Lesson on netiquette and safety precautions. Netiquette rules: standards of behavior. Communication by email

The concept of network etiquette came to us from English - network etiquette. The expression is often shortened there to netiquette. In RuNet, the term “network” is not yet widespread. To make online communication enjoyable and negotiations successful, you should take into account some principles, just like in real life. Netiquette is a set of rules for communicating online, conducting correspondence, mailings, exchanging opinions, knowledge, experience, etc.

About the rules

The rules of netiquette are not much different from the rules in real life. Be polite, listen (read) carefully to your interlocutor, respect his opinion, do not slander or be rude.

Be clear, concise and on topic. Do not get into arguments, do not use swear words, try not to make mistakes in the texts of your messages.

But virtual communication has its own characteristics, so there are some special points and terms. Let's look at each in more detail.

Offtopic

This term means any message that goes beyond the designated topic. That is, if in some thread there is a discussion of injection engines, there is no need to try to express your opinion there about the latest football match and a dress from the new collection.

Offtopic topics are not approved by moderators, and you may be prohibited from leaving messages (ban, ban). In some topics, unacceptable statements (offtopics) are immediately clearly stated in order to predict the development of the discussion and not let it go beyond the necessary boundaries.

Flood

Network communication etiquette prescribes not to spread flood for the good reputation of the user on the Internet. After all, no one likes noise, and “flooders” make noise, leaving a lot of meaningless comments like “Cool!”, “Tough!”, “High!”, trying to attract attention to themselves. Mark what you really found interesting. Let it be a meaningful phrase that expresses your opinion, and not “Chic!” Otherwise, you will be banned.

Emoticons

These are funny images for additional emotional coloring of the text, of which there are now a lot on the Internet. Every decent site or forum provides users with its own set of emoticons, static or animated. Despite their popularity, they must be used very carefully. One or two images per message is enough. A large number will make the text difficult to read or even deprive it of its semantic meaning.

Trolling

This term also came to us from the English language, where it means fishing with a lure.

In online communication, trolling is writing rude, contradictory, provocative messages in order to quarrel, offend, and anger the participants in the discussion.

The person who leaves such remarks, the troll, most often acts hidden and solely for his own pleasure. It is not the result that is important to him, but the process - the correspondence itself, the reaction of people to his statements.

Moderators are doing their best to combat this phenomenon, because a confident and active troll can scare away visitors.

The basic rule of netiquette is politeness. Try to always adhere to it, even if you find yourself in an unpleasant situation (conversation), get out of it first, and do not succumb to provocations. Don't let them troll you.

Literacy and abbreviations

Try to write correctly. Check the finished text carefully. Now there are enough programs and resources that will help you online - politeness in real life. Yes, there are already enough words on the Internet that are misspelled, but are perceived as correctly written - this is a kind of online slang, but it should not be abused.

In addition to slang words, netiquette also allows:

• IMHO - my humble opinion.
• LOL - my loudest laugh.
• BTW - by the way.
• AFAIK - as far as I know.
• WBR - my best wishes.
• AKA - known as.
• WTF is a dirty word.

Netiquette: Email

Correspondence, especially business correspondence, is a separate block in the list of rules for online communication. How to compose a competent, pleasant letter for the interlocutor, which he will most likely read and then be willing to respond to? And write it in such a way that his answer meets your expectations?

1. First, introduce yourself. Abstract, general contact information is enough for pleasant communication. Indicate your real name, and the correspondence will work out. Users are very wary of anonymous letters, often sending them to spam without even reading them.
2. Secondly, indicate the subject of the letter. It should reflect the content of the message, be bright, succinct, concise, and arouse interest and desire to read the letter. For example, “Do you dream of relaxing? There’s something waiting for you, or even better, individually - “Sergey Vasilyevich, a vacation especially for you!”
3. Thirdly, think carefully about the content. Check the text for errors. Write briefly and to the point, don't throw too much water around. If the message is long, it may not be read. Divide the message into meaningful paragraphs; key points can be highlighted in capital letters, but no more than two or three words.
4. Fourthly, the design should be delicate. Most correspondence programs support a lot of fonts, colors, and pictures, but this does not mean that everything must be used. Such a bright letter may cause irritation to the interlocutor or may not be displayed correctly at all. A pair or color is enough.
5. Fifth, be moderate in your citations. When there is active correspondence, netiquette advises not to erase all previous messages when replying, but also not to forward the entire thread. The best option is to leave the original text and several subsequent ones, so that the main meaning of the conversation is clear.
6. Sixth, a laconic signature. Netiquette rules state that the optimal length for a signature is four lines. Usually they write your name and contact information there. Do not confuse a signature and a business card; there is no need to insert pictures, tables and diagrams here. From the signature, the reader should find out who wrote to him and how this person (you), if desired, can be contacted.

