Observe Proper Netiquette

Ever since I was a kid, I was guided by my father in observing simple yet proper etiquette. Observing etiquette instills discipline and considerateness in a person, most especially to a child. I would define etiquette as the observance of doing the right thing at the right occasion/place; to give due respect towards the people involved.

I am a member of numerous e-groups and forum sites. I am also a moderator of some of these groups. Over these past few months, too many people had been fighting in these portals, arguing over posts that should have not been there. I would enumerate some of the known cases of irritation among members:

(a) Excessive and unnecessary posting in mailing groups - Mailing lists are formed for proper information dissemination among members. It should not be something to be sort of a chatroom. Comments and replies (the one-liner replies such as "hahaha") just contribute in the congestion of other people's mailboxes. (good thing there is Gmail for me)

(b) Out of Topic Postings - In the case of the 2 groups that I moderate (i2006 and ESEF), some people just want to get a free plug of their organization's activities into a group's goldmine of target audiences. As I repeat, the group was formed for a purpose; thus, when a student sent a "Pang modelo ba ang beauty mo?" ad in an "Engineering Entrepreneurship" group, it really triggered the ire of a Physics professor - member in the group. To think the girl even had the guts to be "mad" after being reprimanded by one of the mods...

(c) Flooding - in public posting groups such as the bulletin in Friendster, some people just have the knack of wanting to get noticed. Multiple posting of a SINGLE message gets to flood the whole bulletin. Too bad, some people also use friendster bulletins for announcements such as Alumni homecoming et al...

(d) Spoilers*** - When you say she/he is a Harry Potter Book Fan, the Fan means FANATIC. They can kill if you spoil them... so beware.




It's just simple. In a moviehouse, it's just like turning off your cellphones, being quiet and not resting your feet on other people's head rests. You don't want someone wiping his/her snot on you right? Now that's what you call etiquette.