Netiquette

From ArticleWorld

The term Internet Etiquette that is used to denote a set of certain principles of behavior designed for net users to comply with while using the net, when combined as a whole is better known as Netiquette.

Being a vast entity with multifarious methods of sharing information, Internet cannot apply the same set of rules of standard behavior on different users dealing with different aspects net communication. Therefore, the conventional set of these rules is often modified to suit the needs of different net environments. Hence, the netiquette for newsgroups, web forums and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is not particularly the same. For instance, it is quite conventional on Usenet to use Standard English, devoid of abbreviations (such as "u" for "you”), while the latter are somewhat welcome on web forums, and are almost universal on IRC to pace up the flow of conversation.

Though netiquette may differ from one net environment to the other, yet it becomes an essential responsibility of every net user to regulate the use of Internet with certain common principles of personal behavior that cannot be done away with. This common set of rules of Internet Etiquette, generally referred as “Standard Netiquette”, is stated for a brief view as follows:

• Think before you post; and post only what is welcome.
• Refrain from posting in all upper case. It usually denotes yelling.
• Do not post to inappropriate groups.
• Refrain from commercial advertising outside the business groups.
• Use private e-mail to post personal messages. Do not post them to newsgroups.
• If you catch someone violating netiquette, send the guilty a notice through private e-mail. *Refrain from using an offensive tone, giving due benefit of doubt if the violation was deliberate or not.

The above-listed norms are a few examples from the set of Standard Netiquette, which must be followed as the rule of thumb by net users all over the world.