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As crazed as it may sometimes appear, the Internet does have rules of conduct.  These informal rules, called Netiquette were developed when the web was young and most communication was done in text forums and e-mail.  Now with so many new people getting on the web, many aren't aware of the conventions for polite discourse.  Failure to follow these rules can label you as either a boor or a net newbie. Either way it's wise to know the rules of the game and only violate them when you intend to. We're going to talk about e-mail, as that's the Internet application people use most, but these rules apply to  all kinds of mailing lists, online forums and other means of interactive communications.

The top rule of online communication is to remember that the people on the other end of the chain are human.  The golden rule applies in cyberspace as well as any where else.  Don't send anything you wouldn't want to get yourself.

"After you've sent your message you have absolutely NO idea where it goes, who reads it, and how long it's going to exist."

Anyone new to the web also needs to know that e-mail is NOT secure.  After you've sent your message you have absolutely NO idea where it goes, who reads it, and how long it's going to exist.  If you're sending e-mail from a company system, people within your own company may be checking out what you're writing. Just ask some people involved in the Microsoft anti-trust case if they wish they'd left some things out of their e-mails.  You don't have to be paranoid, just don't put anything into an e-mail that you wouldn't put on a postcard.

Don't send chain mail.  For some reason, adolescents and teenagers love these things, but they're pointless and annoying and some Internet Service Providers actively forbid them.  Bad things are NOT going to happen if you don't send that message to ten friends.  But if you do, you could annoy your friends and your ISP.

Some e-mail programs make it difficult for other people to see your e-mail address.  So in the body of your mail you should include your address.  You should consider creating a .sig file.  A .sig file or signature file is merely a few lines of text your mail program appends to the end of all your outgoing mail messages.  If you're a business user, you might want to include all of your contact information.  For an individual, your name, e-mail address, and perhaps a quote, or the URL of your personal web page is enough.

DON'T TYPE IN ALL UPPER CASE! Online, that's considered shouting.  Don't do it, ever. If you do have a problem with the shift key, type in all lower case. You'll annoy far fewer people.

When replying to an e-mail (or a newsgroup posting) don't quote a lot of irrelevant stuff from previous mail.  Edit the quoted portion of your message to reflect just the bit you're answering.

"That 2 Megabyte picture that you're sending to Aunt Dot will keep her Internet connection busy for a quarter of an hour."

Don't send HUGE file attachments when the person on the other end isn't expecting them.  This is a really easy thing to do.  That 2 Megabyte picture that you're sending to Aunt Dot will keep her Internet connection busy for a quarter of an hour. Even though it only took you a minute to send, Aunt Dot doesn't have Road Runner out on the Island.  Plus, she's really not all that interested in your new tattoo. So try to keep file attachments very small.  Below 50kb is a good rule of thumb, unless the recipient is aware that something larger is coming, and wants to receive it.  If you both have high speed Internet connections, you could relax this rule a little.

Don't send out large amounts of Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (UCE). This is also known as Spam and it's a huge no-no.  In fact sending Spam to a lot of people could easily get you're ISP account cancelled.  System operators have absolutely no sense of humor about this. 

"There are no inflections, no facial expressions behind e-mail, so it's pretty easy for someone to impart the wrong tone to something you've written"

Finally don't say anything in an e-mail that you wouldn't say to someone's face.  Even though you may never see their face, it's not polite, and usually not productive. You can never tell how someone is going to react to something you write.  There are no inflections, no facial expressions behind e-mail, so it's pretty easy for someone to impart the wrong tone to something you've written. Being aware of that and other established conventions of Internet conversation can help you avoid being labeled "Newbie" or something worse.

-C.G.