FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
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•   053   What is netiquette?
  
  
• Netiquette is a neologism made up from internet and etiquette
  
  
• Netiquette is etiquette or good manners as applied to the Internet.
  
  

•   054  What forms does netiquette take?
  
  
• Netiquette may come in various forms, such as customary, conventional, technical, social, or even, unwritten.
  
  

•    055   What is conventional netiquette?
  
  
• It is conventional to write in a general letter or agreed format e.g. avoid rich text format such as colours, no bold, noitalics, no underlining unless previously agreed.
  
  
• It is conventional to have your Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) settings among your Internet options set to the International Standards Organisation Western Alphabet ISO-8859-1 unless othewise agreed.
  
  
• Nor should you use normally in strange formats such as
  
  How
  are
  you?
  
  I
  hope
  you
  well!
  

•    056   What is cultural netiquette?
  
  
• International Readership
  
  Please remember that a mailing list is very often international in its readership. As a rule of thumb, never send a joke about politics, religion or sex. The hilarious joke in your culture may well be quite insulting on the opposite side of the world.
  
  
• Racism
  
  Racism is that stated or implied communication either that one race, nation or people is superior to any or all others or that one race, nation or people is inferior to any or all others. Such connotations are NOT acceptable Netiquette.
  
  
• Prejudice
  
  Prejudice is the inability to accept new facts due to a preconceived opinion.
  
  In an Internet forum where new facts of a technical nature appear every day and where an open mind is essential for progress, prejudice is a poor companion.
  
  Almost all people due to failures in their education are prejudiced in some area or another. It can therefore only be through gradual further education through contact with others that such prejudice can be overcome.
  
  

•    057   What is customary netiquette?
  
  
• Customary Netiquette dictates that one writes in both small and CAPITAL letters
  
  
• YOU SHOULD NOT WRITE FULL SENTENCES IN CAPITALS. This is deemed to be SHOUTING on the InterNet and is held to be impolite.
  
  
• The use of a single word in CAPITALS may be used as form of emphasis, as mailing lists, at present, generally do not allow for u n d e r s c o r i n g, underlining or italics for emphasis.
• 
  
  

•    058   What is social netiquette?
  
  
• This is netiquette as applied to society generally.
  
  
• Bad manners
  
  Bad manners are essentially unacceptable social behaviour which their owner fails to realise is offensive to others.
  
  Such behaviour can only be corrected by the example and words of others.
  
  While prejudice resides in opinion, bad manners reside in conduct.
  
  
• Tone
  
  The disrespectful tone of a communication can contain portions of all the points made in this section on social netiquette.
  
  It essentially arises from the inability of the writer to realise that the addressee is entitled to just as much respect for their informed opinion and stance the writer is to his/hers.
  
  Tone is basically a question of respectful space in our addressing of others.
  
  
• Lack of professionalism
  
  This problem is essentially one of correct education in the business field in accepting, respecting and maintaining agreed protocols.
  
  It can only be addressed initially by drawing the person's attention to the fact and then subsequently to their professional grouping.
  
  
• Lack of discretion
  
  This problem is essentially one of lack of correct standards of social interaction. It is a learnt code of behaviour and can only be addressed by a direct one to one contact with the person concerned.
  
  
• Dishonesty
  
  This problem, whether real or imagined, is a question of the person's morality and culture.
  
  Dishonesty can only be addressed in three basic forms:
• one, appealing directly to the person concerned pointing out the wrong;
  
• two, appealing to the person's professional body for assistance;
• three, appealing for assistance to the laws of the respective land.
  
  

•    059   What is technical netiquette?
  
  
• Data Transmission
  
  Technical netiquette refers more to the easing of systems of transmission of data
  
  
• Snip and Clip
  
  When referring to a previous message, please Snip and Clip.
  
  
• There is no need to quote the entire previous message, simply the relevant portion to show the connection or point you are making.
  
  
• Quoting the entire message again takes up what is called bandwidth or an excessive waste of time and space on InterNet transmissions.
  
  
• Bandwidth
  
  Never send a person a file of more than 5MB without first clearing it with the distant party. Settings may well be in place either to reject large files or to keep them stored.
  
  
• In either case, the client does not get to see your transmitted file.
  
  
• However, if a large file is sent, its downloading may well take over the distant party's computer for 15 or 20 minutes, which is wrong, where no advance warning has been given and transmission rates are slow..
  
  

•    060   What is unwritten netiquette?
  
  
• This is what many people take for granted in all cultures, e.g. no derogatory comments about dying, sick or invalid persons.
  
  
• When in doubt, leave it out!
  
  
• If you have the slightest doubt about the correctness of your message on a mailing list, ask a Moderator or colleague before you send it.
  
  

•    061   What is flaming?
  
  
• Flaming is sending an angry reply to an eMail you have received.
  
  
• Please never do it to a person or to a mailing list.
  
  
• If you lose your cool, it means that you have lost the argument, whatever it may have been.
  
  
• In the cool light of morning, flaming looks bad and reads worse.
  
  

•    062   What is spam?
  
  
• Spam is generally any unsolicited eMail that you receive, normally from an international source.
  
  
• There is no easy way to get rid of spam apart from using a spam-filter on your eMail programme. Do a Google search to find one that is suitable for your system.
  
  
• To send unsolicited eMails to person you do not know is considered impolite and annoying, and, in some jurisdictions, it is an offence in law.
  
  
• There is a perceived difference between getting a flyer in through the letter-box and a spam eMail.
  
  
• Spam, by its volume affects not just you and your computer, but frequently causes the failure of your Internet Service Provider (ISP).
  
  
• If the spam persists, simply send the eMail back to the ISP server to abuse@(put in the domain name of the spam eMail) and most importantly, send it with the FULL headers.
  
  
• Each ISP has an officer who is obliged to stop spam when notified of it.
  
  
• Historically, spam was a type of unappealing tinned /canned meat. The Internet has merely resurrected it in a new form!