The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette, by Arlene Rinaldi

The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette - by Arlene Rinaldi

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

(Email, LISTSERV groups, Mailing lists, and Usenet)

Under United States law, it is unlawful "to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisment" to any "equipment which has the capacity (A) to transcibe text or images (or both) from an electronic signal received over a regular telephone line onto paper." The law allows individuals to sue the sender of such illegal "junk mail" for $500 per copy. Most states will permit such actions to be filed in Small Claims Court. This activity is termed "spamming" on the Internet
Never give your userID or password to another person. System administrators that need to access your account for maintenance or to correct problems will have full priviledges to your account.
Never assume your email messages are private nor that they can be read by only yourself or the recipient. Never send something that you would mind seeing on the evening news.
Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point.
When quoting another person, edit out whatever isn't directly applicable to your reply. Don't let your mailing or Usenet software automatically quote the entire body of messages you are replying to when it's not necessary. Take the time to edit any quotations down to the minimum necessary to provide context for your reply. Nobody likes reading a long message in quotes for the third or fourth time, only to be followed by a one line response: "Yeah, me too."
Focus on one subject per message and always include a pertinent subject title for the message, that way the user can locate the message quickly.
Don't use the academic networks for commercial or proprietary work.
Include your signature at the bottom of Email messages when communicating with people who may not know you personally or broadcasting to a dynamic group of subscribers.

Your signature footer should include your name, position, affiliation and Internet and/or BITNET addresses and should not exceed more than 4 lines. Optional information could include your address and phone number.

Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or to distinguish a title or heading. Capitalizing whole words that are not titles is generally termed as SHOUTING!
*Asterisks* surrounding a word can be used to make a stronger point.
Use the underscore symbol before and after the title of a book, i.e. _The Wizard of Oz_
Limit line length to aproximately 65-70 characters and avoid control characters.
Never send chain letters through the Internet. Sending them can cause the loss of your Internet Access.
Because of the International nature of the Internet and the fact that most of the world uses the following format for listing dates, i.e. MM DD YY, please be considerate and avoid misinterpretation of dates by listing dates including the spelled out month: Example: 24 JUN 96 or JUN 24 96
Follow chain of command procedures for corresponding with superiors. For example, don't send a complaint via Email directly to the "top" just because you can.
Be professional and careful what you say about others. Email is easily forwarded.
Cite all quotes, references and sources and respect copyright and license agreements.
It is considered extremely rude to forward personal email to mailing lists or Usenet without the original author's permission.
Attaching return receipts to a message may be considered an invasion of privacy.
Be careful when using sarcasm and humor. Without face to face communications your joke may be viewed as criticism. When being humorous, use emoticons to express humor. (tilt your head to the left to see the emoticon smile)
:-) = happy face for humor
Acronyms can be used to abbreviate when possible, however messages that are filled with acronyms can be confusing and annoying to the reader.
Examples: IMHO= in my humble/honest opinion
FYI = for your information
BTW = by the way
Flame = antagonistic criticism

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