Netiquette

[Enemies]

Hey all,
To tie in nicely with Be Nice on the Internet week I thought it would be good to discuss the topic of Netiquette.
Netiquette is a synonym combining 'Internet' and 'Etiquette' and is used to propose the idea of being more friendly to all whilst emersing yourself into an online community.

Golden Rule
The Golden Rule of Netiquette is to do unto others online as you would have done to you.

There are numerous suggested rules for us to follow when using an online community such as Buffy Boards in order to keep the online community civil, friendly and polite whilst also making friends and discussing the things we love. Here are a few rules of those rules for us to consider when posting online:

Review the Forums to Avoid Duplicate Posts. Not only is this a waste of your time, but it can also irritate veteran members of the forum who are tired of seeing the same issues raised over and over again.

Never Use ALL CAPS. One of the pitfalls of Internet communication is that people can't read your tone of voice or intention beyond what you say on the forum or message board. When you type in all CAPS, reader interpret your tone as yelling because that is common for people who fail to use sentence case.

Use Correct Spelling and Punctuation. Your postings on Internet forums and message boards don't have to be ready for publication in a novel, but they shouldn't be riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, either. Proper etiquette entails that you make an effort to write correctly, if only so that other forum members can understand what you're saying. "NetSpeak" ('u' for 'you'; 'k' for 'okay'; 'cuz' for 'because', etc.) is also becoming less acceptable as Internet forums and message boards become more sophisticated and draw more professional users.

Ask Before You Attack. In many cases, a seemingly offensive post is not meant the way it sounds due to the lapses in communication on the Internet. Before you dig in with both claws to provide a snappy and nasty comeback, consider asking the original poster to clarify what he or she meant. If it turns out that you were correct in your original interpretation, you can feel free to speak your mind; however, if you weren't correct, people will respect you for having an open mind.

Ignore Spamming. Don't encourage spamming by drawing attention to it; instead, pretend it doesn't exist or notify a moderator so that the offending post can be removed. Likewise, don't provide your own spam; keep self promotion to a forum section that allows it, if any.

Don't Include All Previous Posts. If you have a specific passage on which you want to comment, feel free to copy it in your post, but don't include them all. Internet etiquette dictates that you make reading as easy on everyone else as possible. If they have to scroll through twenty posts in which all previous posts are quoted, no one will want to return to the thread. The rule of thumb for this form of etiquette is to never quote more text than you intend to write yourself.

Use Topic-Specific Titles. Many people read threads based on their titles, so try to be as specific as possible. Don't say that your topic is one thing when you plan to talk about several other things.

Take Personal Issues Off the Forums. Internet forums and message boards are for public discussions which bear relevance to more than a few people. If you have a personal issue with someone else, take it off the forums. If the message board offers a private message function, use it.

Avoid Trolling. A troll is someone who posts topics on message boards with the sole purpose of instigating argument or debate. It is definitely an etiquette no-no and will earn you the disrespect of everyone on the forum. It is usually easy to identify a troll after they've been on the boards a few weeks, and you could easily wind up with a suspended account.

Don't Flame the Staff. Flaming the staff on their message board is like askin to going to someone's house just to insult them; it isn't proper etiquette, and is just plain rude. If you have a legitimate complaint, post it with courtesy and decorum. If necessary, wait until you've calmed down to post a message about it in the forums.

Post Under the Proper Categories. It is never enjoyable to find a post in the wrong place. Keep your threads consistent with the topics that govern them and ask if you aren't sure where to post a particular subject. The moderators don't want to spend all their time rearranging threads.

Avoid Hijacking a Thread. Hijacking involves posting a new idea or topic on someone else's thread. Sometimes, if the topic is related, this is okay, but try to post new threads if you need to start a different discussion. People who are interested in your topic can go to your thread and you won't offend anyone else this way.

Use Your Words. Finally, I encourage you to "use your words". This means finding better words than cuss words or inappropriate comments. If you can't post without cursing or otherwise being offensive, move on and post on a different thread.

As well as these rules I feel, personally, that it is also responsible for us to remember:
- Not to post copyright material
- Behave online as you would do in reality
- The internet can be a dangerous place so never share anything too personal
and finally
- Remember that your posts are public and may be able to be found online by anyone using the internet

I'm sure as members on BB we have all been guilty of something above at one point or another without even realising it, I know I have. However, if we all endeavour to follow these simple rules BB will be an even nicer place for us all 🙂

sources: here here and here

 

[BuffyElevated]

Great post, [MENTION=11394]Enemies[/MENTION]!! 🙂 I think so many of these are relevant to BB, so I'm really happy you decided to share this with everyone. 🙂

 

[zobothehobo]

Ok, I'm going to post this because it's a me thing... feel free to ignore if you so choose.

