Network rules. How to maintain your reputation in the era of social networks

10 COMMANDMENTS OF NET ETIQUETTE

What is netiquette,

Why is it needed and how to comply with it?
Netiquette is a set of simple rules that were invented by people who communicate a lot with each other via the Internet. It is needed so that everyone - both experienced users and beginners - can communicate with each other equally comfortably. Most of the rules are not of any special nature, but simply represent a repetition of the rules of good manners accepted in society as a whole. These rules are just wishes. But since we are all a community, following these rules will raise your authority, and you will attract attention as a pleasant and interesting interlocutor.

How to observe netiquette? You must learn to behave as if you are in an unfamiliar world, very similar to your real world, and do not want to offend anyone with your tactless behavior. In fact, it is very simple. Netiquette is the same as regular etiquette. Most clashes on the Internet stem from the inability and unwillingness of participants to hear each other. First of all, try to use common sense. Respect your interlocutors, no matter who they introduce themselves, and then your life in the community will become easy and enjoyable.

What should you not do on the Internet?
First of all, you should not do those things that are not encouraged in any civilized society:

use
profanity;

incite national
discord;

insult
of people;

steal;

deliberately try
to break something;

call for
overthrow of the existing system;

don't send it
your commercial offers;

send
instructions explaining how to commit illegal acts, as well as
ask about possible ways to perform this kind of action;

publish
personal letters without the consent of their authors;

start or
continue the discussion on an abstract topic in places (conferences,
forums, etc.) not intended for this purpose.
Before
consider the rules of netiquette, get acquainted with the basic
concepts used in communications on the Internet.

10 COMMANDMENTS

1. Remember that you are talking to a person.
Do not do to others what you do not want to receive from them yourself. Put yourself in the shoes of the person you are talking to. Defend your point of view, but do not insult others. When you use telecommunications, you are dealing with a computer screen. You cannot gesture, change your tone, and your facial expression does not play any role.

Words, only words, are all that your interlocutor sees.

When you are having a conversation - by email or in a conference call - it is very easy to misinterpret the words of your interlocutor. And, unfortunately, forget that your recipient is also a person with his own feelings and habits.
However, do not forget about the main principle of netiquette: there are real people everywhere on the Internet.

And one more reason to be polite online. When you communicate with someone in cyberspace, remember that your words are recorded. Perhaps they will be stored in places where you can no longer reach. In other words, there is a chance that they will come back and harm you. And you have no opportunity to influence this process.

2. Adhere to the same standards of behavior as in real life.

In real life, most of us obey laws, sometimes because of restrictions, sometimes because of fear of getting caught. In the virtual space, the chances of being caught are relatively small. People sometimes forget that there is a real person “behind the screen”, and they think that the rules of behavior on the Internet are not as strict as in real life.

This misconception is understandable, but it is still a misconception. Standards of behavior may differ in different parts of the virtual space, however, they are no softer than in real life.

Maintain communication ethics. Don't believe anyone who says, "The whole ethics here is what you set for yourself." If you encounter an ethical problem in cyberspace, think about what you would do in real life. Most likely, you will quickly find a solution.

3. Remember where you are in cyberspace.

What is accepted without hesitation in one place may be considered rude in another. For example, in conferences where television programs are discussed, various rumors and gossip are quite normal. But if you decide to invade a journalistic discussion with them, this will not add to your popularity.

When you find yourself in a new area of virtual space, first look around. Spend time studying the situation - listen to how and what people are talking about. After that, engage in conversation.

4. Respect the time and capabilities of others.

When you send an email or post to a conference call, you are essentially vying for someone's time. And then you are responsible for ensuring that the recipient does not waste this time in vain.

The concept of “capability” includes the bandwidth of the channel through which communication occurs and the physical capacity of the storage media on the remote computer. And if you accidentally sent five identical messages to the same conference, you wasted both the time of the subscribers of this conference and the capabilities of the system (after all, you took up the transmission line and disk space).

Many conference readers are slow, and receiving a new message takes time. The program must scroll through all the message headers in order to get to the one you need. No one is particularly happy if it turns out that time was wasted.

People don't have much time to read messages given the number of recent ones. Before you send your letter, consider whether the recipients really need it. If you answer yourself “no,” it’s better not to waste their (and your) time. If in doubt, think twice before sending a message.

5. Save face.

Take advantage of anonymity.
On the Internet (for example, in conferences) you can meet people you would never meet in real life and no one will judge you for the color of your skin, eyes, hair, your weight, age or manner of dressing.

However, you will be judged on how you write. For those on the Internet, this matters. Thus, grammar rules play an important role. Be aware of what you are saying.

Consider the content of your letter. When you want to say something like “it seems to me...” or “I heard that...”, ask yourself if you should double-check the correctness of your facts. False information can cause a whole flurry of emotions on the Internet. And if this is repeated a second and third time, it can happen, like in the game “broken phone”: your words will be distorted beyond recognition.

