How to Avoid the Road to Ruin

by Dave Paulsen

dave@reststop.net

Copyright© 1994, Dave Paulsen and ComputorLink Magazine

This column is not going to be much of a how to column, at least not in the traditional sense of starting with step “A” and continuing on to step “ZZ1A” until you’re either finished or have trashed the entire project in frustration. There is, however, a project you must take on if you want to get the most out of your stay in CyberSpace. Whether as an individual or as a commercial enterprise on the net, there is an oft unspoken (unless you count flames :-) social contract—rules of conduct—known as netiquette that you should be familiar with. In the highly articulate domain of CyberSpace, not being familiar with netiquette will usually have at least some negative consequences.

While space constraints necessitate some brevity, here are a few guidelines to help you avoid the road to ruin (or become “roadkill”) on this portion of the info hiway. For the classic reference text on netiquette, point your browser (see issue No. 5) to the URL http://www.past.com/internet/postnews.htm and see a copy of Emily Postnews Guide to Netiquette. In case you should miss the disclaimer at the beginning of the article, Emily Postnews’ answers are to be read with and are prime examples of what you should not do on the Internet.

Individual Netiquette

Your grandmother’s advice to watch your P's & Q's holds in CyberSpace as well as here in the physical realm. Good manners and being respectful of the other people in CyberSpace goes a long way toward making your own use of these shared resources productive and enjoyable.

In newsgroups, and to a lessor extent in e-mail, it is often hard to tell if a response to an article or message is even necessary. Some people tend to be naturally argumentative and will post an article that is a troll; a message that is bait to see who or how many will bite. This is sometimes done by the poster taking an unpopular viewpoint, although this is sometimes just heavy sarcasm, so before responding, reread the article with that in mind.

Flames—an electronic ad hominem—present another pothole on the info hiway. Flames usually attack the messenger instead of the message, which distinguish them from message content critiques. Flames and trolls can be combined to see how many users the poster can inflame to respond.

Flames are normally deliberate and easily spotted, but it needs to be remembered how easily electronic communication can be misunderstood. A point that is particularly pertinent to the Internet is that English is not the first (or even second) language for a good percentage of netizens—CyberSpace is not solely a US phenomena.

If something you should read does cause an immediate desire to JUMP on the keyboard and start POUNDING away with the caps lock key on (ANOTHER SIGN OF A FLAME IS ELECTRONIC SHOUTING!!!), well, switch to decaf :-) Words hastily written without thought tend to cause problems. Above all, remember that on the other side of the computer is another human. 99% of the other netizens will know you only by what you write, and the other 1% could include a future in-law, your boss, or a personnel officer at a company you’re trying to gain employment at after your ex-boss saw your last post.

Unfortunately, facial expressions and other forms of body language don’t easily traverse CyberSpace. Subtle humor, even in person, can be missed. It doesn’t hurt to append a smiley even if you think the humor or satire is so broad that noone could possibly miss that vocal inflection and raised eyebrow you were imagining while typing. Don’t be afraid to use electronic smileys, even if they seem initially silly or awkward to you. A list of smiley’s are available on numerous sites around the net (mine included) so you should be able to find one with little difficulty.

Business Netiquette

All of the above also applies to you. For a business, pragmatism alone would dictate that your entry into the global marketplace not immediately aggravate or alienate the majority of CyberSpace’s 20 million netizens. You are, after all, attempting to get them to part with their hard-earned money, or are soliciting their opinions on products or services. Especially if your business is involved in an environmentally sensitive area, the information you provide to the net you would like to reach minds that are at least open, even if contrary.

Spamming, for example, is guaranteed to close a netizens mind towards a company. Named for the Monty Python sketch, this is the posting of an ad to every newsgroup in existence. Spamming breaks at least three rules: (1) it is a waste of bandwidth and storage space. Instead of posting to all 7,500 newsgroups, only one article need be sent; (2) the spam is blatantly off-topic in 99% of the newsgroups; and (3) the spam is unsolicited.

Since the Internet has no ownership, the individual lines and hard drives are paid for by individuals who do not appreciate having to pay for your advertising campaign without their advance permission. Netizens desire information, and will come looking for it.

Each newsgroup is topic specific, and off-topic posts are not welcome. There are newsgroups designed for product announcements and such, and these should be used for their specified purposes.

When using newsgroups you want the most appropriate audience, not necessarily the widest. You have, basically, a captive vertical market. So minimize ill-will and maximize effectiveness. This is done fairly simply: pay attention to what is going on in a particular newsgroup and find the acceptable patterns.

In closing, for both individual and business use of the Internet, remember the golden rule, be courteous, and enjoy the riches of CyberSpace along with the millions of other netizens.