Netiquettte: Good Internet Manners

Nothing can ruin a good message board or chat room quicker than bad netiquette. Several excellent boards I used to enjoy have ceased to exist because someone was ill-mannered and rude. Practicing good netiquette can help prevent this from happening to a board or chat room.

1.Take time to read messages on a board or in a chat room for awhile to make sure you understand what the board or chat room is about and how the people who frequent it deal with one another.

2.If you decide you'd like to participate in a particular message board or chat room introduce yourself and ask if you may join in. This only applies to open message boards and chat rooms. There are closed ones where you have ask, and then await approval before you can interact with others that frequent the message board or chat room.

3.Choose a name to identify yourself that is different from others. If your location is asked give only a general answer such as country or state. Do not distribute personal information nor ask others to do so. When addressing others do not use their real name if you know it. Use their 'net identity i.e. "Horsegal, what type of saddle do you like?"

4.Don't shout. Shouting on the internet means writing in all CAPS and is considered rude, except in certain special circumstances. While some go the opposite direction and use all lower case letters, this isn't a good idea either. Using colors and sizes of font that are difficult to read is considered rude on some boards as well. Learn what is and isn't acceptable on the board or in the chat room you want to frequent.

5.If someone rude and/or disruptive shows up on a message board or in a chat room you have several choices; you can ignore them, report them if the board or room has that choice or leave.

6.Try to avoid direct confrontations with rude or abusive users. If you have a way to report them, then do so. If not you can either ignore them or leave.

7.Do not be the rude, abusive one. Do not make rude remarks about others or to them and do not be intentionally rude. If you are unintentionally rude and someone points this out to you, apologize if you want to continue on the message board or chat room. If you don't want to apologize, then leave the board or room.