Also, make sure your messages are clear and logical. You can write a paragraph of text that is grammatically perfect but completely meaningless. This often happens if you want to convince someone that you are right, using a lot of complex and long words that you yourself are not very familiar with.
Don't insult users.

Finally, be patient and polite. Do not use profanity, do not enter into conflict for the sake of conflict itself.

6. Help others where you can.

Why is asking questions in virtual space effective? Because your questions are read by many people who know the answer to them. And even if only a few people answer qualifiedly, the total amount of knowledge on the Internet will increase. The Internet itself grew out of the desire of scientists to exchange experience. Gradually, others became involved in this fascinating process.

It is especially important to exchange answers to your questions with other users. If you anticipate that you will receive a lot of answers to your question or send it to a conference that you rarely attend, respond to replies by email, not to the conference. When you receive all the remarks, summarize them and send them in one message to the conference. This way, everyone will benefit from communicating with you.

If you are an expert yourself, you can do more. Many people freely post entire bibliographies, from lists of legal resources to lists of popular books on UNIX. If you are leading a group that does not have a list of answers to the most frequently asked questions, try writing one. If you have discovered or authored a paper that you think may be of interest to others, please submit it to the conference. Sharing experiences is a fun activity. This is an ancient and glorious tradition of the Network.

7. Do not get involved in conflicts and do not allow them.

"Does online etiquette prohibit flames? Not really. Flames are also an old tradition of the Internet. Flames can be fun for both writers and readers. And the recipients of flames often deserve them.

But netiquette is against flames that escalate into wars - a series of angry messages exchanged, as a rule, by two or three participants in the discussion. Such wars can literally take over the conference and destroy the friendly atmosphere. This is unfair to other conference readers. And very soon people who are not participating in the discussion get tired of conflicts. In fact, an unacceptable monopolization of resources occurs.

8. Respect the right to private correspondence.

9. Don't abuse your powers.

Some people feel like professionals in the virtual space. These are aces in every network game, experts in every office and system administrators of the system.
With greater knowledge or greater authority in their hands, these people automatically gain an advantage.

However, this does not mean that they can use it. For example, system administrators should not read private email messages.

10. Learn to forgive others for their mistakes.

Everyone was a newbie once. Therefore, when someone makes a mistake - be it a typo in a word, a careless flame, a stupid question or an unreasonably long answer - be lenient with it. Even if you really want to answer, think twice. Just because you have good manners doesn't mean you have a license to teach those manners to everyone else.

If you decide to draw the user’s attention to his mistake, do it correctly and preferably not in a conference, but in a private letter. As you know, corrections in the text often also contain grammatical errors; Also, an indication of non-compliance with the rules of etiquette sometimes demonstrates a violation of the same etiquette.

Email etiquette rules

Addresses and personal names
A personal name (not to be confused with a signature) is a custom string that many email programs allow you to attach to your messages as a text comment.

If your system allows, always write a personal name: it is a better “business card” for you than an e-mail address.

Use meaningful names. Expressions like “figure it out for yourself” not only make it difficult to identify the author of the letter, but also insult the intelligence of the addressee.

If your mail system allows you to send letters along with the recipient's name, use this feature. This will make it easier for the network administrator to find the recipient by name if the address itself turns out to be incorrect.

Letter subject
(Subject)

Don't forget to give your letters titles. Often the user is guided by names when looking through his mail.

Avoid meaningless names. For example, when sending an email to WordPerfect technical support, you shouldn't call it WordPerfect—you might as well not write anything at all.

If you change the topic of conversation when replying to a letter, do not forget to change the title.

A precise title is the easiest way to determine the topic of a conversation, and if you change the topic while leaving the title the same, the recipient may become confused.
Length, content and format of the letter

Try to keep the length of your letter consistent with the style of conversation: if you are simply answering a question, keep it short and to the point.

Stay as close to the topic as possible. If you want to talk about something new, it is better to send a separate letter. Then your recipient can store it separately.

Don't write all text in capital letters - it becomes difficult to read (although short highlighting can be used as reinforcement). Try to break your letter into logical paragraphs and avoid overly long sentences.

Try to avoid grammatical errors. A letter full of errors and typos is difficult to read. Just because email is a fast way to communicate doesn't mean you can relax and forget about spelling.

If you consider your thoughts worthy of expression in a letter, make sure that they are presented correctly.

Avoid public flames - letters written under the influence of emotions. Messages sent at the moment of emotional distress most often only worsen the situation. You may later regret your words, so before you start a flame war, calmly think about the situation.

If your mailer supports different text styling options (bold, italics, etc.), make sure that the recipient's mailer has the same capabilities. At the time this document was written, most Internet e-mail programs were text-only, although this is certainly changing.
Answers

Include in your message excerpts from the letter you are responding to. Remember, email is not a real-time telephone conversation, and your recipient may forget the contents of the previous letter (especially if he is engaged in active correspondence). Include excerpts of the original text in your response, and the recipient will more easily understand what you are talking about.

