University of La Salette, Inc.

College of Engineering and Architecture

Santiago City, Philippines

MODULE 6 - Netiquette

What is Netiquette?

Simple stated, it’s network etiquette – that is the etiquette of cyberspace and
“etiquette” means the forms of required by good breeding or prescribed by
authority to be required in social or official life. In other words, netiquette is a
set of rules for behaving properly online.

Netiquette, or network etiquette, is concerned with the "proper" way to

communicate in an online
environment. Consider the following "rules," adapted from Virginia Shea's
the Core Rules of
Netiquette, whenever you communicate in the virtual world.

When you use e-mail, instant messenger, video calls, or discussion boards to
communicate with
others online, please be sure to follow the rules of professional online
communications known as
netiquette. These rules will help you communicate with instructors,
classmates, and potential
employers more effectively and will help prevent misunderstandings.

REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE – Even though you may be interacting

with a computer screen, you are communicating with a real person who will
react to your message.

Make a good impression - treat others with the same respect that you would
like to receive
and avoid confrontational or offensive language.

To help convey meaning when creating messages, it is sometimes

acceptable to include appropriate emoticon symbols, such as a smiley
face :). However, for professional communications these would be
inappropriate.

AVOID SLANG, ACRONYMS, AND TEXT TALK – Communicating

effectively in college
and business environments requires the use of correct terminology, spelling,
and grammar
that can easily be understood. For example, use “your” instead of “ur”.

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 University of La Salette, Inc.
College of Engineering and Architecture
Santiago City, Philippines

AVOID “SCREAMING” IN TYPED MESSAGES – Typing an entire message

using all capital letters is known as “screaming”. It is distracting and
generally frowned upon in professional environments. It is better to draw
emphasis to selected words or phrases by: using italic or bold text; using a
different color for text or background color; or denoting emphasis using
special characters (Example: **Important**).

PROOFREAD YOUR MESSAGES BEFORE SENDING THEM – Proofreading

your
messages before you send them is a best practice for effective and efficient
communication.
Strive to make your communications concise and free of any:
• Spelling and grammar errors
• Confusing terms or phrases that could be misunderstood
• Errors of omission, such as missing content or recipients
• Errors in accuracy of information

EXERCISE GOOD JUDGMENT WHEN SHARING INFORMATION WITH

OTHERS
ONLINE – E-mail and chat messages that you send or receive are considered
private and should not be forwarded or copied to others without gaining the
consent of all involved participants. In general, messages posted to
discussion boards and social media sites can be read by the public. You may
never know who might read or share what you post. It is a good practice to
always ask a post’s author for permission before sharing a post with other
parties.

• To protect your privacy and safety, do not share online any sensitive
personal information
such as:
- Your home address or phone number
- Personal conversations
- Social plans, such as vacations
- Financial information
- Usernames, passwords, or hints
- Anything personal that you would not want shared by others over the
Internet

• If the material you share with others online came from another source,
make every effort
to gain permission from the original author or copyright holder. Copying
someone else's

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 University of La Salette, Inc.
College of Engineering and Architecture
Santiago City, Philippines

work and passing it off as your own is plagiarism. It damages your reputation
and could
subject you to serious academic and legal consequences.

RESPECT DIVERSITY IN VIEWPOINTS - Be constructive and respectful

when sharing opinions, beliefs, and criticisms, or responding to those of
others in the conversation.

• When sharing a viewpoint that differs from someone else’s, it is a best

practice to first acknowledge the other person by briefly restating what he or
she said, but in your own words. This lets the person know that you are
listening and trying to understand them.

• When presenting an opinion or criticism, it is helpful to use phrases that

identify to whose
point of view you are referring. If the opinion is yours, you can begin with the
phrase “In
my experience” or “In my opinion”. If it is a viewpoint of someone else, make
sure you
identify that in your message (Example: “According to Eric Ericson,” or “The
president
believes”).

Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics:

a) Rule 1: Remember the Human When communicating electronically,

whether through email,
instant message, discussion post, text, or some other method, practice the
Golden Rule: Do
unto others as you would have others do unto you. Remember, your written
words are read
by real people, all deserving of respectful communication. Before you press
"send" or
"submit," ask yourself, "Would I be okay with this if someone else had
written it?"

b) Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in
real life While it
can be argued that standards of behavior may be different in the virtual
world, they certainly
should not be lower. You should do your best to act within the laws and
ethical manners of

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 University of La Salette, Inc.
College of Engineering and Architecture
Santiago City, Philippines

society whenever you inhabit "cyberspace." Would you behave rudely to

someone face-toface?
On most occasions, no. Neither should you behave this way in the virtual
world.

c) Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace "Netiquette varies from domain
to domain." (Shea,
1994) Depending on where you are in the virtual world, the same written
communication can
be acceptable in one area, where it might be considered inappropriate in
another. What you
text to a friend may not be appropriate in an email to a classmate or
colleague. Can you think
of another example?

d) Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth Electronic

communication takes time:
time to read and time in which to respond. Most people today lead busy
lives, just like you
do, and don't have time to read or respond to frivolous emails or discussion
posts. As a virtual
world communicator, it is your responsibility to make sure that the time
spent reading your
words isn't wasted. Make your written communication meaningful and to the
point, without
extraneous text or superfluous graphics or attachments that may take
forever to download.

e) Rule 5: Make yourself look good online [Link] One of the

best things about
the virtual world is the lack of judgment associated with your physical
appearance, sound of
your voice, or the clothes you wear (unless you post a video of yourself
singing Karaoke in a
clown outfit.) You will, however, be judged by the quality of your writing, so
keep the following
tips in mind: Always check for spelling and grammar errors Know what you're
talking about
and state it clearly Be pleasant and polite.

f) Rule 6: Share expert knowledge The Internet offers its users many
benefits; one is the ease

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 University of La Salette, Inc.
College of Engineering and Architecture
Santiago City, Philippines

in which information can be shared or accessed and in fact, this "information

sharing"
capability is one of the reasons the Internet was founded. So, in the spirit of
the Internet's
"founding fathers," share what you know! When you post a question and
receive intelligent
answers, share the results with others. Are you an expert at something? Post
resources and
references about your subject matter. Recently expanded your knowledge
about a subject
that might be of interest to others? Share that as well.

g) Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control What is meant by "flaming"
and "flame wars?"
"Flaming is what people do when they express a strongly held opinion
without holding back
any emotion." (Shea, 1994). As an example, think of the kinds of passionate
comments you
might read on a sports blog. While "flaming" is not necessarily forbidden in
virtual
communication, "flame wars," when two or three people exchange angry
posts between one
another, must be controlled or the camaraderie of the group could be
compromised. Don't
feed the flames; extinguish them by guiding the discussion back to a more
productive
direction.

h) Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy Depending on what you are

reading in the virtual world, be it an online class discussion forum, Facebook
page, or an email, you may be
exposed to some private or personal information that needs to be handled
with care. Perhaps
someone is sharing some medical news about a loved one or discussing a
situation at work.
What do you think would happen if this information "got into the wrong
hands?"
Embarrassment? Hurt feelings? Loss of a job? Just as you expect others to
respect your
privacy, so should you respect the privacy of others. Be sure to err on the
side of caution
when deciding to discuss or not to discuss virtual communication.

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 University of La Salette, Inc.
College of Engineering and Architecture
Santiago City, Philippines

i) Rule 9: Don't abuse your power Just like in face-to-face situations, there
are people in
cyberspace who have more "power" than others. They have more expertise
in technology or
they have years of experience in a particular skill or subject matter. Maybe
it's you who
possesses all of this knowledge and power! Just remember: knowing more
than others do or
having more power than others may have does not give you the right to take
advantage of
anyone. Think of Rule 1: Remember the human.

j) Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes Not everyone has the
same amount of
experience working in the virtual world. And not everyone knows the rules of
netiquette. At
some point, you will see a stupid question, read an unnecessarily long
response, or
encounter misspelled words; when this happens, practice kindness and
forgiveness as you
would hope someone would do if you had committed the same offense. If it's
a minor
"offense," you might want to let it slide. If you feel compelled to respond to a
mistake, do so
in a private email rather than a public forum.

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