netiquette

convention, networking /net'ee-ket/ or /net'i-ket/ Network

etiquette.

The conventions of politeness recognised on Usenet and in

mailing lists, such as not (cross-)posting to inappropriate

groups and refraining from commercial advertising outside the

biz groups.

The most important rule of netiquette is "Think before you

post". If what you intend to post will not make a positive

contribution to the newsgroup and be of interest to several

readers, don't post it! Personal messages to one or two

individuals should not be posted to newsgroups, use private

e-mail instead.

When following up an article, quote the minimum necessary to

give some context to your reply and be careful to attribute

the quote to the right person. If the article you are

responding to was posted to several groups, edit the

distribution ("Newsgroups:") header to contain only those

groups which are appropriate to your reply, especially if the

original message was posted to one or more inappropriate

groups in the first place.

Re-read and edit your posting carefully before you post.

Check the spelling and grammar. Keep your lines to less than

70 characters. Don't post test messages (except to test

groups) - wait until you have something to say. When posting

humorous or sarcastic comments, it is conventional to append

a smiley, but don't overuse them.

Before asking a question, read the messages already in the

group and read the group's FAQ if it has one. When you do

post a question, follow it with "please reply by mail and I

will post a summary if requested" and make sure you DO post a

summary if requested, or if only a few people were interested,

send them a summary by mail. This avoids umpteen people

posting the same answer to the group and umpteen others

posting "me too"s.

If you believe someone has violated netiquette, send them a

message by _private e-mail_, DO NOT post a follow-up to the

news. And be polite, they may not realise their mistake, they

might be a beginner or may not even have been responsible for

the "crime" - their account may have been used by someone else

or their address forged.

Be proud of your postings but don't post just to see your name

in pixels. Remember: your future employer may be reading.

Netiquette for Usenet Site Administrators.

\"net.acceptable\".

[Jargon File]

(1999-10-18)