Netiquette
All of us are taught to be respectful and thoughtful of others. We’re taught to behave towards other people in the way we’d expect them to behave towards us. These unwritten rules of behaviour help people get along with each other and prevent us from annoying, hurting or being hurt by others – deliberately or accidentally.
It’s the same on the internet. When exchanging emails, playing online games, chatting via instant messaging or IRC and posting in messageboards, you are interacting with real people from around the world.
Netiquette is the term used to describe the social rules agreed to on the internet to help people interact without hurting each other.
People who do not abide by the rules of netiquette can be punished. Most online games, chat systems and forums have tools to ban people or limit their access if they consistently behave badly.
The rules
There are few absolute rules in netiquette. Just like in other social situations many of the rules change depending on which group you are with. However, there are a few things to always keep in mind.
Check the local rules first
In most online forums, chat groups and games, there will be a page outlining the code of conduct for the website or service. You should always read this to understand the netiquette for the group before interacting with others.
Lurk before you leap
Before you begin interacting with others in an online group it’s sensible to ‘lurk’, or watch what happens, before you begin contributing. This will help you understand how the group communicates and the types of comments you can expect.
Similarly if you want to ask a question, it’s important to check the FAQs, the ’About us’ or support sections first. If the question has already been answered you’ll be saving the time of others in the group.
Think before you post
When you do begin posting comments or chatting with others you don’t know, read over what you type before sending it and think about how it will be read by others. This will help you avoid spelling and grammatical mistakes and help you avoid using words that might give others a bad impression of you.
Don’t give out your personal information or phone number without a responsible adult’s permission. Never give out the personal information of others
There are many people using the internet who misuse personal information to hurt others. Don’t help them by giving them information about yourself or your friends.
Of course there are times when you might need to give out your personal information to buy things or share information with a friend you already know in person. Even in these cases it’s important to first check with your parents, teacher or another responsible adult.
Don’t type all your words in capitals
On the internet, typing in capitals is considered as shouting. It’s rude to shout at others in the classroom, and it’s also considered rude on the internet.
AVOID DOING THIS AT ALL TIMES.
Avoid forwarding jokes, chain letters, virus warnings and email games
While we all like to share jokes and apparently important messages, they are a lot like cold viruses, spreading from person to person – you don't want to share your cold with all your friends!
These messages often end up being sent to the same person many times, once from each of their friends. It’s very likely that a chain letter or virus warning is fake or that a fun email attachment contains a virus.
If you have to send an email to many people, use BCC not CC
When sending emails to many people, it’s a good idea to use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) function in your email program. If you use CC (Carbon Copy), everyone you send the email to can see everyone else’s email addresses. This can be considered rude, as people may not want others to know their email address.
When you use BCC, everyone receiving the email only sees their own email address and your address.
Avoid sending large files by email or instant messaging
These days it’s easy to take lots of pictures with a digital camera or phone and send them to your friends by email or instant messaging. It’s also quick and easy to send a fun game as an email attachment.
However, it’s not polite to fill up other people’s email inboxes with large files – particularly if they are on slow internet connections. It’s even worse if the files you send contain a virus!
Instead, make sure that your computer has a virus checker which checks all files for viruses before you send them to others. Try to compress large files to make them smaller to send and receive using software such as Winzip 
.
Finally, a great way to send many pictures is to upload them to an online gallery such as Flickr and simply send your friends a link to your online gallery.
Don’t reply in anger (flaming)
When you receive what appears to be a nasty email, or see a nasty post or message online, it’s easy to send a nasty reply. However, this is never the best thing to do.
You may have misunderstood the message, or it could be from someone who likes to start fights by ‘trolling’ the internet and upsetting others.
Either way, responding in anger is likely to make the situation worse, and could lead to an exchange of nasty messages, known on the internet as a ‘flame war’.
So rather than responding immediately, show the message to someone else and ask what they think, then consider if and how you could reply constructively and politely.
And if you have nothing constructive to say, delete the message and don’t reply at all.
Netiquette quiz
Try these quizzes to see how well behaved a netizen you are!