Don't overdo it by quoting previous messages. Separate the text of your message in some way from the text of the quoted letters, then your answer will be easier to read. The > sign is usually used for these purposes, although this is not the only option.

Try not to mix general and personal information in your message.

Ask yourself: is your answer really necessary? For example, if you received a letter as a result of a fan mailing, it is unlikely that you should notify each of the
addressees about your attitude towards him - it is better to send a letter directly to the author.
Signatures
A signature is a small piece of text at the end of a message, usually containing information about contacts. Most mailers can automatically attach a signature to outgoing messages. A signature is an interesting thing, but you also need to know when to stop it.

If you can, use a signature. It must identify you and contain information about alternative communication channels (regular telephone, fax).
On many systems, particularly those where mail passes through gateways, your signature may be the only identifier.

Make your signature shorter - 4-7 lines are enough. Unreasonably long signatures load communication channels.

Some mailers allow you to add random lines to your signature: be careful with this.
In any case, you need to remember:
- Brevity is the soul of wit
- The concept of "insult" can be interpreted very broadly, so try to avoid expressions that could cause conflict on a religious, racial, or political basis.
- Do not use “local” (understandable only to you and a small circle of people) remarks. You will not find understanding among users of other cities, countries or cultural communities.
- Changing captions work best when they are humorous. Political remarks, for example, may upset some people, while a short joke will only lighten the mood.
  Simple rules of politeness

Email is a means of communication between people, and rules of politeness are indispensable.

If you ask someone with a request, don't forget to say "please." At the same time, thank your interlocutor in response to help.

Don't expect a response immediately. The fact that you have not received an answer to your question within ten minutes does not mean that the recipient is ignoring you.

Remember that there is no reliable mail system. It is not wise to put very personal information in an email unless you intend to encrypt it using a strong encryption program. Remember the recipient. You are not the only person who will suffer if a sensitive message falls into the wrong hands.

Include complete information on the topic in your letter, especially if you expect a qualified response. You must include a detailed description of the problem.
"Smileys"
The correct use of emoticons can give your letter a lively character and even replace gestures. However, don't overdo it.
And finally, remember that e-mail is a means of communicating with real people. Before you send a letter, read it carefully again and put yourself in the recipient's shoes.

The concept of network etiquette came to us from English - network etiquette. The expression is often shortened there to netiquette. In RuNet, the term “network” is not yet widespread. To make online communication enjoyable and negotiations successful, you should take into account some principles, just like in real life. Netiquette is a set of rules for communicating online, conducting correspondence, mailing lists, exchanging opinions, knowledge, experience, etc.

About the rules

The rules of netiquette are not much different from the rules in real life. Be polite, listen (read) carefully to your interlocutor, respect his opinion, do not slander or be rude.

Be clear, concise and on topic. Do not get into arguments, do not use swear words, try not to make mistakes in the texts of your messages.

But virtual communication has its own characteristics, so there are some special points and terms. Let's look at each in more detail.

Offtopic

This term means any message that goes beyond the designated topic. That is, if in some thread there is a discussion of injection engines, there is no need to try to express your opinion there about the latest football match and a dress from the new collection.

Offtopic topics are not approved by moderators, and you may be prohibited from leaving messages (ban, ban). In some topics, unacceptable statements (offtopics) are immediately clearly stated in order to predict the development of the discussion and not let it go beyond the necessary boundaries.

Flood

Network communication etiquette prescribes not to spread flood for the good reputation of the user on the Internet. After all, no one likes noise, and “flooders” make noise, leaving a lot of meaningless comments like “Cool!”, “Tough!”, “High!”, trying to attract attention to themselves. Mark what you really found interesting. Let it be a meaningful phrase that expresses your opinion, and not “Chic!” Otherwise, you will be banned.

Emoticons

These are funny images for additional emotional coloring of the text, of which there are now a lot on the Internet. Every decent site or forum provides users with its own set of emoticons, static or animated. Despite their popularity, they must be used very carefully. One or two images per message is enough. A large number will make the text difficult to read or even deprive it of its semantic meaning.

Trolling

This term also came to us from the English language, where it means fishing with a lure.

In online communication, trolling is writing rude, contradictory, provocative messages in order to quarrel, offend, and anger the participants in the discussion.

The person who leaves such remarks, the troll, most often acts hidden and solely for his own pleasure. It is not the result that is important to him, but the process - the correspondence itself, the reaction of people to his statements.

Moderators are doing their best to combat this phenomenon, because a confident and active troll can scare away visitors.

The basic rule of netiquette is politeness. Try to always adhere to it, even if you find yourself in an unpleasant situation (conversation), get out of it first, and do not give in to provocations. Don't let them troll you.