Newsletters

What is netiquette? Rules for online communication. What are newsletters? Mass communication. So, even if you are sending a message to many and possibly complete strangers, you will have to follow some rules.

If you don't care whether those you send emails need your information, it's spam. The concept is very negative online. For some time now it has even been persecuted by law. It’s better to gather an official circle of subscribers to be sure that your letter will not be thrown into spam, that they are waiting for it.

When you compose a letter for a certain circle of people, always fill in the subject line of the letter; the mailing should be thematic.

Register additional addresses in the subject “blind carbon copy” (BCC). It is not very pleasant for any person to be one of tens, hundreds, thousands... He appreciates individual attention. There is also no need for you to show the addresses of your subscribers.

Do not respond to spam emails yourself. If they bother you, install a filter or contact your provider for help.

If you are sending information, copy the text directly and paste it into a new letter. Avoid multiplying ">" signs, which automatically appear during transmission and make the text unreadable.

Do not send heavy files and archives to your interlocutors without asking permission. Many have restrictions on the weight of incoming letters, and then your message will not reach the recipient, and the correspondence may be interrupted. Unsolicited archives also cause suspicion and rejection. Especially if they are self-extracting (.exe).

For personal comfort, install a filter on and do not unpack archives from strangers, they may contain viruses.

Netiquette

By communicating online, you create your own image. Your interlocutors know you solely by your virtual statements and actions. But behind any car sits a person who, perhaps, will be a good acquaintance, a good friend in real life. Don't neglect the rules of netiquette. Be polite, do not throw out negative emotions on the audience.

Try to write correctly yourself, but don’t pay attention, especially don’t point out mistakes to others. If there are a lot of them and they are repeated regularly, write the person a personal letter with wishes and advice, but do not insist or ridicule - we all make mistakes sometimes.

Very delicately introduce humor, irony, and sarcasm into your messages. They may not be accepted or offend the interlocutor. When developing correspondence, start with very popular or already established phrases and expressions to understand the level of perception of the interlocutor.

Don't be arrogant. Even if you are a great expert in some field, give polite and detailed answers to beginners, explain the terms and principles, because you yourself once started.

“And passions rage through the networks,

And a friend introduces a friend to black...

And to avoid misfortune,

A man once decided:

It is desirable and even necessary

To appear in internet

Well, at least some etiquette..."

(Leonid Ivonin. “Netiquette according to A.S. Pushkin”)

Over the past 10-15 years, the life of Russians has changed dramatically: communication, relationship history, connections - everything is stored in “clouds” and in small personal devices.

Few of our contemporaries can imagine even a day without phones, laptops, and tablets. And even less - without the Internet. The World Wide Web has swallowed up everyone's life: dating, relationships, finances, studies, work - everything is entangled in the World Wide Web. Checking email, messages on social networks, reading news, publishing photos or posts - this is what the lives of most Russians are filled with.

The solution to many organizational issues depends on information technology: from registering children for kindergarten through the Gosuslugi.rf portal to checking a child’s diary on special websites, from organizing the educational process at the university to monitoring the calculation of pensions... Human development of a new habitat requires compliance with the rules of relationship and interaction in it. Hence the great interest in netiquette or Setiketu.

What is a networket

The search engine finds about 22 thousand responses to a query about netiquette. The first source - Wikipedia - gives this concept a definition.

In the material “What is a network?” (newspaper “Zarya Molodezhi”, Saratov) in 2010 Vladimir Bolotin defined networking as “rules of behavior, communication on the Internet, traditions and culture of the Internet community, which are followed by the majority. This concept appeared in the mid-80s of the 20th century in echo conferences of the FIDO network.”

Most sources do not have a deep theory of the issue, but offer various “rules” of networking.

History of Networket

The first code of computer ethics appeared in the professional IT field in 1979 at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. According to infopedia.ru, “The adoption of the code was dictated by the understanding that engineers, scientists and technologists, through the results of their activities, determine the quality and living conditions of all people in the information society.”

The first work on netiquette addressed to a mass audience appeared in 1994.

