Netiquette

What is
Netiquette?

Simply stated, it’s network etiquette – that is

the etiquette of cyberspace and “etiquette”
means the forms required by good breeding
or prescribed by authority to be required in
social or official life.
 In other words,
netiquette is a set of
rules for behaving
properly online.

Netiquette is concerned
with the “proper” way to
communicate in an online
environment.
 Seven (7) Essential
Rules of Netiquette

These rules will help you communicate with

instructors, classmates, and potential
employers more effectively and will help
prevent misunderstandings.
 “Do not do or say
1. Remember The online what you would
Golden Rule not do or say offline.”

Even though you may

be interacting with a
computer screen, you
are communicating
with a real person
who will react to your
message.
 2. Make A Good
Impression

Treat others with

the same respect
that you would like To help convey meaning when
creating messages, it is
to receive and avoid sometimes acceptable to include
confrontational or appropriate emoticon symbols,
such as a smiley face ☺ .
offensive language. However, for professional
communications these would be
inappropriate.
 3. Avoid Slang,
Acronyms, And Text
Talk
Communicating
effectively in college
and business
environments requires
the use of correct
terminology, spelling,
and grammar that can
easily be understood.
4. Avoid “Screaming” In Typed Messages
Typing an entire message using all capital
letters is known as “screaming”. It is
distracting and generally frowned upon in
professional environments.

It is better to draw emphasis

to selected words or phrases
by: using italic or bold text;
using a different color for text
or background color; or
denoting emphasis using special
characters.
5. Proofread Your Messages
Before Sending Them

Strive to make your

communications concise and
free of any:
Spelling and grammar errors
Confusing terms or phrases
that could be Proofreading your
misunderstood messages before you send
Errors of omission, such as
them is a best practice
missing content or
recipients
for effective and
Errors in accuracy of efficient communication.
information
6. Exercise Good Judgment When Sharing
Information With Others Online
 E-mail and chat messages
that you send or receive are
considered private and
should not be forwarded or
copied to others without
gaining the consent of all
involved participants.

In general, messages
posted to discussion
boards and social media
sites can be read by the
public.
 To protect your privacy and
safety, do not share online
any sensitive personal
information such as:
Your home address or phone
number
Personal conversations
Social plans, such as
It is a good practice to vacations
Financial information
always ask a post’s Usernames, passwords, or
author for permission hints
Anything personal that you
before sharing a post would not want shared by
with other parties. others over the Internet
 If the material you share with others
online came from another source, make
every effort to gain permission from the
original author or copyright holder.

Copying someone else’s work

and passing it off as your own
is plagiarism. It damages your
reputation and could subject
you to serious academic and
legal consequences.
 Be constructive and
respectful when
sharing opinions,
beliefs, and
criticisms, or
responding to
7. Respect Diversity those of others in
in Viewpoints the conversation.
 When sharing a viewpoint that
differs from someone else’s, it is
a best practice to first
acknowledge the other person by
briefly restating what he or she
When presenting an opinion or
said, but in your own words. This
criticism, it is helpful to use
lets the person know that you
phrases that identify to whose
are listening and trying to
point of view you are referring.
understand them.
If the opinion is yours, you can
begin with the phrase “In my
experience” or “In my opinion”. If
it is a viewpoint of someone
else, make sure you identify that
in your message. (Example:
“According to Eric Ericson,” or
“The president believes”).
CORE RULES
of
NETIQUETTE
 RULE 1:
Remember the Human

When communicating electronically, whether

through email, instant message, discussion
post, text, or some other method,
practice the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have
others do unto you. Remember, your written words are read by
real people, all deserving of respectful communication. Before you
press "send" or "submit," ask yourself, "Would I be okay with this if
someone else had written it?"
 While it can be argued that
standards of behavior may
be different in the virtual
world, they certainly should
not be lower. You should do
your best to act within the
laws and ethical manners of
society whenever you inhabit
RULE 2: "cyberspace." Would you
behave rudely to someone
Adhere to the same face-to-face? On most
standards of behavior occasions, no. Neither should
online that you follow in you behave this way in the
real life virtual world.
 Rule 3:
Know where you are in
cyberspace

