Posted by admin on December 6th, 2009 in Internet Use

I printed this a long time ago but several of my readers have asked for it again.  So, here you go…

1.The Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated.  Just because you can’t see them doesn’t make them any less human.  Don’t say or do something to someone online that you wouldn’t do in person.

2. No “Flaming”: Flaming is a form of verbal abuse when you intentionally attack or disrespect somebody for whatever reason. Maybe you didn’t agree with something they said, but there’s a nice way to share a different point of view without name calling or attacking someone. Harassing or insulting someone will not likely help you gain friends.

3. Respect  Copyrights: . Copying the works of someone else without permission or in the case of students – plagiarism, can get you into real  trouble.

4. DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS: It hurts our eyes. It makes people think you are shouting at them. It’s okay to type in caps to accentuate a word or two, but please don’t do it all the time everywhere you go.

5. Don’t Spam: Respect people’s privacy and time.

7. Use Proper Grammar & Spelling: If u rite liek this lol ppl might start 2 get mad lol. It’s distracting and annoying to constantly read online text in “textease”.  Be careful not to use too much web jargon, seeing lol more than twice in a paragraph is a clue it’s too much.

8. Abide by TOS: Most sites have a” terms of service” policy that also lists rules of netiquette.

9. Keep it PG-13: Never write anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of your local paper.  It can really come back to haunt you if you write something that’s not appropriate .

10. Research Your Facts/Cite Sources: Particularly  true for students.

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