Virginia Shea in the book “Netiquette” she formulated ten rules of behavior on the Internet. These rules were aimed at creating respectful online communication, in which each user should be aware that he is communicating with the same people as he is, and that this virtual communication should not differ in any way from the real one.

In 2007, a supporter of the Open Source community and one of the main ideologists of the Web 2.0 direction Tim O'Reilly and creator of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales started developing a code of honor for bloggers. O'Reilly believed that a code of ethics would improve the quality of blogs.

As lenta.ru reported, community members proposed creating three codes of honor for bloggers with different sets of rules. When creating the code of ethics, the priority was to preserve freedom of speech and prevent censorship under the guise of deleting information as unethical. A draft code of honor for bloggers was published on the developers' websites. However, 11 years later it is impossible to find this code on the Internet. Apparently, the idea of ​​its creation remained back in 2007.

Setiket is also studied by scientists. Teacher at Krasnodar Information Technology College Tatiana Zemlyanka wrote the work “Netiquette. Aggression on the Internet,” in which she defined basic network concepts such as flood, spam, chat, topic, offtopic, formulated the principles of netiquette and indicated what, in her opinion, should not be done on the Internet.

On Facebook.com there are Russian- and English-language public pages about the network.

What is a network for?

The Internet has become a part of our virtual life, and networking is as much a component of it as etiquette in real life. To understand why a network is needed, it is worth understanding why these rules of conduct are needed.

“Knowledge of the rules of etiquette allows you to determine how appropriate certain actions are in a particular situation. This can be confirmed by a simple example: when you come to another country, the habits of local residents may differ from yours. If you do something in front of them that they consider inappropriate, they will not like you. But if you remember their rules of behavior and take them into account, you will quickly find a common language with them and become your own.”(kakprosto.ru)

Network is needed

– in order not to break the law (by observing ethics, we comply with the law);

– to establish dialogue and organize effective communication (respectful communication strengthens connections);

– to have a reputation online as a media literate person.

Setiquette and law

Laws are the basic level of control below which one cannot fall. Many network rules are based on legal norms. By observing the network, we automatically comply with the main points of the law. First of all, we are talking about the federal law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection,” which gives the right to freely seek, receive and transmit information by all legal means, to be confident in the inviolability of information relating to private life, to permit or restrict access to information.

“Information posted by its owners on the Internet in a format that allows automated processing without prior human changes for the purpose of reuse is publicly available information posted in the form of open data.”

(Article 7 of the Federal Law of July 27, 2006 No. 149-FZ “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection”)

The federal law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” notes that using only the Russian language does not mean “denial or derogation of the right to use the state languages ​​of the republics that are part of the Russian Federation, and the languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation.”

The Internet sphere is subject to many laws, including “On the Mass Media”, “On Trade Secrets”, “On Advertising”, “On Electronic Digital Signatures”, etc. Therefore, to consider that the Internet is an area of ​​impunity, it is impossible - this can lead to serious consequences: as they say, ignorance of the law does not exempt you from responsibility. Therefore, before you post anything on the Internet or even like it, you should think about whether this action contradicts any law.

“In 2011, an activist of the branch of the nationalist party “Russian All-People’s Union” in Tatarstan was ordered to pay a fine of one thousand rubles under Article 20.3. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation “Propaganda or public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols, or paraphernalia or symbols of extremist organizations, or other paraphernalia or symbols, the propaganda or public display of which is prohibited by federal laws” for liking a screenshot of a frame from the film “American History X.” This festival hit of the nineties is not prohibited from being shown in Russia, however, the picture depicted the character of actor Edward Norton with a swastika tattooed on his chest, and the court considered this to be propaganda of Nazi symbols.”(tvrain.ru)

Law is the basis on which the network is based. From a legal point of view you should not

– insult;

– slander;

– humiliate;

– infringe on information about private life;

– promote what is prohibited by law;

– publish personal information;

– spam.

Network and dialogue

Communication on the Internet, as in life, should be respectful to your counterpart. It is worth remembering that on the other side of the computer screen there is the same person. Therefore, ethical communication requires:

– respectful and patient attitude towards the interlocutor;

– polite address to the counterpart;

– listening skills;

– competent choice of words;

If you are aiming for dialogue, you should not

– to be rude;

- deceive;

- slander;

– use profanity;

– “attack” discussion participants because of their spelling or grammatical errors;

– mock or ridicule;

– make indecent proposals;

Networking and reputation

Online behavior affects your reputation in real life. Our page on VKontakte or Instagram today is our “digital face”. Every Internet user should treat cyberspace as part of real life, and therefore adhere to the same rules of behavior. If a person does not want to look uncultured or stupid, then he should behave appropriately:

– respect the community where communication takes place;

– express yourself correctly;

- save face;

- thank your interlocutors;

– Apologize for wrongdoing if necessary.

