While the Internet has brought us a lot of improvements, advances, and new possibilities,
it unfortunately has also had a very profound negative impact on society by being
at least partially responsible for the decay of grammar, spelling, and general
communication etiquette.

Just 200 years ago the process of composing a message to another individual
was an arduous process, involving painstakingly slow handwriting with ink and
paper, starting over and over after each mistake, sometimes making it an hour-long
ordeal to get it done right. Today we fire up our e-mail, chat client, or browser,
hastily throw together a few sloppy words within a few seconds, and call that
a communication.

Even worse quality of electronic communication came with the arrival of devices
like the web-enabled phone and crackberry ... uh, Blackberry devices. Have you
ever seen a message from somebody replying to an e-mail from his crackberry?
It makes William Strunk spin in his grave ...

Of course to its defense it also has to be noted that people sometimes have
to post in a language that's not their native tongue, maybe they never learned
to type correctly, or that the school system failed them altogether.

Whatever the reason may be, here are a few tips that can help improve communication
online, whether it's e-mail, chat, or forums, and result in more successful
information exchanges.

Don't use all Caps

Typing a message in all capital letters is considered the equivalent of yelling
online, and can be interpreted as being rude. Please don't use all caps unless
you have a very good reason to do so, and then state the reason (e.g. \"I'm visually
impaired, please excuse the use of all caps\"). If others think you're yelling
by using all caps, you might get a rude response, or no response at all. But
if you explain why, people will be tolerant.

Don't use excessive signatures and wallpaper

A lot of people think their e-mail and forum posts need to be decorated with
colorful backgrounds, animated images, artsy fonts, happy melodies, and fancy
signatures. Guess what? No matter how colorful and animated the message is,
it's still boring if you have nothing to say. On the other hand, a message written
in plain text, black default font on white background can be fascinating to
read. Why? Because it's the content that matters. All those images and colors
do is distract from the text, bloat the message, waste bandwidth, and annoy
the reader.

Send messages in plain text format if at all possible. If you have to use
a signature, try to stick with text. If you really have to use images, keep
them tasteful and small. Remember that there are still a lot of people using
dial-up modems, whose bandwidth is limited. Wasting their time with unnecessary
decorations is very impolite.

Don't spam your friends

Unfortunately, many people are guilty of this one. What's even worse, most
of them aren't even aware of what they're doing. Please, do NOT send every joke
and funny picture and silly program to everybody in your address book. Here
are but a few reasons why you should not do this:

• It is extremely rude to continuously bombard people with unsolicited mail.
  That includes your friends and family, too.
  
• E-Mail attachments are the #1 way for viruses to spread. Always delete
  attachments you did not expect, no matter who they're from.
  
• If an e-mail asks you to forward it to everybody you know, it's a hoax
  or a virus or a chainletter, and has to be deleted.
  
• That 2 MegaByte attachment, e.g. movie clip or sound file, you received
  in 2 seconds with your DSL or cable modem connection will block somebody else's
  dial-up modem for half an hour while downloading to the inbox.
  
• Just because you think that joke is funny, doesn't mean that every single
  person you know will think so, too. Some people might find it offensive or
  boring.
  
• Most ISP's impose a limit on mailbox space. Don't fill up somebody's mailbox
  with stupid jokes or programs, causing them to go over quota and prevent them
  from receiving important e-mail.
  

Please be extremely selective about what e-mail you forward. Remember that if
your friends have Internet access, they can either get the info themselves, or
somebody else has already sent it to them. Only forward information that can be
obtained no other way by the recipient.

Please be extremely selective about who you forward e-mail to. Never forward
something to everybody in your address book. If you really have to send out
jokes, assemble a mailing list and only add people to it after they agreed or
requested to be on the list.

Be courteous

This simple guideline can make all the difference. If you need help and ask
nicely, there is hardly anybody who will not try to help you out. But if you
are angry or demand answers, chances are you will be ignored or flamed. Generally,
you'll get a lot more out of life if you are nice.

The same thing applies if you have an argument with somebody. If you are constructive,
polite, and stick to the issue, the discussion can be positive and rewarding.
But if you start using foul language and insulting the other discussion members,
you'll get nowhere. Remember to never attack the other person in an argument,
only address the issue at hand.

Acronyms

Acronyms and abbreviations are commonly used in online communication. They
are an easy, shorter way to express something. They are fun to use, and can
make it easier or faster to type a message.



Examples:

ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing

FWIW - For What It's Worth

IMHO - In My Humble Opinion



If you see an acronym, but are not sure of its meaning, go to our Jargon
Buster - chances are you'll find the translation.

They should not be abused, however. Please use them sparingly. English is
a powerful language that contains words to express all the subtle shadings of
meaning one would wish to convey. Don't use so many acronyms in your message
that it looks like it was written in code. And don't make up your own acronyms
like IGWTDAPUSM (I Gotta Walk The Dog And Pick Up Some Milk). You'll only confuse
and annoy others. Stick to common ones, and use them wisely.

In addition, never use abbreviations like \"u\" for \"you\" or \"r\" for \"are\".
It really won't kill you to type the extra two letters. Another thing to avoid
is language like \"leet haxor rulez\" and similar immature keyboard diarrhea.

BCC



If you really must forward an email to lots of people, use the BCC option in
your email client! If you put all the addresses in TO or CC then everyone you
email gets everyone elses address. Not only is this inconsiderate, it can also
lead to everyone getting spam. An email full of hundreds of addresses (if someone
you forward it to forwards it to all their friends in the same manner the list
of addresses soon builds up) is a junk-mailers dream..