The Lost Art of Etiquette

If you have driven a car long enough, you have figured out that the courtesy and general sanity of most drivers today has diminished greatly.  Without really having to think about it, I had no less than 5 drivers cut me off (2 gave me the universal sign that I was #1).  This of course doesn't count the people who are driving in two lanes because they are more focused on their soda or cell phone than the road, or the lady who is jerking back into her lane constantly as she realizes she has crossed over into another lane - while putting her makeup on.

Part of the inspiration - if you will - for this article was from last night.  I had, for the first time in nearly 20 years of driving, a hit-and-run accident.  The gentleman - I'll use that term so as not to offend - in a truck pulled out in front of me and after hitting him I hit the guy next to me.  Me and the other guy stop while the chap in the truck kept on going.  Now I've had a couple of accidents in my life.  Some have been my fault while others haven't been.  But the thought of not stopping never occurred to me.  Yet another example of poor judgment and behavior on the road.

The same erratic behavior can be said for the Internet today, especially in forums and public newsgroups.  I do a lot of posting in both of these arenas and rarely does a day go by that I don't shake my head at what someone has posted about someone else, a company or a product.  Now as one who has been been the target of these types of posts I can tell you that it is not only irritating but completely distracts from the intent of these user based help areas.  And we all have experiences of poor customer service or a product we simply don't like.  There is nothing wrong with that nor with stating your opinion.  But opinions turn to venom really quickly and in Internet forums, it seems to have all-to-fast.

Like driving though, everyone has said something or done something in a forum or newsgroup that they would probably like to take back.  I know I'm one of those and I'm betting that a lot of you reading this are nodding your head as well.  That said, it is like many things in life:  It is when it becomes a habit that its a problem.  Cutting off someone once in completely different than being the guy who swerves through traffic to be first at the light (with me right behind him... go figure?).

Part of the problem with the Internet is, like driving, there are a whole lot more people on the road than there where just 10 years ago.  The Internet is full of "newbies" who may not know the "rules of the road".  After all, I've yet to find the Golden Book of Internet Rules and I've been doing this Internet thing for over 10 years now.  So the ideas and suggestions I have below for posting in newsgroups and forums on the Internet are by no means complete and comprehensive.  They are suggestions, nothing more.  They can help you navigate these public areas and get to the information you need and not get distracted down a side road.

STYLE

Keep quoted text to a minimum. When quoting a previous post, edit out the non-relevant parts of the message. Remove salutations and signatures. A good rule of thumb is, there should not be more quoted text than new text.

NOTE: Under certain circumstances your message may be cancelled for quoting style. One such circumstance is quoting a message that is subsequently determined to be in violation of the newsgroup rules; when the message in violation is cancelled, your message quoting it will also be cancelled. Another special case is EXTREME over-quoting. If you post a very brief reply to a very long message, and you quote the entire message, your message may be cancelled.

Separate paragraphs with a blank line. Also, separate your text from quoted text with a blank line.

If you include quoted text in your message, be considerate and clean up the margins and line breaks in the quoted material. Quoted text is typically preceded by a character indicating that it is quoted, and this additional character increases the line length. The longer line length can cause the message editor to re-parse the line and insert new line breaks that conflict with the existing line breaks.

Wrap lines at seventy characters. Due to word wrapping, longer lines can make your message very difficult to read.

Spelling and grammar count. The only part of you that the members of the newsgroup see is your typed words. Sending a poorly written message is like giving a speech in a dirty shirt. Of course, if your native language is something other than English, this consideration is reduced.

Do not write messages in all capital letters; use normal capitalization.

CONTENT

Stay on topic. When you post a reply to a message ask yourself, "Does the subject line describe the contents of my message?" If the answer is no, you probably want to revise your message or modify the subject. Modifying the subject helps other members of the newsgroup determine if your message or thread has information of interest to them.

Move off-topic discussions to e-mail. Often a technical thread will evolve into a friendly chat on some other, unrelated topic. This is good because it's part of what makes these newsgroups a community. When the discussion has moved away from the original topic to the point that it is likely no longer of interest to the greater community, please move the conversation to e-mail.

If you are making a post concerning an announcement or off-topic, put that in your Subject line.  For Example:

• ANN:  Announcment
• OT:  Off Topic
• REQ:  Request
• ED:  Editorial Comments

Do not ask for assistance via email. Saying, "I don't read this group often, so please mail your replies" is essentially saying, "My time is more important than your time." If someone is willing to spend the time to answer your question, you should be willing to spend the time necessary to retrieve the answer. Getting one-on-one help via e-mail is also known as consulting, and consulting does not come free.

Write conservatively, read forgivingly. Communication in a pure text medium, such as a newsgroup, is prone to misunderstanding, often due to the lack of non-verbal cues such as inflections, facial expression and body language. Given this, it is best to be conservative with expressions of anger and sarcasm when writing. When reading, assume good intent; if a message can be taken two ways, assume the friendliest meaning.

Double check *where* you are sending your message. It can be very embarrassing to accidentally post a message to a newsgroup when you meant to send it via mail.

Remember, your words will last a long time. With news archiving services, the whole world can read your words, long after you have written them. Think twice about what you say.

Lastly, stay on a road you know is safe.  I highly recommend using monitored news servers if possible.  For example, the microsoft.public.pocketpc group that I post in most often can be accessed by anyone with news access as 99% of all news providers have the group on their servers.  But you can - and often do - get spam and off topic postings on them.  Instead, for the Microsoft groups, use the news.microsoft.com servers in your news reader.  These servers are monitored by Microsoft and that cuts out a lot on the spam and off topic posts.  Most site based forums such as those on HPC:Factor, Pocket PC Thoughts, Geekzone and Aximsite are monitored so there shouldn't be much worry there.

So enjoy the road and the Internet.  But remember that both are a privilege and not a right.