Violation of these rules can play a cruel joke. For example, you are looking for a job and find an advertisement that states the requirement “competent communication with people.” Call your employer. He finds out your first and last name and schedules an interview. You come for an interview, but for some reason unknown to you, you hear a refusal to hire from the doorway. The employer simply looked at your VKontakte page, where on the wall you and your friends communicate in incoherent sentences and exchange obscene phrases. This is enough for the employer to already have an impression of you: after all, he does not want to lose clients because of you. And although Article 3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation prohibits restricting people’s labor rights on the basis of circumstances unrelated to their work qualities, the employer can refuse employment, citing any other reason.

Thus, online behavior is a reputation, both in virtual and real life. And violation of any of the above rules may affect your reputation. To maintain your online reputation, you should not:

– express yourself uncivilly;

– to be rude;

– publish propaganda posts;

– post obscene videos, photographs, messages;

– conduct dishonest conversations with competitors;

– insult;

- boast;

- to gossip;

- talk idle;

- refuse help if you really can help.

For safe, comfortable and convenient communication, networking is now simply necessary. Compliance with its rules will help you not to break laws and form an opinion of yourself as a competent and polite person with whom it is pleasant to communicate. Perhaps, after some time, networking will become not only necessary, but also fashionable.

People followed the rules of etiquette long before the advent of computers. Standards of behavior help to adequately present one’s personality and opinion, conduct a conversation in the form of a polite dialogue, respect other people’s understanding of the topic, and maintain a healthy “microclimate” in communication.

Some people think that with the advent of computer technology and network communication, one can forget about the norms of ethical behavior just because there are strangers sitting on the other side of the screen whom one will not have to meet. This position is unacceptable, because etiquette does not complicate life, but makes it easier. Therefore, there are certain rules online that polite people must follow.

Communication should take place without emotions

You can't give in to your emotions every minute. When communicating with a stranger, you should remember that he is real, but does not see or hear his opponent, but only reads the text. It is better to write clear statements without provocation and hatred, otherwise you can provoke retaliatory anger and ruin your mood for a long time.

It should be remembered that every word is recorded and does not disappear anywhere; it can significantly harm both the other person and you.

It is better to discuss any topic politely, try to understand the interlocutor and calmly convey your position.

Standards of conduct online and in real life

In the real world, absolute freedom of behavior is not allowed; people are afraid of judgment from others, or punishment for misdeeds. It is not easy to catch a violator on the Internet. But this does not exempt him from moral responsibility. We must remember that there is a living person on the other side of the screen, and you need to communicate with him in the same way as with people in real society. If you have problems with etiquette, you should think about how you would act in everyday life, looking your interlocutor in the eyes.

Behavioral norms in thematic groups

When using the Internet for group communication, you should remember which group you are in. In a conference with the theme of television programs, it is quite normal to use rumors and gossip, but invading the scientific environment with them is impermissible. Once you find yourself in a new thematic group, you should look around, understand what is happening, and only then enter into a discussion.

Priceless time

When communicating in cyberspace, it is necessary to understand the value of each of us’s time. Don't send thoughtless messages via email or conference calls. The sending process takes time, the channel bandwidth is limited.

You should consider whether this message is necessary; if it is possible to abstain, it is better to do so.

Personality assessment

You can communicate online without introducing yourself. No one knows what the interlocutor looks like; personality is assessed based on the texts presented. You should write correctly, not idle talk, messages must be important and weighty, facts must only be verified.

Helping people

There are answers to many questions on the Internet. If someone asked a question to which you know the answer, you definitely need to help the person. Help is a noble cause. When asking a question, you can exchange remarks via email, then collect them, summarize them and send them as a general message to the conference. The information will be useful to other users.

Private correspondence

It is unethical to intrude on private correspondence, read or write remarks for others. Under no circumstances should you forward someone else's correspondence to other people.

The ability to forgive

The network is overflowing with messages from both literate and poorly educated people of different age categories and different perceptions of the world. You should be tolerant and forgive people for stupid questions, long answers, and even a complete lack of logic in their judgments. You should answer only with the aim of helping, not judging.

