Etiquette and Netiquette

Serious etiquette violations can arouse public disgrace. Besides, violations arouse misunderstandings, grief and pain, and can even become the reason of a murder. Etiquette is also the politics holding on to which helps to avoid great conflicts in the society. It is a significant sphere of the ethics. Sometimes it is regarded as something underlying ethical code.

Along with the etiquette in general meaning, there exists the netiquette - the code of behavior via the Internet. Like in the real world people communicate with each other according to certain norms of the certain society, with the development of new technologies there has appeared the Internet and that is why people do not only communicate face to face but via the Internet as well. The communication via the Internet is one of the vaguest forms of communication. In order to communicate effectively there exists “Netiquette”. It is the guide that helps people interact via the Internet. The knowledge of these rules is necessary and helps to avoid problems and misunderstandings while communicating. These are the basic rules of netiquette to stick to.

The first rule: People are all human beings, in the Internet as well. You should never forget that another person who reads your mail is a person with feelings like your own. You should never offense people, type the letter in caps that means you are yelling. Never write something you would never say to a person standing face to face.

The second rule: try to communicate via the Internet the same way you do in a real life. Do not forget about ethical principles. Listen to other people, try to find out new things.

The third rule: do not forget that you are in the Internet, online. Netiquette is different in places. There are different rules of conducting via the Internet and these rules vary from place to place. Do not make wrong conclusions and keep an open mind. If you are in the forum do not write something at once, try to learn the information first, read other people’s comments. Observe the way people communicate there, what they are saying. When you start feeling comfortable, you can add something from your own.

The fourth rule: respect other people in real life and via the Internet. Add your information to the appropriate forum. Do not be too assertive, the information that is interesting and of great importance to you can be of no importance to others. Do not expect other people to agree with you. Try to ask intelligent questions in forums. If the question is simple try to find the answer in google, do not ask it in the forum. Make people sure you just try to express your own point of view and people will be glad to help you.