Literacy and abbreviations

Try to write correctly. Check the finished text carefully. Now there are enough programs and resources that will help you online - politeness in real life. Yes, there are already enough words on the Internet that are misspelled, but are perceived as correctly written - this is a kind of online slang, but it should not be abused.

In addition to slang words, netiquette also allows:

IMHO - my humble opinion.
LOL - my laugh out loud.
BTW - by the way.
AFAIK - as far as I know.
WBR - my best wishes.
AKA - known as.
WTF is a dirty word.

Netiquette: Email

Correspondence, especially business correspondence, is a separate block in the list of rules for online communication. How to compose a competent, pleasant letter for the interlocutor, which he will most likely read and then be willing to respond to? And write it in such a way that his answer meets your expectations?

First, introduce yourself. Abstract, general contact information is enough for pleasant communication. Indicate your real name, and the correspondence will work out. Users are very wary of anonymous letters, often sending them to spam without even reading them.
Secondly, indicate the subject of the letter. It should reflect the content of the message, be bright, succinct, concise, and arouse interest and desire to read the letter. For example, “Do you dream of relaxing? There’s something waiting for you, or even better, individually - “Sergey Vasilyevich, a vacation especially for you!”
Thirdly, think carefully about the content. Check the text for errors. Write briefly and to the point, don't throw too much water around. If the message is long, it may not be read. Divide the message into meaningful paragraphs; key points can be highlighted in capital letters, but no more than two or three words.
Fourthly, the design should be delicate. Most correspondence programs support a lot of fonts, colors, and pictures, but this does not mean that everything must be used. Such a bright letter may cause irritation to the interlocutor or may not be displayed correctly at all. A pair or color is enough.
Fifth, be moderate in your citations. When there is active correspondence, netiquette advises not to erase all previous messages when replying, but also not to forward the entire thread. The best option is to leave the original text and several subsequent ones, so that the main meaning of the conversation is clear.
Sixthly, a laconic signature. Netiquette rules state that the optimal length for a signature is four lines. Usually they write your name and contact information there. Do not confuse a signature and a business card; there is no need to insert pictures, tables and diagrams here. From the signature, the reader should find out who wrote to him and how this person (you), if desired, can be contacted.

Newsletters

What is netiquette? Rules for online communication. What are newsletters? Mass communication. So, even if you are sending a message to many and possibly complete strangers, you will have to follow some rules.

If you don't care whether those you send emails need your information, it's spam. The concept is very negative online. For some time now it has even been persecuted by law. It’s better to gather an official circle of subscribers to be sure that your letter will not be thrown into spam, that they are waiting for it.

When you compose a letter for a certain circle of people, always fill in the subject line of the letter; the mailing should be thematic.

Register additional addresses in the subject “blind carbon copy” (BCC). It is not very pleasant for any person to be one of tens, hundreds, thousands... He appreciates individual attention. You also don’t need to show the addresses of your subscribers.

Don't respond to spam emails yourself. If they bother you, install a filter or contact your provider for help.

If you are sending information, copy the text directly and paste it into a new letter. Avoid multiplying ">" signs, which automatically appear during transmission and make the text unreadable.

Do not send heavy files and archives to your interlocutors without asking permission. Many have restrictions on the weight of incoming letters, and then your message will not reach the recipient, and the correspondence may be interrupted. Unsolicited archives also cause suspicion and rejection. Especially if they are self-extracting (.exe).

For personal comfort, install a filter on and do not unpack archives from strangers, they may contain viruses.

Netiquette

By communicating online, you create your own image. Your interlocutors know you solely by your virtual statements and actions. But behind any car sits a person who, perhaps, will be a good acquaintance, a good friend in real life. Don't neglect the rules of netiquette. Be polite, do not throw out negative emotions on the audience.

Try to write correctly yourself, but don’t pay attention, especially don’t point out mistakes to others. If there are a lot of them and they are repeated regularly, write the person a personal letter with wishes and advice, but do not insist or ridicule - we all make mistakes sometimes.

Very delicately introduce humor, irony, and sarcasm into your messages. They may not be accepted or offend the interlocutor. When developing correspondence, start with very popular or already established phrases and expressions to understand the level of perception of the interlocutor.

Don't be arrogant. Even if you are a great expert in some field, give polite and detailed answers to beginners, explain the terms and principles, because you yourself once started.

Since people exist in society, they are all obliged to comply with the norms of social behavior. The rules of etiquette can be general in nature and also vary depending on the communicative situation, therefore, they distinguish, for example, table etiquette, business etiquette, diplomatic etiquette, etc. In recent years, a new type has been added to this list - netiquette, or netiquette. His appearance was dictated by urgent need. After all, today there are a huge number of people using the Internet, and not all of them have an idea of how to behave correctly when communicating online.

Why do we need netiquette rules?

