A Quick Guide to Newsgroup Etiquette

Most people have lots of questions when they first start using the resources of the Internet. In fact, most people have the SAME questions. And while the average experienced user doesn't mind answering a few questions, they tend to get very tired of answering the SAME questions again and again. For this reason, it's often best to know a little something about the resources you're using before you just jump right in, so here goes...

This document is a revised version of the Harvard Computer Society's Netiquette FAQ, which was created by Rachel Kadel.

Keep in mind...

Be familiar with the group you are posting to before you post! One normally does not join a conversation by just walking up and talking. Instead, you listen first and then join in if you have something pertinent to contribute. If you have a question to ask, first consider if it's something you can find out by reading the appropriate manual or asking someone. Many newsgroups have a compiled list of Frequently Asked Questions, or a FAQ. If you don't see the FAQ posted, most FAQs are archived at ftp.rtfm.edu.

Think twice before you post personal information about yourself or others. Your boss, roommate, professor, or Aunt Sally may be reading this group.

Keep your posts easy to read. Make frequent paragraph breaks. Make an effort to spell and punctuate correctly. THIS IS INTERPRETED AS SHOUTING. IT'S ALSO HARD TO READ. Use all-caps sparingly. Remember that this is a purely written medium of communication; the world's entire impression of you is based on what they read.

When you are following up someone's article, please summarize the parts of the article to which you are responding. This allows readers to appreciate your comments rather than trying to remember what the original article said. Summarizing on usenet is generally done by quoting excerpts of the original post. Quoted material is usually indicated by > marks at the beginnings of lines. Your newsreading application most likely will do this for you.

Don't post the same message separately to multiple usenet groups. This is known as spamming, and will result in the wrath of the net falling upon your head. (You think I'm joking. I'm not.) If your post is relevant to multiple newsgroups, then you can put the names of the newsgroups you want to post to, separated by commas, in the Newsgroups: header of your message. This is known as cross-posting, and should be done sparingly.

Criticism on the 'net is known as flaming. Making a flamboyant and unjustified statement and posting it to the world will probably result in a number of people flaming you; that is, responding to tell you just how obnoxious you are.

Sometimes you might read or be told "RTFM!" RTFM stands for Read the F*****g Manual, and is used when someone asks an overly simple question that is answered in their computer manual or in the FAQ of that particular newsgroup. There is a site called rtfm.mit.edu, where FAQs are archived.

     E-mail, on the other hand, " is the best means of communication since the Pony Express," says [Judith] Martin [aka Miss Manners]. For one thing, it's demure: "You don't have to disturb people the way you do when using a phone or fax." But bear in mind that e-mail is less private--and less formal--than other means of communication. Don't drop emotional bombs such as "You're fired" or "I'm pregnant" electronically. Also, "Dear sir" is too formal a salutation for e-mail, Martin says. She'd prefer that you use the recipient's name followed by a dash.

     In most cases, an ill-mannered e-mail message will annoy only its recipient. Elsewhere in cyberspace, however, it's possible to simultaneously slight thousands of people--and it may be tempting, too, given the relative anonymity afforded by the Internet. Any attempt to achieve something approaching decorum in this vast, unregulated free-for-all is probably doomed from the start. But that has not deterred the practitioners of what is called, inevitably, netiquette (outrageous puns are a special form of bad manners, but let it pass). Arlene Rinaldi runs a Web site (www.fau.edu/rinaldi/netiquette.html) devoted to helping others avoid the pitfalls she encountered when she first hit the Net in 1990. "I made every mistake imaginable," she says. A few basics:
     Don't type in capital letters--it's considered shouting.
     When posting to a discussion group, don't ramble off the topic.
     Avoid larding your Web site with large images, which can take ages to download.

     Then again, we may want to think twice about getting too polite. If the next century brings back civility, a backlash may not be far behind. "People will say, 'How come we can't go back to being ourselves'," Miss Manners predicts. "Fortunately I won't have to be around for the turn of the 21st century."

     Hamilton, Kendall and Stacy Sullivan. "Netiquette: A Guide to Manners in the New Age." Newsweek, 1 Sept. 1997, pg. 14.