The golden rule doesn't make much sense. The logic of it says that if you behave a certain way towards someone else, they will behave that way back to you. So if A does x to B, B will do x to A. But it doesn't take into account that the other person is an A too. I mean, A treats B x because that is the way A would like to be treated.. and in order for the whole principle to work, A wants to be treated that way and finds it rude when they're not. So let's say B does y to A. A is then faced with a dilemma, do what B wants and therefore be nice by giving them what they want (as said by the logic of the rule) and do y, or do what they want and do x. Either way, A is screwed. If A does y, they're falsely telling B they want y done too. If they do x, they're breaking the whole principle the rule stands on, which is if you do one thing to someone, they'll do it back... and therefore there's no point in showing B they want x done because A's already broken the principle the rule is based on and therefore B has no obligation to do x anyway.

That aside, I like these rules.. All of them very useful to keep in mind. 🙂

 

[Black Eye Guy]

One of my favourite things about BB is that we have maybe more rules then allot of other places online. I mentioned before how this forum ruined me for other forum, this became the standard I was used to online, and when I went other places I found the standard was no where near what I was used to, so came running back here.

I think the biggest one I had issues with was the proper spelling and grammar, I'm dyslexic and spell would be one of my worst areas, also punctuation (and Math), but I would have often used NetSpeak and never really got the point of not using it, I liked shortening words or spelling them how you they sound for ease.
It wasn't till someone pointed out to me (I think it was Darla, actually) that it could be someone who's first language isn't English reading your post, and how it wasn't fair on them to be using short hand they might not understand. Totally clicked with me after that, and I stopped, and made sure to have a spell checker in my browser (greatest invention ever) and when I'm away from my own computer, usually run it through word before posting.

 

[BuffyElevated]

Ok, I'm going to post this because it's a me thing... feel free to ignore if you so choose.

The golden rule doesn't make much sense. The logic of it says that if you behave a certain way towards someone else, they will behave that way back to you. So if A does x to B, B will do x to A. But it doesn't take into account that the other person is an A too. I mean, A treats B x because that is the way A would like to be treated.. and in order for the whole principle to work, A wants to be treated that way and finds it rude when they're not. So let's say B does y to A. A is then faced with a dilemma, do what B wants and therefore be nice by giving them what they want (as said by the logic of the rule) and do y, or do what they want and do x. Either way, A is screwed. If A does y, they're falsely telling B they want y done too. If they do x, they're breaking the whole principle the rule stands on, which is if you do one thing to someone, they'll do it back... and therefore there's no point in showing B they want x done because A's already broken the principle the rule is based on and therefore B has no obligation to do x anyway.

That aside, I like these rules.. All of them very useful to keep in mind. 🙂

It doesn't have to be that difficult... The golden rule doesn't say that if you treat others nicely, they'll treat you nicely back. It just means that we should try to treat others how we wish they'd treat us. Whether or not they are nice, that's on them, but we control our own actions, so if we treat others nicely at least we can feel good about that. 🙂

 

[zobothehobo]

[MENTION=10582]brinkster130[/MENTION] agrees: I think it is more: treat others how you want to be treated rather than treat someone the same as they treat you

I was wondering if anyone would indulge me... I know it is, but the logic of it, the whole reason why you would treat someone the way you want to be treated is so that they will know how you want to be treated to treat you that way back. And it's understood in the fact that you are following the golden rule (just based on the logic of it) that part of the way you want to be treated is the way you want to be treated. For example, if you want to be treated a certain way, it's annoying when you're not. It works when you look at the rule one sided, but like I said, the rule fails to take into account that everyone else is a person too. Under the rule, if someone treats you a certain way, they're telling you this is the way they'd like to be treated. So you can break the whole principle of the rule by treating them a different way and therefore voiding the whole obligation the rule sets up (and therefore the motivation of doing it), or you can treat them the way they'd like to be treated and under the rule, falsely represent that as the way you'd like to be treated aswell.

I get the sentiment behind it, and I follow the sentiment in my daily life, but the actual rule is a fallacy.