Online etiquette rules essentially have the same goal as regular etiquette rules: they help people achieve mutual understanding and ensure safe communication. The impersonality of a network communicative act makes users forget that they are not dealing with a machine, but with living people. Establishing a strong contact with an interlocutor whom we neither see nor hear is quite difficult. And netiquette is a set of recommendations that are designed to help solve this problem. In addition, following the rules of netiquette makes it possible to safely avoid the machinations of virtual scammers, keeping your wallet and your nerve cells intact.

10 Basic Rules of Netiquette

Be polite, even if the communication is not in real time. After all, in any case, you are in contact with people who are simply on the other side of the screen.
Do not forget about the mandatory formulas of greeting, farewell, address, expression of gratitude, etc.
Pay attention to the communication situation, for example, in a network chat where people are just going to chat, you can behave more freely, but during a network thematic conference you should be more restrained, etc.
Avoid idle talk and try not to waste your interlocutor’s time.
Do not rush to destroy the aura of anonymity when communicating with strangers; let people judge you not by your appearance and manner of dressing, but by the breadth of your horizons, level of literacy, sense of humor, etc.
Proofread and edit your messages and emails before sending, and do not send nonsense or illiterate text to your interlocutor.
Don't stoop to rude insults. Politeness is appropriate even when your opponent turns out to be an outright boor.
Do not refuse help, unless, of course, you are asked to send money to an unfamiliar number or something similar. You can help with advice, send a link to the desired resource, answer a question, or give advice.
Do not try to lecture your interlocutor or “pressure” him morally.
Be lenient towards the mistakes of others; you can easily turn a blind eye to unintentional mistakes in phrases. No one can be perfect, we are all only human.

Social Media Etiquette Rules

Social networks are incredibly popular today, and therefore they could not help but be affected by netiquette and the basic rules of communication on social networks are generally similar to the general rules of netiquette. But there are also special recommendations. For example, to avoid confusion, it is best to use a simple name or your real first and last name as a nickname, as well as your photo for your avatar. But provide information about yourself that is of a purely personal nature - telephone number, address, passport details, etc. – interlocutors on the Internet should not do so, so that there is no risk of being deceived by scammers. You should not continue communicating with a user who seems suspicious or inappropriate to you. You can blacklist it or report it to the administrators.

The Internet, being a mirror image of real life, includes both its positive and negative sides. In the fight against negative situations comes the growing need to comply with certain “rules of behavior” that make online communications convenient and safe. Rules of conduct and good manners for netizens are often referred to as “netiquette” or “netiquette.”

The rules of "netiquette" are based on 10 principles:

Remember that you are talking to a person.

Defend your point of view, but do not insult others. Do not do to others what you do not want to receive from them yourself. When you are having a conversation - over email or at a conference - it can be very easy to misinterpret the words of your interlocutor. However, do not forget about the main principle of netiquette: there are real people everywhere on the Internet.

Adhere to the same standards of behavior as in real life.

People sometimes forget that there is a real person “behind the screen”, and they think that the rules of behavior on the Internet are not as strict as in real life. Standards of behavior may differ in different parts of the virtual space, however, they are no softer than in real life.

Remember where you are in cyberspace.

What is accepted without hesitation in one place may be considered rude in another. When you find yourself in a new area of virtual space, first look around. Spend time studying the situation - listen to how and what people are talking about. After that, engage in conversation.

Respect the time and capabilities of others.

When you send an email or post to a conference, you are essentially vying for someone's time.

The concept of “capability” includes the bandwidth of the channel through which communication occurs and the physical capacity of the storage media on the remote computer.

Before you send your letter, consider whether the recipients really need it. If you answer yourself “no,” it’s better not to waste their (and your) time.

Save face.

On the Internet you will be judged by how you write. Thus, grammar rules play an important role. Be aware of what you are saying. Consider the content of your letter. False information can cause a whole flurry of emotions on the Internet.

Make sure your messages are clear and logical. You can write a paragraph of text that is grammatically perfect but completely meaningless.

Don't insult users, be patient and polite. Do not use profanity, do not enter into conflict for the sake of conflict itself.

Help others where you can.

The Internet itself grew out of the desire of scientists to share experiences. Gradually, others became involved in this fascinating process.

If you have discovered or authored a paper that may be of interest to others, submit it to the conference. Sharing experiences is a fun activity. This is an ancient and glorious tradition of the Network.

Do not get involved in conflicts and do not allow them.

Does netiquette prohibit flames? Not really.

Flames [Flames are emotional remarks, often messages where tact is not the most important thing, but the goal is to provoke a reaction from users. Flaming is “argument for the sake of argument”] – also an old tradition of the Network. Flames can be fun for both writers and readers.

But netiquette is against flames that escalate into wars - a series of angry messages exchanged, usually between two or three participants in the discussion. Such wars can literally take over the conference and destroy the friendly atmosphere.

Respect the right to private correspondence.

Don't abuse your powers.

Some people feel like professionals in the virtual space. With greater knowledge or greater authority in their hands, these people automatically gain an advantage. However, this does not mean that they can use it.

Learn to forgive others for their mistakes.

