Guide to Basic Netiquette

Netiquette, a contraction of 'network etiquette', has been evolving since the earliest days of networked computers (i.e. before the internet) and its reach spans a wide range of media such as email and email groups, online forums, mobile texting (SMS), instant messaging (IRC), virtual works (e.g. Second Life) and of course, wikis. Indeed, to some degree, every community whose communications are electronically mediated are likely to have their own netiquette conventions and norms.

While this page does not aim to be an exhaustive reference on the subject, it does aim to provide you with a few basic guidelines that can help you to avoid social blunders, confusion, irritation and even conflict if your message is misunderstood. If you feel that something is missing here that should be included, please add it to the discussion page for consideration.

See also Future Melbourne's Participation Policies and Guidelines.

Terms / Internet Slang

Here's a handful of general internet slang terms:

• Newbie / noob / n00b / nooblet / noobcake - a slang term for a newcomer to an Internet activity and/or environment. This term is often derogatory, so be careful with usage.
• Troll/Trolling - a person who contributes controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic content with the purpose of baiting others into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
• Baiter/Baiting - a baiter (similar to a troll) tries to lure an unsuspecting participant into some form of response with the aim of embarrassing the respondent for the purposes of entertaining others. This is a form of cyberbullying.
• Lurker/Lurking - someone who reads but rarely contributes. While this term, usually applied to online forums and email groups, sounds derogatory, it isn't. In fact, we recognise lurking as a valid and important form of online participation (of course we'd really like to know your thoughts as well!).
• Flaming - angry or insulting messages from people who have strong feelings about a subject, usually not constructive as they do not clarify a discussion or persuade others. Flaming unchecked can deteriorate web based relations to the point of forming deep rifts between collaborators.
• Sock puppetry - the use of fake online identities, often multiple identities registered by a single individual, "to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for one's self, allies" or ideas.

Rules of Thumb

Below is a short list of netiquette 'rules of thumb' especially relevant for the Future Melbourne project.

• Text in capitals means you are shouting
  • It can be tempting to write something in capitals in order to make it stand out, such as, 'FIX THIS TYPO', however a very well established netiquitte norm is to interpret capitals as shouting. Therefore something such as the previous example can go from a formatting cue, to an insult very easily. If you want your text to stand out, you might try using colours.
• Reread before you save; think before you post; know it before you speak it
  • These are all closely related suggestions which essentially urge you to consider your contributions before publishing them. While we aren't too fussed about you getting your thoughts perfect the first time around, giving your edits a few more seconds of consideration before you click save can save someone's time and energy in querying your meaning or correcting your typos.
• How would you feel if you saw your words in a newspaper?
  • It is critical to remember that while internet based media often feels private it is not. In fact, posting to this site has more potential reach than any newspaper, and not only that, but often other forms of media such as newspapers quote from the internet. So please ensure that you are comfortable sharing your ideas with the rest of the world.
• What if the person you were speaking to was in the same room?
  • Similar to the above point, it can be easy to forget that even though it may seem unlikely that someone specific would ever read what you're writing, they may. If you use someone's name for instance, that reference could be found using Google - not that anyone ever Google's their own name of course (otherwise known as 'egosurfing').
• Lurk before you leap
  • This is a norm common to email groups and forums. While it has relevance in those contexts, we're not so worried about it here. Just jump right in and learn as you go. We are very committed to maintaining welcoming environment for all no matter what your experience with netiquette.

Emoticons

An emoticon (a conjunction of emotion and icon, also known as 'smilies') is a combination of keyboard based symbols used to convey emotional states in the context of a written message, such as :-) (happy). Emoticons have evolved to incorporate graphical images used on specific platforms such as (also happy). Note that this wiki uses keystroke based emoticons as shortcuts for displaying graphical symbols. Below is a table of smilies available in this system. This table will also give you a good idea of the range of emoticons you might use when emphasising your emotional state during posting to discussions.

There are no hard and fast rules on usage, or even standards of how to format them, however emoticons are especially helpful when you want the reader to be sure they understand your intent, e.g. if you are joking you might use ;-) / to indicate a wink, or, :-) / indicating not to take you too seriously. The use of emoticons can also bring a playful feel to your online work which can make it more enjoyable. Be creative and experiment - you might try creating some hats for your smilies to try on {]:-) <|:-) ~!|:-)

Here's a link to a lot more on emoticons generally, and a link to a table of the classics.

Emoticon short cuts for this wiki
You type	You see	Emotion
:-)		"smile"
:)		"smile"
8-)		"cool!"
:cool:		"cool!"
:-I		"indifferent"
:(		"frown"
:-(		"frown"
:o		"embarrassment"
:D		"big grin"
:-D		"big grin"
;)		"wink"
;-)		"wink"
:p		"stick out tongue"
:-p		"stick out tongue"
:rolleyes:		"roll eyes (sarcastic)"
:mad:		"mad!"
:eek:		"eek!"
:confused:		"confused"
>:-)		"hehe!"
:devil:		"hehe!"
>;-)		"hehe! (friendly)"
:devilish:		"hehe! (friendly)"
:-X		"sealed lips"
:ok:		"thumbs up"
:yes:		"yes"
:no:		"no"
:love:		"I love it!"
:skull:		"dead!"

Acronyms & Abbreviations

While more commonly associated with mobile phone texting (SMS) and instant messaging (IRC), various acronyms are slowly but surely finding their way into the general online lexicon. Sometimes numbers are used to represent various syllables (e.g. 8 for 'ate'). Here's a few you are likely to run into (if you haven't already):

• LOL - laugh(ing) out loud
• BTW - by the way
• IMO / IMHO / IMAO - in my opinion / in my humble opinion / in my arrogant opinion
• JK - just kidding
• NP - no problem
• FWIW - for what it's worth
• SRY - sorry
• CU L8R - see you later
• 2DAY / 2MORO / 2NITE - today / tomorrow / tonight
• B4 - before

Btw, note that such acronyms may be written in capitals or not, or some combination thereof without changing their interpretation.

For many more acronyms and abbreviations, the Macmillan English Dictionary has a useful list, as does Wikipedia. You may also find this article handy for its explanation of what letters to leave out and what numbers to include.

As a final suggestion, most internet slang terms can be found and translated by simply 'Googling it'. In otherwords, UTFSE ;-D.