someone posts an article correcting the spelling or grammar in some article. The immediate result seems to be for everyone on the net to turn into a 6th grade English teacher and pick apart each other's postings for a few weeks. This is not productive and tends to cause people who used to be friends to get angry with each other. It is important to remember that we all make mistakes, and that there are many users on the net who use English as a second language. There are also a number of people who suffer from dyslexia and who have difficulty noticing their spelling mistakes. If you feel that you must make a comment on the quality of a posting, please do so by mail, not on the network. Don't Overdo Signatures Signatures are nice, and many people can have a signature added to their postings automatically. Don't overdo it. Signatures can tell the world something about you, but keep them short. A signature that is longer than the message itself is considered to be bad form. The main purpose of a signature is to help people locate you, not to tell your life story. Every signature should include at least your return address relative to a major, known site on the network and a proper domain-format address. Your system administrator can give this to you. Some news posters attempt to enforce a 4 line limit on signature files -- an amount that should be more than sufficient to provide a return address and attribution.
Please do not use Usenet as a resource for homework assignments Usenet is not a resource for homework or class assignments. A common new user reaction to learning of all these people out there holding discussions is to view them as a great resource for gathering information for reports and papers. Trouble is, after seeing a few hundred such requests, most people get tired of them, and won't reply anyway. Certainly not in the expected or hoped-for numbers. Posting student questionnaires automatically brands you a "newbie" and does not usually garner much more than a tiny number of replies. Further, some of those replies are likely to be incorrect.
Instead, read the group of interest for a while, and find out what the main "threads" are - what are people discussing? Are there any themes you can discover? Are there different schools of thought?
Only post something after you've followed the group for a few weeks, after you have read the Frequently Asked Questions posting if the group has one, and if you still have a question or opinion that others will probably find interesting. If you have something interesting to contribute, you'll find that you gain almost instant acceptance, and your posting will generate a large number of follow-up postings. Use these in your research; it is a far more efficient (and accepted) way to learn about the group than to follow that first instinct and post a simple questionnaire.
Please do not use Usenet as an advertising medium Advertisements on Usenet are rarely appreciated. In general, the louder or more inappropriate the ad is, the more antagonism it will stir up. A posting "Rules for posting to Usenet" has more on this in the section about "Announcement of professional products or services". Try the biz.* hierarchies instead.
If you think about posting advertisements on Usenet, you should read the document Advertising on Usenet: How To Do It, How Not To Do It.
Avoid posting to multiple newsgroups Few things annoy Usenet readers as much as multiple copies of a posting appearing in multiple newsgroups. (called 'spamming' for historical reasons) A posting that is cross-posted (i.e lists multiple newsgroups on the Newsgroups: header line) to a few appropriate newsgroups is fine, but even with cross-posts, restraint is advised. For a cross-post, you may want to set the Followup-To: header line to the most suitable group for the rest of the discussion. Credit where credit is due.Original Author : chuq@apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) |