When someone makes a mistake - be it a misspelled word, a careless flame, a stupid question or an unreasonably long answer - be lenient with it. Just because you have good manners doesn't mean you have a license to teach those manners to everyone else.

If you decide to draw the user’s attention to his mistake, do it correctly and better in a private letter.

Chatting etiquette rules

Mandatory elements of behavior in a chat are greeting interlocutors when entering and saying goodbye when leaving.

A feature of the chat is the limited length of messages.

When exchanging text messages, we do not hear the live intonations of our interlocutor. Therefore, sometimes we resort to using “emoticons”. The most common of them:

:) or:-) - smile, joy;

:(or:-(- sadness, sadness;

:"(- tears, crying;

:-o - surprise;

;-) - wink.

C should remember that too many emoticons make the text difficult to read. To indicate your emotions, it is enough to put 1 - 2 emoticons, but no more.

Formulate your questions clearly and unambiguously. Questions should be formulated in such a way that the answer can be formulated briefly.

You should not pay attention to malicious attacks.

Observe etiquette and respect the rights of the interlocutor. Answer only the question asked. If the question is not clear, please clarify.

Before answering, think about the question, because the main thing is not speed, but the content of the answer.

Ignore flames [Flames are emotional remarks, often made without taking into account the opinions of other participants in the conversation].

Based on materials from the site “Etiquette from A to Z”

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INTRODUCTION

Not a single new information technology can do without burdening our lives with new worries. The Internet, being a mirror image of real life, includes both its positive and negative sides. The murky stream of imposing ideas, goods and services through conferences, email distribution services and other elements of the network, sending scandalous and offensive messages constitutes one of the aspects of communications on the network.

In the fight against these negative aspects comes the growing need to comply with certain “rules of behavior” that make network communications convenient and safe. Rules of conduct and good manners for netizens are often referred to as “netiquette” or “netiquette.”

Netiquette is a concept that has appeared quite recently. The Internet is developing and expanding, more and more people are becoming familiar with it. And, starting to communicate with each other on the Internet, they make many mistakes that are invisible at first glance. These mistakes, caused by ignorance of netiquette, can cause trouble for you and your interlocutors.

In order to feel comfortable in any society, not to cause surprise and indignation among old-timers, and to understand the words and actions of other people, you need to know at least two things: the language in which people communicate here, and the accepted rules of behavior (this applies to real ones, but also to virtual ones). communities). By and large, the virtual world is not much different from the real one. Both the language and the rules of behavior in it are basically the same as in ordinary, off-line society. Both here and there, rudeness, impolite attitude towards the interlocutor, insults and excessive aggressiveness are unacceptable.

In the virtual world there are some rules determined by its specifics, which are called netiquette. The rules of netiquette are not complicated, but it’s worth knowing them in order to understand your interlocutor or to avoid accidentally getting into trouble. There is email etiquette, networking etiquette, even web page etiquette. Each of these types of activities has its own specifics, which precisely determine the rules of user behavior. Despite this, there are general rules that every self-respecting Internet user must follow.

1. ETHICS OF NETWORK COMMUNICATION

Netiquette is a set of simple rules that were invented by people who communicate a lot with each other via the Internet. It is needed so that everyone - both experienced users and beginners - can communicate with each other equally comfortably. Most of the rules are not of any special nature, but simply represent a repetition of the rules of good manners accepted in society as a whole. These rules are just suggestions. But since we are all a community, following all these rules increases your authority, and you will attract attention as a pleasant and interesting interlocutor.

How to observe netiquette? You must learn to behave as if you are in an unfamiliar world, very similar to your real world, and do not want to offend anyone with your tactless behavior. In fact, everything is very simple. Netiquette is the same as regular etiquette. Most clashes on the Internet occur due to the lack of skill and unwillingness of the participants to hear each other. First of all, try to use common sense. Respect your interlocutors, no matter who they may be, and then your life in the community will become easy and enjoyable.

2.1 What not to do on the Internet

First of all, you should not do those things that are not encouraged in any civilized community:

Use profanity;

Incite national hatred;

Insult people;

Steal;

Deliberately trying to break something;

Call for the overthrow of the existing system;

You should not send your commercial proposals;

Send instructions explaining how to commit illegal actions, as well as asking about possible ways to commit such actions;

Publish personal letters without the consent of their authors;

Start or continue a discussion on an abstract topic in places (conferences, forms, etc.) not intended for this.

Before we look at the rules of netiquette, let's get acquainted with the basic concepts used when communicating on the Internet.

2.2 Basic concepts used on the Internet

The forum is an asynchronous communication tool. The classic forum is text-based, but nowadays there are forums containing hypertext, graphics, sound and video. There are narrowly focused and multi-thematic forums. Forums are used for personal, industrial and educational communications.

Chat is a real-time text messaging service that allows many users to simultaneously communicate with each other.

