Basic Netiquette "Rules" The internet is not ruled or controlled by any single person, company or entity - in turn the internet as a whole does not have any set in stone rules or regulations. People are expected to have good manners, so that everybody can use it with no problems.
There are however exceptions to the "no laws" internet. Many institutions, mailing lists, countries and internet service providers (ISPs) do have their own set of written rules to follow. If you are caught you will probably be warned, denied service, or even punished as per their TOS (Terms Of Service). Some mailing lists have rules, and if you do not follow them, you can be unsubscribed from the list. Some countries have laws related to the use of the Internet, and if you violate them, you will be punished. If you use the Internet with common sense, you will probably not be in serious trouble.
In order to avoid inconveniencing other people, there are some generally accepted standards of behavior. These standards are referred to as "netiquette." Thus, they are not really "rules" per se, and even if you do not follow them, you will not be punished. However, if you do not follow the standards of netiquette, other users may criticize you for violating them just as if you were to walk into someone's house and chop all their candles in half.
The most important guideline for netiquette is to be polite and respectful to other people. Another guideline is not to reveal any information about other people which they may not want known, for example, phone and fax numbers, addresses, or any information related to the privacy of other people.
- PLEASE, get a feel for the type of board and the people that post on it before you start posting.
- Be aware boards and newsgroups are archived, don't post anything you wouldn't want looked up later to haunt you.
- Do not advertise without previous permission. People take serious offence to this and will ban you.
- Don't get into a flame war. After all, you'd be the fool just be typing profanities randomly into the 'net;-)
- Any private message you receive, keep that way. There was a reason the person contacted you in private and did not address the entire board.
- Ignore spelling mistakes. People don't really care, and correcting them is not proper netiquette.
- Many boards have the ability to attach a picture to a post. Keep it in moderation as not to offend anyone.
- Don't post the same message to more than 5 different newsgroups at one time. It's highly unlikely it will be on-topic in every singel one.
- Many boards keep a FAQ (frequently asked questions) READ IT! It usually outlines the owners expected behavior.
- Stay on topic. If you have something off topic to add to the community, make a new thread.
- Don't post anybodys private information they may not want made public. Just ask yourself if you'd like that same info of you posted.
- There are usually arguements on the boards, debate them. But stay clear of anything turning ugly.
- Don't register multiple "user names". Pick one you like and post under it. It will let people know whos who when posting.
- A lot of boards lately are allowing signatures that follow every one of your posts. (They don't hold candles to the old style bbs's;-0) This isn't an excuse to advertise your site UNLESS it is related to the board.
- The newer boards allow for direct html editting in your post. Please make sure you know what you're doing. There's nothing worse that coming into an unreadable thread because somebody misused html tags.
- Just be all around courteous;-)