Delicate humor

If you don’t know your interlocutor well, you should carefully introduce humor or irony into your messages. When developing relationships, it is better to delicately touch upon popular topics in order to find out the range of interests of the opponent.

Flooding or attracting attention

Flood – meaningless messages, for example: “Cool! ", "Tough! " Some people need them to get attention. This only seems harmless, but in fact flooders, with their stream of unethical statements, are capable of disrupting the conference.

Flames. Provoking conflict

Emotional remarks, regardless of the opinions of other participants in communication, are called flames. They provoke the interlocutor and can bring excitement to the conversation, but if they cross a certain line, a conflict arises. Misunderstandings and mutual insults begin.

As a rule, several interlocutors participate in such a communication environment, but it is they who destroy the peaceful process of the conference.

Flaming is similar to flooding, only it is more aggressive.

Offtopic. Theme presence

The term means going beyond the topic. If the conference has a specific topic, you should not contradict it with pointless messages. This behavior violates ethical standards and can be stopped by moderators.

Trolling. Provocative messages

People who do this hardly think about etiquette. Cynical, rude, provocative messages are thrown in in order to antagonize the participants in the conversation and destroy communication. By annoying society, trolls derive pleasure from their own importance. You should not indulge them and enter into such a discussion.

Smiles. How to use

Funny images for text messages carry an emotional tone. Often sites provide their own samples, but you need to use them in moderation. Overloading messages with emoticons can distract from the content of the conversation.

Literacy

You should re-read your messages before sending them. The letter is easy to read without errors. There are enough programs on the Internet that can help with this. Competent text is a sign of respect for your interlocutor.

It is not so easy to compose a competent letter so that the interlocutor would be willing to respond to it. There are basic concepts of behavioral norms when communicating via email:

• First, you should introduce yourself and provide your general information. This is enough to start a correspondence. They treat anonymous correspondents with caution, often without reading them, and send their messages to spam.
• It is better to indicate the subject of the letter and succinctly highlight the main thing in order to attract attention.
• It is necessary to think carefully about the content of the text, remove errors and unnecessary phrases. You should break the letter into meaningful paragraphs to make it easier to read. You should not send a message in large volume, as it may be inconvenient to read; it is better to use succinct and accurate information.

• In personal communication, a conversational style is allowed.
• During active correspondence, you can save the original text and several thematically understandable letters.
• At the end of the text there is a laconic signature, which consists of the name and contact information. The census taker must know who he is communicating with and how that person can be contacted.
• You cannot forward someone else's message without the consent of the author.

Since people exist in society, they are all obliged to comply with the norms of social behavior. The rules of etiquette can be general in nature and also vary depending on the communicative situation, therefore, they distinguish, for example, table etiquette, business etiquette, diplomatic etiquette, etc. In recent years, a new type has been added to this list - netiquette, or netiquette. His appearance was dictated by urgent need. After all, today there are a huge number of people using the Internet, and not all of them have an idea of ​​how to behave correctly when communicating online.

Why do we need netiquette rules?

Online etiquette rules essentially have the same goal as regular etiquette rules: they help people achieve mutual understanding and ensure safe communication. The impersonality of a network communicative act makes users forget that they are not dealing with a machine, but with living people. Establishing a strong contact with an interlocutor whom we neither see nor hear is quite difficult. And netiquette is a set of recommendations that are designed to help solve this problem. In addition, following the rules of netiquette makes it possible to safely avoid the machinations of virtual scammers, keeping your wallet and your nerve cells intact.

10 Basic Rules of Netiquette

1. Be polite, even if the communication is not in real time. After all, in any case, you are in contact with people who are simply on the other side of the screen.
2. Do not forget about the mandatory formulas of greeting, farewell, address, expression of gratitude, etc.
3. Pay attention to the communication situation, for example, in a network chat where people are just going to chat, you can behave more freely, but during a network thematic conference you should be more restrained, etc.
4. Avoid idle talk and try not to waste your interlocutor’s time.
5. Do not rush to destroy the aura of anonymity when communicating with strangers; let people judge you not by your appearance and manner of dressing, but by the breadth of your horizons, level of literacy, sense of humor, etc.
6. Proofread and edit your messages and emails before sending, and do not send nonsense or illiterate text to your interlocutor.
7. Don't stoop to crude insults. Politeness is appropriate even when your opponent turns out to be an outright boor.
8. Do not refuse help, unless, of course, you are asked to send money to an unfamiliar number or something similar. You can help with advice, send a link to the desired resource, answer a question, or give advice.
9. Do not try to lecture your interlocutor or “pressure” him morally.
10. Be lenient towards the mistakes of others; you can easily turn a blind eye to unintentional mistakes in phrases. No one can be perfect, we are all only human.