 

[brinkster130]

I was wondering if anyone would indulge me... I know it is, but the logic of it, the whole reason why you would treat someone the way you want to be treated is so that they will know how you want to be treated to treat you that way back. And it's understood in the fact that you are following the golden rule (just based on the logic of it) that part of the way you want to be treated is the way you want to be treated. For example, if you want to be treated a certain way, it's annoying when you're not. It works when you look at the rule one sided, but like I said, the rule fails to take into account that everyone else is a person too. Under the rule, if someone treats you a certain way, they're telling you this is the way they'd like to be treated. So you can break the whole principle of the rule by treating them a different way and therefore voiding the whole obligation the rule sets up (and therefore the motivation of doing it), or you can treat them the way they'd like to be treated and under the rule, falsely represent that as the way you'd like to be treated aswell.

I get the sentiment behind it, and I follow the sentiment in my daily life, but the actual rule is a fallacy.

I always just took the sentiment behind it and acted accordingly rather than literally dissecting it. I believe it is an extremely old saying that implies a concept of empathy more so than providing a rigid guideline.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I was wondering if anyone would indulge me... I know it is, but the logic of it, the whole reason why you would treat someone the way you want to be treated is so that they will know how you want to be treated to treat you that way back. And it's understood in the fact that you are following the golden rule (just based on the logic of it) that part of the way you want to be treated is the way you want to be treated. For example, if you want to be treated a certain way, it's annoying when you're not. It works when you look at the rule one sided, but like I said, the rule fails to take into account that everyone else is a person too. Under the rule, if someone treats you a certain way, they're telling you this is the way they'd like to be treated. So you can break the whole principle of the rule by treating them a different way and therefore voiding the whole obligation the rule sets up (and therefore the motivation of doing it), or you can treat them the way they'd like to be treated and under the rule, falsely represent that as the way you'd like to be treated aswell.

I get the sentiment behind it, and I follow the sentiment in my daily life, but the actual rule is a fallacy.

I'm not really following, cuz the rule isn't meant to be viewed as applied to two people. It's supposed to be looked at by you when your writing a post. like you wouldn't take two posts from people and make sure they followed the rule.

Just say you write something were your disagreeing with someone, and you reread the post, the rules set it up so that you look at the post from their point of view, and say 'would I want someone to word it this way to me?'

It's not setting up an obligation to another person, you can't help how others are going to saw things to you, the rule is more of an inner reflection to make sure you think your post is of a friendly standard.

Different people will have different opinions on whats okay, that can't be helped, but at least if you find your post to be okay, and you'd be happy with someone saying it to you, then that's a start.

 

[This Year's Girl]

These are all great rules. I think it can be difficult to follow the one with spelling and grammar sometimes though. I hope you all forgive me for this,english isn't my first language and I have a swedish spell checker in my computer. I try to look words up and things like that before I use them if I'm unsure, but if I did that all the time I wouldn't have any time to post, so often I just wing it. 🙂 If you see me making mistakes that can lead to people misinterpering what I'm saying you are all more than welcome to PM me about it and point it out (but in a nice way) so I know 🙂

 

[sk]

These are all good "rules" and I think they feel pretty natural and shouldn't be hard to follow.
But yeah, the spelling and grammar thing is something that I can actually worry about at times.

Whenever I see people express their dislike over bad grammar and punctuation I get very aware of my total lack of knowledge on the subject. Especially when writing in English, but my Swedish isn't all that great either...

I mean, it isn't a huge issue for me. Because I know that I really try and I do put some efforts into my posts. Not much more than that I can do really.

/SK

 

[Buffy Summers]

I think regarding grammar and punctuation that it's more important that someone tries than to be perfect. Because I think where people get annoyed is when people don't even try to format their post to be readable. I'm not trying to anger anyone here but I think it started happening a lot more when people starting posting from their phones because it's not as easy to type things out.

postng sthing like this s super annoing whn its fer pargrphs n pargrphs on n on with no caps or periods


And just for the record, if the staff corrects something it's not because you're in trouble, they're just making things more readable for everyone. I might correct something on someone's post that I know is learning the language because I'm trying to help them - it's not meant as a criticism or slight against them. 🙂

 

[zobothehobo]

On the subject of grammar... I have a question. Would it come off as overly rude if someone (say a grammar freak) was to PM a mod and ask them to fix a grammar issue that was bothering them? I will often see little grammar issues that aren't big deals but that just make me wince a little and I think about PMing a mod and asking them to fix it but then I think I might come off as rude or annoying. Some of these are in my own posts...

 

[Buffy Summers]

In your own posts, definitely its okay. Just do not use the report post function for this and do not pm me and ask me to do it, ask the mod of the forum 😉

On other people's posts I would say let the mods decide if it needs edited. If you think it's a language lesson, you can pm the person and explain it to them, but be prepared for them to be offended.