Let’s Talk Netiquette For The Sake of Peace

Inspired by a recent status update on Facebook, I’d like to talk about virtual etiquette. Manners are important, every person knows that. It most likely is the deciding factor between you actually getting the job or not. Now I call that a life skill. What about Internet etiquette? This is commonly referred to as Netiquette and is also an essential skill if you want to survive online professionally as well as socially. People don’t usually like talking to people without manners and some will even make it a point to shun those who practice poor netiquette. Many a argument has been had over silly misunderstandings that could have been avoided if rules had been followed. Here is just a brief summary of what you should know. I don’t claim to be a king of netiquette, but these rules are pretty general, so everyone should agree with them. Common sense is all it takes. Twitter and Facebook seem to be the popular networks out there, so I’ll be covering them in more detail. Happy Internet trolling, folks!

From Livinginternet.com, here are some basic Internet survival tips and netiquettes. Don’t violate them. Although the Internet cops don’t actually enforce these rules, your trustworthiness and respect may be tarnished. Be warned.

1) Help the No0bs: A little derogatory? Not really. Newcomers to the Internet are known as “newbies” and they need to be looked after. If you were helped, you should return the favor and help out the new ones. It’s good netiquette to help someone get around and help others through chat rooms, email, instant messaging, or by whatever means. Everyone has a special knowledge and should treat others as they should be treated.

2) Do your homework: Research and look around a website before you email someone and ask to avoid embarrassing yourself or annoying the target of your question. If the information you are trying to get is in an easily obtainable location, it is your responsibility to find it.

3) Emotions are a problem: I learned this the hard way, but emotions are a problem on the Internet. Using all capitals is rude and designates screaming or yelling, such as: I AM SO HAPPY. If you need to show emotion or emphasize a word, use smileys and underlining sparingly. Subtle emotions are hard to detect, especially sarcasm. From my prior experiences, just don’t use sarcasm. It can be interpreted literally. Also be careful how you phrase your words because they can sound insulting or mean. Anger on the Internet is uncalled for.

4) Emails should be kept confidential: Don’t openly distribute someone’s email because spam is a very big problem. You should never openly post or distribute a person’s email unless you have permission to do so. It’s just the right thing to do.

5) It’s on the loose: Once you send an email or post on a website, even send on an IM program, the message is loose on the Internet. Many sites have archiving features, so if you don’t want your message to be called up sometime down the future, best that you don’t post it.

6) Respect, folks: Don’t flame on someone because they made a mistake. Humans make mistakes and the Internet is not entirely automatic. You’ll find errors and such floating around quite frequently. If you must disagree with someone online, make sure that you do so respectfully and watch what you say. Point out their good points before you counter.

Let’s talk Facebook now. It’s THE major social network and very transparent, so it’s a good idea to know the system. These tips come from Facebook, PCWorld, and me. Cheers!

1) Professionalism: As C.G. Lynch points out, Facebook isn’t all strictly personal, so it is probably a good idea to keep a professional image. LinkedIn is purely professional and so a nice and neat profile pictures is key. Although I see it all the time, Facebook photos that reveal too much or pictures of costumes, not a good idea. You really never know when your boss might decide to check up on you. Oh and do get a picture up; no ghost faces please.

2) Your Life: You don’t have to include your life story in your biography. For places like Facebook and especially Twitter, which encourages the less is more idea, writing less and being concise is far better than telling everyone all your secrets. Facebook allows you to mess around with your privacy settings, so put down information and then take advantage of it and be selective about what you want certain people to see.

3) TONE: Big one, especially with a massive audience like Facebook. It’s better to get your message across in the exact way that you want to express it so that there is no misunderstanding rather than to make everything clever. What happens on the Internet applies with Facebook. Help the new ones out, be respectful, and watch your tone.

4) Friends: Don’t go around and friend random strangers that you don’t know. You should refrain from friending people you’ve only met for a couple of seconds unless you had a connection or a meaningful chat. Although it may seem like it, Facebook really isn’t a popularity contest, right?

5) Poking: What does that sound like to you? Yea, I thought so. Poke with caution and in moderation is the key. There are various types of pokes. The consistent poke and then the sporadic poke. The consistent poke you would do to your close friends: your real close friends, not the virtual Facebook friends. The sporadic poke should be kept to a minimum because it is also a sing of…you know..poking…in the literal poking-ish sense.

6) Stalking: After the new implementations of the newsfeed, it is much more simple and easier to “facebook stalk” someone. I have to admit that I know quite a lot of people who do that and I for one can be classified as an amateur “facebook stalker”. The information is presented there, so why not follow where it goes? However, when you talk to someone you’ve been “facebook stalking”, don’t make it obvious that you know every detail in their personal life, even if you do. They probably teach that in stalking school somewhere: “How to act like you’re not a Stalker” – STALKR 101.

7) Relationships: Quite a touchy subject here. Relationship statuses should be mutual because no one really needs a “Facebook breakup”. That violates both the relationship policy manual in real life, causing you to get your license for relationships revoked and violates Facebook etiquette. Talk to your “about-to-be-not-so-significant-other” first. Then react.

Other irks: There are a ton of other irks that bug people. Here are just a few:

Smoking and drinking in profile pictures: is that really necessary. It really doesn’t make you look cool. I’m actually just imagining your liver and lungs a couple of years from now, so please, I beg you to keep indulging!
I’m serious, don’t overpoke. It’s so simple that tons of animals do it. For example, rabbits are known to breed like crazy. Stop poking people. Just suck it up and ask them out.
Answer your messages because you’re probably on anyway. If you don’t the sending party may a) have a heart attack b) be very insecure about their abilities to socialize c) consider it as a sign of disrespect, in this case, check your car for scrapes and flat tires.
Facebook responses must be responded to. Even if there wasn’t a question, the notification bar forces you to say something.
Don’t untag yourself from a picture because you look bad, I personally know people who do that. Really? It’s a picture and it’s showing the world your natural abilities…picking your asscrack? Just don’t.

Onto the Twitter:1) One rule: use your common sense. Don’t tweet when you are mentally impaired or mentally unstable. Don’t tweet things that are derogatory, threatening, or could get your fired. Don’t tell the world about every single thing you do, we don’t want to know you were diagnosed with an STD. Keep that to yourself, but do let your partners know, mmkay? Don’t ignore direct messages either.