| Netiquette (Internet Etiquette) |
NetiquetteFollowing these 10 basic policies is strongly recommended. "InterNet etiquette" becomes "Netiquette" in a listserv context. With Etiquette, we sort of already know that "everyone really should know to do THIS or know not to do THAT sense." We all know that spitting in public is gross, and we should not drink tea from the saucer... But we don't always know exactly what basic Netiquette rules are. Here's a small-ish collection of the top ten basics, for those who do want to know -- and it is TIME for us to all begin using these policy guidelines more regularly. 10. Do not respond to every list-message you receive. You will annoy other subscribers. Corollaries include: • Do not send "Me Too/I agree/Thank you" messages to the listserv unless asked to vote or respond to the listserv for a specific reason
• Reply privately if the response is just for one person or is of no interest to the group, such as 'I hope you feel better soon.' • ALWAYS check the To field to see where your message is going BEFORE pressing Send. • Speak only if you can ADD something to advance the discussion. 9. Trim your messages so those with dial-up or who pay by the bit/byte don't have to waste their time or money receiving useless copies of copies of copies.... (Think: eternal regress) A - in the message you receive, highlight what you want to respond to, then press Reply. Only what you highlighted should show on your response. Begin your answer ABOVE the copied text. OR B - in your reply message, you can highlight what you do NOT want to reply to and press Delete until you just have the sentence(s) you wish to reply to, then begin your reply above the copied text. ** To highlight something means "put your cursor at the beginning of the sentences or paragraphs you want to deal with and drag the cursor down to the end of what you want to deal with." On a PC, hold down the left key of the mouse while dragging the cursor to the right or down. The "drag-area" should be highlighted from the rest of the text. Release the cursor and review what is highlighted. Then either press Reply or Delete, depending on which screen you are in (A or B above). If B, repeat as needed above and/or below what you want to keep in the reply. 8. Use descriptive subject lines, especially when you are using Digest. State your topic in the subject line. Collary:
• Do not use HELP! in your subject line. That is akin to crying "Wolf!" and experienced subscribers find it very annoying. Instead, choose "Did anyone see my iPhone at church?" or similar. 7. While not confidential on the listservs, a persons words do belong to them. It is no considered proper Netiquette to forward another person's words to anyone without their express permission. Corollaries: • We want YOUR opinions, not someone else's or a newspaper article.
• We expect ordinary courtesy in all posts. Flames and discourtesy are not welcome on local listservs. • Speak from YOUR own experience. • Trim your messages of copied info if it is not relevant to the conversation any more. • Ditto interesting attachments and graphics. Tell us what you want us to notice, then offer the link. 6. Deal with SPAM. • Don't forward chain letters, virus messages or unverified sob/disaster stories. Period. • Does the message have any specific date in the BODY of the message? (Specific = June 12, 2012, rather than "last week" or "recently" or even "Tuesday".) If not, it is SPAM. • Does the message feel urgent and does it ask you to send it to everyone in your address book? If it does, it is SPAM. • To verify the truth (or not) of something that you really think might be true, visit Snopes.com and actually READ their research about the piece you are interested in. 5. Scoring debate points is not the goal. When someone expresses a different viewpoint to yours, you do not have to require that person to change theirs to match yours. A brief exchange of well-written perspectives is a good thing. • Consider your words carefully, since a listserv acts a lot like a megaphone to each of the list's subscribers—while saying the same thing in a group of four at coffee hour does not. • Reread your message for clarity, brevity, sense and TONE. When in doubt, save that message overnight and reread it in the clear light of the dawn. FLAMES are grounds for suspension or worse. • Don't do a point-by-point refutation of someone else's message. Rather, repeat in your own words the most important part of what you think the other person meant, then add your response. 4. Some topics are not appropriate for discussion on the listservs, requiring rather face to face discussion. As in gossip, harmful words, airing of conflicts, and other sensitive topics.
3. The listmanagers, often known as ListMoms (whether male or female), have the power to issue private warnings, public warnings and demands, and to invoke individual moderation, suspension, expulsion from the list, naming of names, and temporary list shut-down (to cool tempers) — not necessarily in that order and wholly dependent upon the magnitude of the issue and the attitude of the perp(s). 2. Remember we have guests on the Chat and Share listservs who may not know us personally, and do not understand that one person always responds in what appears to be a bitter manner (but is not really bitter), or that another considers their snarky responses to be funny (and they ARE funny, in person), and that any number of other sharp responses could seem painful or outrageous to a person (Republican or Democrat) trying to evaluate how UUCE really is different than drinking buddies, members of a book club, debating society, or country club. Let's practice our best and most thoughtful behavior on the listservs. 1. Messages casually exchanged on a listserv do not determine UUCE policy nor become formal decisions. Thank you for reading ALL the way to here. More info at
With much respect and affection,
Martha Osgood
one of your listserv managers
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