A moderator is a person who maintains order and a comfortable atmosphere in the Internet community, monitors and suppresses all kinds of technical violations, as well as violations of netiquette by discussion participants.

Overquoting - excessive quoting.

As a rule, when a user responds to someone's letter on a forum, the original text of the letter is first quoted (and it is visually indented or in a different font), and then the answer itself comes. This is done so that the rest of those present understand what is actually being commented on. The most common mistake in this case is the so-called overquoting. Because in order for the answer to be clear, there is almost always no need to quote the entire original letter. It is enough to quote only the part that is necessary to understand the answer. But it rarely happens that a user quotes a huge letter just to write “Agree.” Overquoting is harmful and should be avoided whenever possible.

Flames are emotional remarks, often made without taking into account the opinions of other participants in the conversation. These are messages where tact is not the most important thing, but the goal is to provoke a reaction from users.

Flaming is “dispute for the sake of argument.” The extreme severity of flame occurs when everyone forgets what started the conversation and begins to quarrel fiercely with each other. We say that a person is inciting a flame if he:

a. Gets personal during the conversation

b. Allows insults of a personal, national, religious, sexual or professional nature

c. Leads the discussion unbalanced

d. Provokes a scandal

There is a simple rule - you should never support a flame. Ignore the “flamers” - and then everyone else will undoubtedly begin to respect you.

Flood is a stream of messages that carry almost no meaning. These are messages that could be painlessly deleted (or rather, not written) without any damage to the community. Usually flooding is done by users who, by and large, have nothing to say, but who want to attract attention. They begin to respond to almost every message, and the replies do not carry any semantic meaning and look like short one-line messages. Flooding should be avoided. It slows down page loading, increases the amount of unnecessary information, annoys other users, generates pointless traffic, and increases costs.

Emoticons are simple “pictures” made up of several symbols, used by Internet users to express their emotions.

When exchanging text messages, we do not hear the live intonations of our interlocutor. Therefore, sometimes we resort to using “emoticons”. The most common of them:

:) or:-) - smile, joy;

:(or:-(- sadness, sadness;

:`(- tears, crying;

:-o - surprise;

;-) - wink.

But you should remember that an excessive number of emoticons makes it difficult to read the text. To indicate your emotions, it is enough to put 1-2 emoticons, but no more.

The rules of “netiquette” are based on 10 principles:

1. Remember that you are talking to a person.

Do not do to others what you do not want to receive from them yourself. Put yourself in the shoes of the person you are talking to. Defend your point of view, but do not insult others. When you use telecommunications you are dealing with a computer screen, you cannot gesture, change your tone, and your facial expression does not play any role. Words, only words, are all that your interlocutor sees.

When you are having a conversation - by email or in a conference call - it is very easy to misinterpret the words of your interlocutor. And, unfortunately, forget that your recipient is also a person with his own feelings and habits. However, do not forget about the main principle of netiquette: there are real people everywhere on the Internet.

And one more reason why you should be polite on the Internet. When you communicate with someone in cyberspace, remember that your words are recorded. Perhaps they will be stored in places where you can no longer reach. In other words, there is a chance that they will come back and harm you. And you have no opportunity to influence this process.

2. Adhere to the same standards of behavior as in real life.

In real life, most of us obey the law, sometimes due to restrictions, sometimes due to fear of being caught. In the virtual space, the chances of being caught are relatively small. People sometimes forget that there is a real person “behind the screen”, and they think that the rules of behavior on the Internet are not as strict as in real life.

This misconception is understandable, but it is still a misconception. Standards of behavior may differ in different parts of the virtual space, however, they are no softer than in real life.

3. Remember where you are in cyberspace.

When you find yourself in a new area of virtual space, first look around. Take the time to study the situation - listen to how and what people are talking about. After that, engage in conversation.

4. Respect the time and capabilities of others.

When you send email or post a message to a conference call, you are essentially vying for someone's time. And then you are responsible for ensuring that the recipient does not waste this time in vain.

Many conference readers are slow, and it takes time to receive a new message. The program must scroll through all the message headers in order to get to the one you need. No one is particularly happy if it turns out that time was wasted.

5. Save face.

Take advantage of anonymity.

On the Internet (for example, in conferences) you can meet people you would never meet in real life and no one will judge you for the color of your skin, eyes, hair, your weight, age or manner of dressing.

However, you will be judged on how you write. For those on the Internet, this matters. Thus, grammar rules play an important role. Be aware of what you are saying.

Also, make sure your messages are clear and logical. You can write a paragraph of text that will be impeccable from a grammatical point of view, but completely meaningless. This often happens if you want to convince someone that you are right, using a lot of complex and long words that you yourself are not very familiar with.

Don't insult users.

Be patient and polite. Do not use profanity, do not enter into conflict for the sake of conflict itself.

6. Help others where you can.

Why is asking questions in virtual space effective? Because your questions are read by many people who know the answer to them. And even if only a few people answer qualifiedly, the total amount of knowledge on the Internet will increase. The Internet itself grew out of the desire of scientists to share experiences. Gradually, others became involved in this fascinating process.