Social Media Etiquette Rules

Social networks are incredibly popular today, and therefore they could not help but be affected by netiquette and the basic rules of communication on social networks are generally similar to the general rules of netiquette. But there are also special recommendations. For example, to avoid confusion, it is best to use a simple name or your real first and last name as a nickname, as well as your photo for your avatar. But provide information about yourself that is of a purely personal nature - telephone number, address, passport details, etc. – interlocutors on the Internet should not do so, so that there is no risk of being deceived by scammers. You should not continue communicating with a user who seems suspicious or inappropriate to you. You can blacklist it or report it to the administrators.

10 COMMANDMENTS OF NET ETIQUETTE

What is netiquette,

Why is it needed and how to comply with it?
Netiquette is a set of simple rules that were invented by people who communicate a lot with each other via the Internet. It is needed so that everyone - both experienced users and beginners - can communicate with each other equally comfortably. Most of the rules are not of any special nature, but simply represent a repetition of the rules of good manners accepted in society as a whole. These rules are just wishes. But since we are all a community, following these rules will raise your authority, and you will attract attention as a pleasant and interesting interlocutor.

How to observe netiquette? You must learn to behave as if you are in an unfamiliar world, very similar to your real world, and do not want to offend anyone with your tactless behavior. In fact, it is very simple. Netiquette is the same as regular etiquette. Most clashes on the Internet stem from the inability and unwillingness of participants to hear each other. First of all, try to use common sense. Respect your interlocutors, no matter who they introduce themselves, and then your life in the community will become easy and enjoyable.

What should you not do on the Internet?
First of all, you should not do those things that are not encouraged in any civilized society:

• use
  profanity;


• incite national
  discord;


• insult
  of people;


• steal;


• deliberately try
  to break something;


• call for
  overthrow of the existing system;


• don't send it
  your commercial offers;


• send
  instructions explaining how to commit illegal acts, as well as
  ask about possible ways to perform this kind of action;


• publish
  personal letters without the consent of their authors;


• start or
  continue the discussion on an abstract topic in places (conferences,
  forums, etc.) not intended for this purpose.
  Before
  consider the rules of netiquette, get acquainted with the basic
  concepts used in communications on the Internet.

1. Remember that you are talking to a person.
Do not do to others what you do not want to receive from them yourself. Put yourself in the shoes of the person you are talking to. Defend your point of view, but do not insult others. When you use telecommunications, you are dealing with a computer screen. You cannot gesture, change your tone, and your facial expression does not play any role.

Words, only words, are all that your interlocutor sees.

When you are having a conversation - by email or in a conference call - it is very easy to misinterpret the words of your interlocutor. And, unfortunately, forget that your recipient is also a person with his own feelings and habits.
However, do not forget about the main principle of netiquette: there are real people everywhere on the Internet.

And one more reason to be polite online. When you communicate with someone in cyberspace, remember that your words are recorded. Perhaps they will be stored in places where you can no longer reach. In other words, there is a chance that they will come back and harm you. And you have no opportunity to influence this process.

2. Adhere to the same standards of behavior as in real life.

In real life, most of us obey laws, sometimes because of restrictions, sometimes because of fear of being caught. In the virtual space, the chances of being caught are relatively small. People sometimes forget that there is a real person “behind the screen”, and they think that the rules of behavior on the Internet are not as strict as in real life.

This misconception is understandable, but it is still a misconception. Standards of behavior may differ in different parts of the virtual space, however, they are no softer than in real life.

Maintain communication ethics. Don't believe anyone who says, "The whole ethics here is what you set for yourself." If you encounter an ethical problem in cyberspace, think about what you would do in real life. Most likely, you will quickly find a solution.

3. Remember where you are in cyberspace.

What is accepted without hesitation in one place may be considered rude in another. For example, in conferences where television programs are discussed, various rumors and gossip are quite normal. But if you decide to invade a journalistic discussion with them, this will not add to your popularity.

When you find yourself in a new area of ​​virtual space, first look around. Spend time studying the situation - listen to how and what people are talking about. After that, engage in conversation.

