NETIQUETTE

Jan 11 01:46 UTC 1995

I don't find a general statement on Internet Etiquette (Netiquette) info,
coop, or selectable in menu or lynx. I downloaded one from
http://thomas.loc.gov, the House of Representives WWW site, edited it
*very* slightly to be in Grex's name, and offer it here for consideration
for putting somewhere and referring newusers to it: 


Guidelines for Responsible Use of the Internet

Grex users have an obligation to use Internet access in a
responsible and informed way, conforming to network etiquette
(netiquette,) customs, and courtesies. Use of the Internet
encompasses many different interconnected networks and
computer systems with each system having its own rules and
regulations regarding responsible use.

Ultimately, as a user of the Internet and member of the
Internet community, you are responsible for being aware of,
and obeying all rules that apply to you.  Keep in mind that
no set of rules can give you permission to commit acts that
are illegal; and that you and perhaps Grex could be held
liable for the consequences of such actions.

As a general rule, users should identify themselves properly
when using any Internet service. Users should also be careful
about how they represent themselves, given that what they say
or do could be interpreted as the opinion or policy of Grex.

The use of the Internet is a privilege, not a right, that may
be revoked at any time for inappropriate conduct. Examples of
inappropriate conduct include:

-  placing unlawful information on networks and systems;

-  use of threatening, abusive, or otherwise objectionable 
language in either public or private messages;

-  sending "chain letters" or "broadcast" messages to lists 
or individuals; and

-  any activity that could cause congestion or disruption of 
networks and systems.


Electronic Mail (E-Mail) Netiquette

-  Remember that any E-Mail message you send could become
public knowledge. Don't send anything that you wouldn't say
in person to the receiver of the message or be willing to see
printed in tomorrow's newspaper.

-  Write clear messages. Keep the line length to less than 60
characters. Use mixed case; uppercase can be used for
emphasis, but an entire message sent in uppercase is hard to
read and considered harsh, like shouting!

-  Don't send abusive, harassing, or bigoted messages. Also, 
be careful with using sarcasm in messages. Without face-to-
face communications, your joke may be viewed as criticism. 
Use indicators like <GRIN>, or "smiley faces" :-) in messages 
to indicate humor and irony.

-  Check for typing errors and correct misspellings made in 
addressing that would cause your message to be undeliverable.

-  Read E-Mail daily. Delete old E-Mail messages on a regular 
basis to free up valuable disk storage space on mail servers. 
Consider saving messages or files to your hard disk for 
future reference. Keep messages in your electronic mailbox to 
a minimum.

-  Reread your mail message before you send it to make sure 
it will not be misunderstood. On most systems, once a message 
is sent, it cannot be retrieved.


Electronic Bulletin Board Netiquette

If you decide to participate in bulletin board discussion 
groups (Usenet), you should familiarize yourself with the dos 
and don't of the group. As a new Usenet user, you should read 
through the postings in news.announce.newusers until you are 
familiar with what's there.

-  If you are interested in a group, subscribe to it and take 
some time getting to know the Usenet community and group 
before you post any messages. A good rule of thumb is to read 
frequently; post infrequently.

-  Read all postings marked FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions.) 
These postings may appear in the group itself or in a special 
group called news.newusers.questions  and news.answers. You 
may find your question has already been discussed.

-  Remember that what you post may be seen locally and around 
the world. Post to the smallest distribution possible to get 
your message known. Read the entire thread before responding. 
If the answer is not of general interest to the entire group, 
then respond to the submitter of the item privately, through 
E-Mail. Never post personal messages; use E-Mail.

-  Use descriptive titles in the subject field of your
article. People will choose to read your postings based on
the subject. Use a "signature" block at the bottom of your
postings and E-Mail messages. This information usually
includes your full name, Internet E-Mail address, and contact
information such as phone and mailing address. Signature
blocks should not exceed 3-4 lines. Add a disclaimer to the
signature block if your message could be perceived as being
official business or reflecting the opinion of your office.

-  Read all follow-ups and don't repeat what has already been 
said. Edit whatever isn't directly applicable to your reply. 
Including the entire article adds to the length and will 
annoy those reading it.   

-  Be polite and avoid criticizing individuals in writing for 
their postings. This is known as "flaming" and is generally 
considered bad form.

-  Limit line length of messages and postings to less than 60 
characters. Use capitalization for emphasis only. An entire 
message sent in uppercase is called "shouting" and is 
considered rude. Check your postings for spelling, grammar, 
and clarity. You will get your point across more effectively 
and avoid spelling and grammatical flames.

-  Respect copyright and licensing agreements. It is 
considered both rude and a violation of copyright statues to 
post private E-Mail correspondence without the permission of 
the author.

-  Act in a professional and courteous manner. Be careful 
what you say about others: E-Mail is easily forwarded.

-  Learn abbreviation conventions and network vocabulary and 
use them where possible. Some examples include: BTW for "By 
the Way," IMHO for "In My Humble Opinion," FYI for "For Your 
Information," and ;-) depicts a winking smiley face. 

-  Be sure your posting is appropriate. There are news groups 
designed for pro/con discussions, and there are groups where 
people with similar views meet to commiserate. In other 
words, don't complain about why you hate classical music in 
the classical music group.

-  Use discretion when forwarding mail to group addresses or 
distribution lists. Instead, reference the source of a 
document and provide instructions on how to obtain a copy.


ListServ and Mailing List Discussion Group Netiquette

Be mindful when subscribing to List Servers and Mailing 
lists. Some lists have low volume traffic, others can flood 
your mailbox with several hundred mail messages per day. 
These messages require extensive system processing which can 
tie up valuable resources, including your own. 