If you are an expert yourself, you can do more. Many people freely post entire bibliographies, from lists of legal resources to lists of popular books on UNIX. If you are leading a group that does not have a list of answers to the most frequently asked questions, try writing one. If you have discovered or created a document yourself that you think may be of interest to others, send it to the conference. Sharing experiences is a fun activity. This is an ancient and glorious tradition of the Network.

7. Do not get involved in conflicts and do not allow them.

“Does online etiquette prohibit flames? Not really. Flames are also an old tradition of the Web. Flames can be fun for both writers and readers. And the recipients of flames often deserve them.

But netiquette is against flames that develop into wars - a series of angry messages exchanged, as a rule, by two or three participants in the discussion. Such wars can literally take over the conference and destroy the friendly atmosphere. This is unfair to other conference readers. And very soon people who are not participating in the discussion get tired of conflicts. In fact, an unacceptable monopolization of resources occurs.

8. Respect the right to private correspondence.

9. Don't abuse your powers

Some people feel like professionals in the virtual space. These are aces in every network game, experts in every office and system administrators of the system.

With greater knowledge or greater authority in their hands, these people automatically gain an advantage.

However, this does not mean that they can use it. For example, system administrators should not read private email messages.

10. Learn to forgive others for their mistakes.

2.3 Etiquette rules when communicating by email

Addresses and personal data

A personal name (not to be confused with a signature) is a custom string that many email programs allow you to attach to your messages as a text comment.

· If your system allows, always write a personal name: it is a better “business card” for you than an e-mail address.

· Use meaningful names. Expressions like “figure it out for yourself” not only make it difficult to identify the author of the letter, but also insult the intelligence of the addressee.

· If your mail system allows you to send letters along with the names of the recipients, use this feature. This will make it easier for the network administrator to find the recipient by name if the address itself turns out to be incorrect.

Letter subject

· Don't forget to give titles to your letters. Often the user is guided by names when looking through his mail.

· Avoid meaningless names. For example, when sending an email to WordPerfect technical support, you shouldn't call it WordPerfect—you might as well not write anything at all.

· If you change the topic of conversation when replying to a letter, do not forget to change the title.

· An accurate title is the easiest way to determine the topic of a conversation, and if you change the topic while leaving the title the same, the recipient may be confused

· Try to keep the length of your letter consistent with the style of conversation: if you are simply answering a question, keep it short and to the point.

· Stay as close to the topic as possible. If you want to talk about something new, it is better to send a separate letter. Then your recipient can store it separately.

· Do not write all text in capital letters - it becomes difficult to read (although short emphasis can be used as reinforcement). Try to break your letter into logical paragraphs and avoid overly long sentences.

· Try to avoid grammatical errors. A letter full of errors and typos is difficult to read. Just because email is a fast way to communicate doesn't mean you can relax and forget about spelling.

· If you consider your thoughts worthy of expression in a letter, make sure that they are presented correctly.

· Avoid public flames - letters written under the influence of emotions. Messages sent at the moment of emotional distress most often only worsen the situation. You may regret your words later, so before you start a flame war, calmly think about the situation.

· If your mailer supports different text design options (bold, italics, etc.), make sure that the recipient's mailer has the same capabilities. At the time this document was written, most Internet email programs could handle text only, although this is of course changing.

· Include in your message excerpts from the letter you are responding to. Remember, email is not a real-time telephone conversation, and your recipient may forget the contents of the previous letter (especially if he is engaged in active correspondence). Include excerpts of the original text in your response, and the recipient will more easily understand what you are talking about.

· Do not over-quote previous messages. Separate the text of your message in some way from the text of the quoted letters, then your answer will be easier to read. The > sign is usually used for these purposes, although this is not the only option.

· Try not to mix general and personal information in your message.

· Ask yourself: is your answer really necessary? For example, if you received a letter as a result of a fan mailing, it is hardly worth notifying each of the recipients about your attitude towards it - it is better to send the letter directly to the author.

A signature is a small piece of text at the end of a message, usually containing information about contacts. Most mailers can automatically “stick” a signature on outgoing messages. A signature is an interesting thing, but you also need to know when to stop it.

· If you can, use a signature. It must identify you and contain information about alternative communication channels (regular telephone, fax). On many systems, particularly those where mail passes through gateways, your signature may be the only identifier.

· Make your signature shorter - 4-7 lines are enough. Unreasonably long signatures load communication channels.

· Some mailers allow you to add random lines to your signature: be careful with this. In any case, you need to remember:

Brevity is the soul of wit;

The concept of “insult” can be interpreted very broadly, so try to avoid expressions that could cause conflict on a religious, racial, or political basis.

Do not use “local” (understandable only to you and a small circle of people) remarks. You will not find understanding among users of other cities, countries or cultural communities.

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