Interact

The internet is becoming more and more popular and this means more people with widely diverse beliefs, interests, and cultures are within instant connection with each other.  This phenomenon has created the need for Netiquette, or the unwritten courtesies of the internet.  Here, are some of the courtesies.

E-mail, Newsgroups, and Chat

When communicating in a written from across the internet, there are several things that you need to remember:

- Don't type in all capital letters.  This is considered yelling, and is hard on the reader's eyes.

- Avoid sending unsolicited E-mail whenever possible.

- Use the Bcc portion of the address if you are sending an E-mail to multiple people who may or may not want each other to have their E-mail address.  This way, each person can only see their own address.

- You have a right to your privacy, don't ask for or give out personal information like name and address details to anybody.

- Be wary about forwarding chain letters, virus warnings, sweepstakes, etc… most of these are hoaxes.  If you receive a virus warning, check the information at one of the major Anti-virus software websites.

- Remember that no one can hear the tone of your voice or the look on your face.  Humor may be lost in an E-mail.  One way to avoid this is to use Emoticons, or punctuation put together to show emotion. (i.e.  :) for a smile).

WWW

- Understand that the site that you are looking at may be hosted in another region, or another country.  The culture, laws and beliefs of that area may contrast with your own.

- If you surf the web long enough, you will find something that offends you.  Rather than try to talk the owner of the site into changing their content, it is much better to simply not visit the site anymore.  If you don’t like it, don’t look at it.  If you feel it is appropriate to contact the authorities, then do so, but leave the legal work up to them.

-  Don’t use the information you get from someone else’s site without their permission.  Give credit where credit is due.

- If you like a particular site, let them know.  This way they will be motivated to keep up the good work, and you can continue to benefit.