Netiquette

Below is a brief guide to the etiquette of cyberspace and guidelines on applying this when using World of Kitsch chatrooms and Message Forums. The information contained on this page is abridged from the book "Netiquette" by Virginia Shea.

Simply stated, it's network etiquette - that is, the etiquette of cyberspace. In other words, Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly online.

Do unto others as you'd have others do unto you. Imagine how you'd feel if you were in the other person's shoes. Stand up for yourself, but try not to hurt people's feelings.

Standards of behavior may be different in some areas of cyberspace, but they are not lower than in real life. Be Ethical, Be Law-Abiding

Netiquette varies from domain to domain. At World of Kitsch, the use of swearing, unsubstantiated rumours and slander will not be tolerated under any circumstances, whilst on other sites it is more acceptable. World of Kitsch will block the IP addresses of users abusing our services.

Keep your messages brief as they can take many minutes to download, thus rendering a chatroom or messageboard temporarily out of action - it also really annoys other users. You are not the center of cyberspace!

Know what you're talking about and make sense and be pleasant and polite. Don't use offensive language, and don't be confrontational for the sake of confrontation.

Don't be afraid to share what you know. Sharing your knowledge is fun. It's a long-time net tradition. And it makes the world a better place.

"Flaming" is what people do when they express a strongly held opinion without holding back any emotion. It's the kind of message that makes people respond, "Oh come on, tell us how you really feel." Tact is not its objective. While World of Kitsch does not forbid this (after all, it can be fairly entertaining) excessive flaming will result in a cautionary message from the webmaster.

Of course, you'd never dream of going through your colleagues' desk drawers. So naturally you wouldn't read their email either. Unfortunately, a lot of people would. Failing to respect other people's privacy is bad Netiquette.

Some people in cyberspace have more power than others. There are wizards in MUDs (multi-user dungeons), experts in every office, and system administrators in every system. Knowing more than others, or having more power than they do, does not give you the right to take advantage of them.

Everyone was a network newbie once. So when someone makes a mistake - whether it's a spelling error or a spelling flame, a stupid question or an unnecessarily long answer - be kind about it. If it's a minor error, you may not need to say anything. Even if you feel strongly about it, think twice before reacting. Having good manners yourself doesn't give you license to correct everyone else.

If you do decide to inform someone of a mistake, point it out politely, and preferably by private email rather than in public. Give people the benefit of the doubt; assume they just don't know any better. And never be arrogant or self-righteous about it. Just as it's a law of nature that spelling flames always contain spelling errors, notes pointing out Netiquette violations are often examples of poor Netiquette.