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This is a friendly reminder to every one of the conventional rules and regulation of behaving on the net.
ABOUT MAILING-LISTS AND "NETIQUETTE"
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In any social interaction, certain rules of etiquette can lead to more enjoyable and productive communication. The Internet is no different - in fact, there's even a special word for it: "Netiquette!"
1. Never forget that the person on the other side is a human being. Even though you are using a computer to communicate, don't forget that other people are on the receiving end. A lot of people are reading your words. Avoid personal attacks. Don't speak (type) hastily -- try not to say anything to others that you would not say to them in a room full of people. Remember that you are playing an important role in building an on-line community -- and we all want this community to be a good, friendly place.
2. Be brief. With stacks of people participating, you'll find that Newsgroups and Mailing Lists generate LOTS and LOTS of words. Other participants will appreciate your ability to stay on topic. If you say what you want to say succinctly, it will have greater impact. Likewise, don't post the same message on more than one Newsgroup/Mailing List unless you are sure it is appropriate.
3. Your messages reflect on YOU -- be proud of them. Although you will meet thousands of people through the Internet, chances are you won't meet many of them in person. Most people will only know you by what you say, and how well you say it. Take time to make sure that you are proud of the messages you send. Take time to make sure your messages are easy to read and understand. Check them for spelling errors and grammatical mistakes.
4. Use descriptive Subject headings in your messages. The subject line of your message is there to help people decide whether or not they want to read it. Use the subject line to tell people what your message is about. For example, "Care Giver - We need one" is much more informative than "Help".
5. Think about your audience. Stay on topic. By reading a number of the messages before sending one yourself, you will be able to get a sense of the ongoing conventions and themes of the List.
6. Be careful with humor and sarcasm. Without the voice inflections and body language of personal communications, it is easy for a remark meant to be funny to be misinterpreted as offensive. You can convey the emotions that words alone cannot express by using emoticons :) :/ :( etc.
7. Please, when you leave the net, do your mailing list the courtesy of sending an unsubscribe request before you go. Under pain of severe bodily harm, you promise to unsubscribe to all mailing lists before you cancel your account, leave school, go on vacation, So you know, NOBODY likes vacation notice programs anyway. They invariable go haywire while you're away. Don't use them.
8. When replying, ask yourself if what you're saying is of any concern to everyone on the Mailing List. If it's not, email it to the person. Never post an administrative request. Always send it to your postmaster or the list administrator as appropriate.
9. Personal attacks (flame wars) are in poor taste and generally frowned upon anywhere on the net. They waste time, space, and besides nobody cares about your personal attacks. Take it private, or better yet: bite your tongue.
10. MAKE.MONEY.FAST, LOSE.WEIGHT.QUICK, and GLOBAL.ALERT type mass-postings that go all over the net are prohibited. Net-Spam is offensive, a waste of bandwidth, and many of them are flat-out ILLEGAL. All commercial advertisements fall in this category unless it's selling a particular item to a particular feed.
11. Internet protocol says that a signature file should be no more than six lines which consist of a blank line followed by up to five lines of text. This is to conserve bandwidth. If yours is longer, think about it.
12. When you quote, PLEASE edit out signatures and other things that are not related to what you're quoting ESPECIALLY headers and unrelated text. Quoted text goes *BEFORE* your reply.
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