4. Respect the time and capabilities of others.

When you send an email or post to a conference call, you are essentially vying for someone's time. And then you are responsible for ensuring that the recipient does not waste this time in vain.

The concept of “capability” includes the bandwidth of the channel through which communication occurs and the physical capacity of the storage media on the remote computer. And if you accidentally sent five identical messages to the same conference, you wasted both the time of the subscribers of this conference and the capabilities of the system (after all, you took up the transmission line and disk space).

Many conference readers are slow, and receiving a new message takes time. The program must scroll through all the message headers in order to get to the one you need. No one is particularly happy if it turns out that time was wasted.

People don't have much time to read messages given the number of recent ones. Before you send your letter, consider whether the recipients really need it. If you answer yourself “no,” it’s better not to waste their (and your) time. If in doubt, think twice before sending a message.

5. Save face.

Take advantage of anonymity.
On the Internet (for example, in conferences) you can meet people you would never meet in real life and no one will judge you for the color of your skin, eyes, hair, your weight, age or manner of dressing.

However, you will be judged on how you write. For those on the Internet, this matters. Thus, grammar rules play an important role. Be aware of what you are saying.

Consider the content of your letter. When you want to say something like “it seems to me...” or “I heard that...”, ask yourself if you should double-check the correctness of your facts. False information can cause a whole flurry of emotions on the Internet. And if this is repeated a second and third time, it can happen, like in the game “broken phone”: your words will be distorted beyond recognition.

Also, make sure your messages are clear and logical. You can write a paragraph of text that is grammatically perfect but completely meaningless. This often happens if you want to convince someone that you are right, using a lot of complex and long words that you yourself are not very familiar with.
Don't insult users.

Finally, be patient and polite. Do not use profanity, do not enter into conflict for the sake of conflict itself.

6. Help others where you can.

Why is asking questions in virtual space effective? Because your questions are read by many people who know the answer to them. And even if only a few people answer qualifiedly, the total amount of knowledge on the Internet will increase. The Internet itself grew out of the desire of scientists to exchange experience. Gradually, others became involved in this fascinating process.

It is especially important to exchange answers to your questions with other users. If you anticipate that you will receive a lot of answers to your question or send it to a conference that you rarely attend, respond to replies by email, not to the conference. When you receive all the remarks, summarize them and send them in one message to the conference. This way, everyone will benefit from communicating with you.

If you are an expert yourself, you can do more. Many people freely post entire bibliographies, from lists of legal resources to lists of popular books on UNIX. If you are leading a group that does not have a list of answers to the most frequently asked questions, try writing one. If you have discovered or authored a paper that you think may be of interest to others, please submit it to the conference. Sharing experiences is a fun activity. This is an ancient and glorious tradition of the Network.

7. Do not get involved in conflicts and do not allow them.

"Does online etiquette prohibit flames? Not really. Flames are also an old tradition of the Internet. Flames can be fun for both writers and readers. And the recipients of flames often deserve them.

But netiquette is against flames that escalate into wars - a series of angry messages exchanged, as a rule, by two or three participants in the discussion. Such wars can literally take over the conference and destroy the friendly atmosphere. This is unfair to other conference readers. And very soon people who are not participating in the discussion get tired of conflicts. In fact, an unacceptable monopolization of resources occurs.

8. Respect the right to private correspondence.

9. Don't abuse your powers.

Some people feel like professionals in the virtual space. These are aces in every network game, experts in every office and system administrators of the system.
With greater knowledge or greater authority in their hands, these people automatically gain an advantage.

However, this does not mean that they can use it. For example, system administrators should not read private email messages.

10. Learn to forgive others for their mistakes.

Everyone was a newbie once. Therefore, when someone makes a mistake - be it a typo in a word, a careless flame, a stupid question or an unreasonably long answer - be lenient with it. Even if you really want to answer, think twice. Just because you have good manners doesn't mean you have a license to teach those manners to everyone else.

If you decide to draw the user’s attention to his mistake, do it correctly and preferably not in a conference, but in a private letter. As you know, corrections in the text often also contain grammatical errors; Also, an indication of non-compliance with the rules of etiquette sometimes demonstrates a violation of the same etiquette.

Email etiquette rules

Addresses and personal names
A personal name (not to be confused with a signature) is a custom string that many email programs allow you to attach to your messages as a text comment.

• If your system allows, always write a personal name: it is a better “business card” for you than an e-mail address.


