"Netiquette" is the conventional abbeviation for "Internet etiquette". It refers to the accepted behaviors and practices governing such online activity such as email, instant messaging, mailing lists, and chat rooms. Your adherence to these guidelines will help make the online community in which you are participating easier and more enjoyable for everyone to use. Please note that the points discussed here provide general suggestions; for more specific information, you should read the guidelines for the community in which you want to participate.

General Netiquette

Don't type in all capital letters
Typing in all capital letters on the Internet is considered rude because it is difficult to read and comes across as very aggressive. Turn off your caps lock before posting!

Spell correctly and use proper grammar
Internet communications are frequently considered sufficiently informal that it's easy to become careless about spelling, grammar, and punctuation. However, you have no control of where your message will go after you hit "send" Consider the impression you may be making on your boss, or a future boss.

Email Etiquette

Don't forward junk mail
Many email users repeatedly forward junk mail, such as "virus alerts" and chain letters. These are almost invariably hoaxes. Unless someone specifically tells you that he/she enjoys receiving such message, you shouldn't send them to anyone. You should certainly never send them to everyone in your address book.

Consider your audience
Avoid sending emails to everyone in your address book unless the information contained is vital for each and every person in it. Otherwise, these "mass emails" simply clog other people's inboxes.

Use threads
When someone sends you an email and you wish to reply, you should always hit the "reply" button within your email client rather than beginning a new email. This allows users to keep track of the thread of conversation.

Trim or use quotes
Often, when you hit the "reply" button within your email client, your response is simply appended or prepended to the initial email. This can create an email that is much larger than necessary. A better method of response is to trim, by deleting superfluous text in the message to which you are replying. Or you may use quoting, which you can do simply by copying the text you wish to quote and placing a > before each line. Be appropriate. What is acceptable in a casual email to a friend might not be acceptable in a work-related email. In general, for official communications, you should avoid using online abbreviations and smileys, and pay more attention to spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Use plain text
Some email users may not have HTML-enabled email clients. For this reason, you may want to consider sending emails in plain text rather than HTML until you have confirmed which of your contacts are able to view HTML email messages.

Avoid sending large attachments
Unless specifically directed to do so, you may not want to send large attachments to your email contacts. Not everyone has an AlamedaNet account or other connection that's as fast as yours, and large attachments can take a long time to download for some people. You can send many items, such as Word documents, in plain text, which eliminates the need for an attachment. Alternately, you may compress, or "zip" a large attachment to reduce its size. You need to be sure that your recipient can then "unzip" your file.

Instant Messaging Etiquette

Try not to "pounce" on other users
"Pouncing" refers to sending someone an instant message immediately after that person signs on to the service. S/he wish to perform other tasks while starting the messenger service. The person may need a few minutes to put up an "away" or "do not disturb" message, signifying that s/he doesn't wish to engage in conversation at the moment. You should always wait a few minutes before sending someone an instant message.

Tell other users when you are away
Most instant messaging services provide a way of notifying other users that you are not responding to messages or have stepped away from the computer. Most make use of "away" or "do not disturb" messages. Another way of telling other users that you cannot answer their messages is to simply let them know in conversation that you must leave. You wouldn't want someone to wait for your response for more than a few minutes.

Keep it casual
You may not want to use instant messaging to give someone bad news or make a major announcement. While some people may consider instant messaging similar to the telephone as a means of communication, others consider it much less formal.

Use reasonable fonts/colors
It can be very unpleasant to have to look at huge fonts or light colors while conversing on an instant messaging service. Try to stick the standard font size and colors unless you are positive that the other person doesn't mind.

UseNet/Mailing List Etiquette

Don't spam
Within the context of UseNet and discussion boards, "spamming" refers to repeatedly posting the same message on a message board or list. This is considered poor etiquette and will usually result in the spammer's removal from the forum.

Don't be a troll
A "troll" refers to someone who enters a forum purely to flame other participants. "Trolling" is not acceptable in online communities and can result in one's being banned from the mailing list or UseNet group.

Stay on topic
When you submit an off-topic post to a thread, it detracts from the discussion at hand. If you wish to discuss a new topic, you must begin a new thread. If the subject has changed, change the subject header.

Don't get too carried away "flaming"
"Flaming", within the domain of online communities, refers to heated exchange on a mailing list, message board or in a chat room. In general, flaming is permissible only when it does not involve ad hominem attacks on other participants.

Chat Room Etiquette

Think before you speak
When entering a chat room, you should wait a few minutes before typing in order to get a feel for the flow of conversation. This way, you won't say anything that is completely off-topic, which would detract from the conversation.

Refrain from profanity/offensive language
Don't type anything in a chat room that you wouldn't ordinarily say in public. Offensive language does nothing to enhance a chat room experience, and is usually strictly moderated.

Avoid typing long messages
No one wants to have to scroll through more than five lines to get to the comment after yours. If you have something long to say, try to break it up into smaller pieces or send it as a private message.

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