How To Use The Internet Resourcefully

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Internet etiquette

Internet etiquette is how people interact on the Internet. It is usually called netiquette. It defines accepted behavior. There are several different communities on the Internet. Each one of them has it's own netiquite. Some except things that others will not. It is up to the user to know which type of netiquite is acceptable. Because words are mostly used to communicate on the internet, they must be chosen very carefully. If they are not chosen carefully, then the netiquite is not being followed. This may result inangry letters being sent to you voicing opinions against you. It is veryimportant not to keep disagreeing opinions going back and forth because thiscan go from bad to worse and benefit no one. There are many good sites onthe Internet that may be very agreeable with most people and some that arenotto many. Surfing the Internet can be stay enjoyable if youstick to what you know is safe and appropriate for you.

~~~~NET-etiquette~~~~

-- Remember - you may NOT be taking something in the manner it was intended. If you feel offended, DO NOT over-react. Remember that you do not know the mood of the person when the Email was created, and likewise, your mood affects the manner in which you interpret Emails. If there is the chance you might not understand a persons intent, write them directly and iron out your concerns. -- Symbols!! We use all kinds of symbols - such as the smile-face :-) and the like. When joking, it doesn't hurt to put that or a wink ;-) to ensure someone, who might not share your same sense of humor, will understand you are joking and/or just poking fun at them not trying to start an argument.
-- IS THIS TRULY THE SUBJECT. If something is to become a different thread, or is a response to something unrelated, CHANGE THE SUBJECT. So if you, or anyone, get tired of the thread you/they can just hit DELETE without reading. If I'm not interested in a thread, I hit DELETE on those messages with that in the Subject. Sometimes I come into a thread late, because someone started a conversation, or made a reply, with completely unrelated Subject matter line. So, hit reply, but if this message is going to go in a different direction - CHANGE THE SUBJECT FIELD before hitting send..
-- When replying to an Email, consider incorporating terms/verbiage from the post (or posts) you are responding to, rather than attaching many pages of an original post (or posts of a thread) in your Email. For example, state "I disagree with the contention that __________ for the following reasons..." then post your message. Some people do still pay for Email by the Kilobyte and/or have slower connections and lengthy (repeated) information can be time consuming and expensive when retrieving their mail. There is simply know reason, other than laziness to hit reply and leave 5, 10, 25 paragraphs of previous Email text as a Quote at the bottom of your response!
Alternately, if you do wish to quote directly from an original post, select only partial passages relevant to the matter you will be commenting on. In other words, edit the original text.

The Ten Commandments of E-mail

1) Thou shalt include a clear and specific subject line-- Good Example: "Pictures of Baby Smith" Bad Example: "Here are is the new pictures of Mr. and Ms. Smith's baby"

2) Thou shalt edit any quoted text down to the minimum thou needest-- It's best to keep from quoting. It can confuse the recipient on what you are trying to say.

3) Thou shalt read thine own message before thou sendest it-- Self Explanitory.Why send others something you haven't or wouldn't even read?

4) Thou shalt ponder how thy recipient might react to thy message-- Don't send something that you know will upset people. You can kill animosity in its tracks.

5) Thou shalt check thy spelling and thy grammar-- Always revise and re-read your words to reduce interpretation confusion.

6) Thou shalt not curse, flame, spam or USE ALL CAPS-- These are all negative emotion signs and igniters.

7) Thou shalt not forward any chain letter-- It can be irritating to most, besides, the person has probably already recieved it 100 times before you sent it.

8) Thou shalt not use e-mail for any illegal or unethical purpose-- The risk of getting caught or reported to authorities just isn't worth it.

9) Thou shalt not rely on the privacy of e-mail, especially from work-- There is no such thing as privacy now-a-days.

10) When in doubt, save thy message overnight and reread it in the light of the dawn.-- And, here's the "Golden Rule" of E-Mail:-- That which thou findest hateful to receive, sendest thou not unto others.-- Basically, don't send others your junk mail, especially if you don't like recieving it yourself.

On the Internet there exists all manner of wisdom and weirdness. It is the largest repository of information in the world, some a waste of time and cyberspace, but a lot of it factual, helpful and useful. You can query the Internet, or the World Wide Web which are practically synonymous, through an increasing number of search engines, such as Lycos, AltaVista, Yahoo, and Excite, which will return you key information about the content of Web pages and newsgroups that match your request. Once you figure out how to make smarter queries the results get more accurate and specific.

Internet email is perhaps the most amazing technology of all, you can be pen pals with anyone else who's got an email account and you don't have to go through a massive learning curve. It's just like writing a letter. You can communicate with missionaries, musicians and mates on the other side of the world and get a response possibly within hours. Internet Newsgroups bring you into communities of interest, whether its serious science or just plain fun, most are interested in what's going on in the communities where the discussion leads to something conclusive, such as the sharing of research or theories, music groups where you can learn about your favorite artists or find second hand tapes or CDs.

You have to be careful how you respond though, the Internet is a law unto itself and if you offend you could be "flamed", by having rude things said about you or your email inbox inundated with junk mail. You must watch your netiquette. No spamming (mass marketing) or shouting (capital letters). While there are no rules you'll soon find out what not to do if you step over the mark. Always try to read the FAQ (frequently asked questions) file before you get in too deep. Your question may be answered there or you may find you're in the wrong newsgroup altogether.