• Use meaningful names. Expressions like “figure it out for yourself” not only make it difficult to identify the author of the letter, but also insult the intelligence of the addressee.


• If your mail system allows you to send letters along with the recipient's name, use this feature. This will make it easier for the network administrator to find the recipient by name if the address itself turns out to be incorrect.

Letter subject
(Subject)

• Don't forget to give your letters titles. Often the user is guided by names when looking through his mail.


• Avoid meaningless names. For example, when sending an email to WordPerfect technical support, you shouldn't call it WordPerfect—you might as well not write anything at all.


• If you change the topic of conversation when replying to a letter, do not forget to change the title.


• A precise title is the easiest way to determine the topic of a conversation, and if you change the topic while leaving the title the same, the recipient may become confused.

  Length, content and format of the letter



• Try to keep the length of your letter consistent with the style of conversation: if you are simply answering a question, keep it short and to the point.


• Stay as close to the topic as possible. If you want to talk about something new, it is better to send a separate letter. Then your recipient can store it separately.


• Don't write all text in capital letters - it becomes difficult to read (although short highlighting can be used as reinforcement). Try to break your letter into logical paragraphs and avoid overly long sentences.


• Try to avoid grammatical errors. A letter full of errors and typos is difficult to read. Just because email is a fast way to communicate doesn't mean you can relax and forget about spelling.


• If you consider your thoughts worthy of expression in a letter, make sure that they are presented correctly.


• Avoid public flames - letters written under the influence of emotions. Messages sent at the moment of emotional distress most often only worsen the situation. You may later regret your words, so before you start a flame war, calmly think about the situation.


• If your mailer supports different text styling options (bold, italics, etc.), make sure that the recipient's mailer has the same capabilities. At the time this document was written, most Internet e-mail programs were text-only, although this is certainly changing.

  Answers



• Include in your message excerpts from the letter you are responding to. Remember, email is not a real-time telephone conversation, and your recipient may forget the contents of the previous letter (especially if he is engaged in active correspondence). Include excerpts of the original text in your response, and the recipient will more easily understand what you are talking about.


• Don't overdo it by quoting previous messages. Separate the text of your message in some way from the text of the quoted letters, then your answer will be easier to read. The > sign is usually used for these purposes, although this is not the only option.


• Try not to mix general and personal information in your message.


• Ask yourself: is your answer really necessary? For example, if you received a letter as a result of a fan mailing, it is unlikely that you should notify each of the
  addressees about your attitude towards him - it is better to send a letter directly to the author.

  Signatures

  A signature is a small piece of text at the end of a message, usually containing information about contacts. Most mailers can automatically attach a signature to outgoing messages. A signature is an interesting thing, but you also need to know when to stop it.



• If you can, use a signature. It must identify you and contain information about alternative communication channels (regular telephone, fax).
  On many systems, particularly those where mail passes through gateways, your signature may be the only identifier.


• Make your signature shorter - 4-7 lines are enough. Unreasonably long signatures load communication channels.


• Some mailers allow you to add random lines to your signature: be careful with this.
  In any case, you need to remember:
  • Brevity is the soul of wit
  
  
  • The concept of "insult" can be interpreted very broadly, so try to avoid expressions that could cause conflict on a religious, racial, or political basis.
  
  
  • Do not use “local” (understandable only to you and a small circle of people) remarks. You will not find understanding among users of other cities, countries or cultural communities.
  
  
  • Changing captions work best when they are humorous. Political remarks, for example, may upset some people, while a short joke will only lighten the mood.

    Simple rules of politeness

  
  


• E-mail is a means of communication between people, and rules of politeness cannot be avoided here.


• If you ask someone with a request, don't forget to say "please." At the same time, thank your interlocutor in response to help.


• Don't expect a response immediately. The fact that you have not received an answer to your question within ten minutes does not mean that the recipient is ignoring you.


• Remember that there is no reliable mail system. It is not wise to put very personal information in an email unless you intend to encrypt it using a strong encryption program. Remember the recipient. You are not the only person who will suffer if a sensitive message falls into the wrong hands.


• Include complete information on the topic in your letter, especially if you expect a qualified response. You must include a detailed description of the problem.

  "Smileys"

  The correct use of emoticons can give your letter a lively character and even replace gestures. However, don't overdo it.

  And finally, remember that e-mail is a means of communicating with real people. Before you send a letter, read it carefully again and put yourself in the recipient's shoes.