-  When posting a question to the discussion group, request 
that responses be directed to you personally. Post a summary 
or answer to your question to the group.

-  When replying to a message posted to a discussion group, 
check the address to be certain it's going to the correct 
person or group.

-  When signing up for a group, save your subscription 
confirmation letter for reference.

-  When going away for more than 2 days, unsubscribe or 
suspend mail from any mailing lists or ListServ services.

-  If you find you can respond to another person's questions, 
do so through E-Mail. Twenty-five people answering the same 
question on a large list can quickly fill your mailbox (and 
those of everyone else on the list.) 

-  Any requests regarding administrative tasks such as being 
added or deleted from a list should be made to the 
appropriate area, not the list itself.


Remote Login (Telnet) Netiquette

When you telnet to a remote system, you should always 
remember that you are using that system's CPU, storage, and 
other resources including network resources. To ensure that 
other Internet users have access to the same information in a 
timely manner, remote users should observe the following 
courtesies:

-  Logoff a remote computer system when finished. Because 
most systems have a limited number of resources, it's 
considered good manners to close your connection if it's not 
actively being used.

-  Be sensitive about whether you are creating requests that 
may consume a disproportionate amount of CPU time. 

-  Screen-captured data or information should be downloaded 
to your personal computer's hard drive.


FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Netiquette

As with Telnet, users are guests on remote computer systems. 
To ensure that other Internet users have access to the 
information, follow these basic guidelines:

-  Login as "anonymous" and respond to the PASSWORD prompt 
using your E-Mail address, unless stated otherwise. Some 
systems require that you enter GUEST as the password.

-  Limit downloads, especially large downloads, for after 
normal business hours. Think in terms of the current time at 
the site that's being visited, not of local time.

-  Copy downloaded files to your personal computer's hard 
drive or disks. Check downloaded files for viruses. Do not 
use infected files.

-  Remove files transferred to shared system areas as soon as 
possible. Copy the files to a local hard drive or disk.

-  Be aware of time and resource limitations of remote 
systems. Adhere to any stated 
restrictions.

-  Honor all copyright or licensing agreements. If the 
program you downloaded is beneficial to your use, pay any 
author's registration fee. Remove unwanted programs from your 
systems.

-  Routinely and frequently virus scan your system, 
especially when receiving or downloading files from other 
systems to prevent the spread of virus.


Acknowledgment

In the spirit of the Internet, this information was gleaned 
from the following source:

http://thomas.loc.gov, who gleaned it from:

The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog - Ed Krol, First 
Edition, September 1992

The Internet Guide for New Users - Daniel Dern, 1994

The NET:User Guidelines and Netiquette - Arlene H. Rinaldi, 
Computer User Services, Florida Atlantic University


  

response 2 of 22:

Jan 11 04:25 UTC 1995

on a side note: is "help etiquette" accessible through
lynx/menu?

response 4 of 22:

Jan 11 05:44 UTC 1995

I've seen some systems (ftp) that were *unhappy* with "user@", to
the point that they threaten to cut off your site's access
(garbo.uwasa.fi being one such system).  Administrative variance,
I guess :)

response 6 of 22:

Jan 11 14:28 UTC 1995

I didn't think it was that long, and it covered a lot of ground.  The
judgement about people giving up on it is probably correct, however.  I
really like lynx as a way to move between and organize files, but I think
the way it is used generally only encourages the "short attention span
theater" that is the world of the internet.  I say put it on in both
forms. 

response 8 of 22:

Jan 11 15:10 UTC 1995

a menu of subtopics sounds excellent to me. I agree with robh in that
as a whole, the text is long, and aren't we supposed to take our
food in small bites and chew it too?

response 10 of 22:

Jan 11 23:07 UTC 1995

It surprizes me that garbo.uwasa.fi would not be open.  That machine used
to be home to one of the very few freenets I've run into that were
anywhere near as open as Grex or M-Net.

response 12 of 22:

Jan 13 06:25 UTC 1995

I thought it was pretty much platitudinous, but possible leading to
readers giving a little thought to what's involved, which is a good thing.
These are not laws or even rules - they are a rewording of the practically
univeral Acceptable Use policies for the Internet. I think that it is
better for them to sound a little "harsh" (though they don't to me),
rather than sound wishy-washy. So, TS declines to follow them - that's his
problem. But Grex is a little safer having a statement like this on the
books and referencable. 

response 14 of 22:

Jan 13 17:20 UTC 1995

Do you mean the line about not sending "broadcast" messages? The
document acknowledges mailinglists as an internet use, later. I
think they should have said *unsolicited* broadcast messages (rehab
is solicited, right?).

response 16 of 22:

Jan 17 01:26 UTC 1995

I just read #0.  Some thoughts:
1) If you post a bunch of rules, will it just encourage people to
break them?  In this case, they're really good guidelines and, IMHO,
worth posting.  But it's a thing to keep in mind when posting rules.

2) At the beginning, it says to use your full, real, name on Grex.
Last I checked, pseudos are completely welcome and encouraged to
use the system.  Real names aren't required, except for outbound
Internet access.


For another nettiquette posting, type

        !zmore /u/popcorn/userinfo/bbs.commandments

Not everything in there is applicable to Grex, but it's got some
good stuff, and it's cute reading.

response 18 of 22:

Jan 17 15:11 UTC 1995

Ja, I think that could confuse some people.

response 20 of 22:

Mar 5 20:24 UTC 1995

Three guesses who provided the hypertext, carl.  >8)

response 22 of 22:

Mar 11 14:53 UTC 1995

Rob?  As in robh?  See?  I told you I felt embarassed...

Thanks, you did an excellant job with converting it to hypertext!