"Netiquette varies from domain to domain." (Shea, 1994)

Depending on where you are in the virtual world, the same
written communication can be acceptable in one area, where
it might be considered inappropriate in another. What you
text to a friend may not be appropriate in an email to a
classmate or colleague. Can you think of another example?
 Electronic communication takes
time: time to read and time in Rule 4:
which to respond. Most people
today lead busy lives, just like Respect other
you do, and don't have time to people’s time and
read or respond to frivolous
emails or discussion posts. As a bandwidth
virtual world communicator, it is
your responsibility to make sure
that the time spent reading your
words isn't wasted. Make your
written communication
meaningful and to the point,
without extraneous text or
superfluous graphics or
attachments that may take
forever to download.
 Rule 5: Make yourself look good online
One of the best things about the virtual world is the lack of
judgment associated with your physical appearance, sound of your
voice, or the clothes you wear (unless you post a video of yourself
singing Karaoke in a clown outfit.) You will, however, be judged by the
quality of your writing, so keep the following tips in mind:

Always check for spelling

and grammar errors
Know what you’re talking
about and state it clearly
Be pleasant and polite
 The Internet offers its users many
Rule 6:
benefits; one is the ease in which
information can be shared or
Share expert accessed and in fact, this
knowledge "information sharing" capability is
one of the reasons the Internet
was founded.

Are you an expert at something?

So in the spirit of the
Post resources and references
Internet's "founding fathers,"
about your subject matter.
share what you know! When you
Recently expanded your
post a question and receive
knowledge about a subject that
intelligent answers, share the
might be of interest to others?
results with others.
Share that as well.
 What is meant by "flaming" and
Rule 7: "flame wars?" "Flaming is what
people do when they express a
strongly held opinion without holding
Help keep flame wars back any emotion." (Shea, 1994). As
under control. an example, think of the kinds of
passionate comments you might
read on a sports blog.

While "flaming" is not necessarily forbidden in

virtual communication, "flame wars," when two or
three people exchange angry posts between one
another, must be controlled or the camaraderie
of the group could be compromised. Don't feed
the flames; extinguish them by guiding the
discussion back to a more productive direction.
 Depending on what you Rule 8:
are reading in the Respect other
virtual world, be it an people’s privacy
online class discussion
forum, Facebook page,
or an email, you may be
exposed to some
private or personal
information that needs
to be handled with care.
 Perhaps someone is sharing
some medical news about a
loved one or discussing a
situation at work. What do you
think would happen if this
information "got into the wrong
hands?" Embarrassment? Hurt
feelings? Loss of a job?

Just as you expect others to

respect your privacy, so should
you respect the privacy of
others. Be sure to err on the
side of caution when deciding
to discuss or not to discuss
virtual communication.
 Just like in face-to-face
Rule 9:
situations, there are Don’t abuse your
people in cyberspace who
have more "power" than power
others. They have more
expertise in technology
or they have years of
experience in a particular
skill or subject matter. Just remember: knowing more
than others do or having more
Maybe it's you who
power than others may have
possesses all of this
does not give you the right to
knowledge and power!
take advantage of anyone. Think
of Rule 1: Remember the human.
 Not everyone has the same
amount of experience working
in the virtual world. And not
Rule 10:
everyone knows the rules of
netiquette. At some point, you Be forgiving of other
will see a stupid question, read
people’s mistakes
an unnecessarily long response,
or encounter misspelled words;
when this happens, practice
kindness and forgiveness as
you would hope someone would If it's a minor "offense," you
do if you had committed the might want to let it slide. If
same offense.
you feel compelled to respond
to a mistake, do so in a
private email rather than a
public forum.