Mar 7, 2010, 13:02 GMT
Hamburg - Millions of people communicate each day on the internet: they write messages on networks, forums, and blogs, answer email messages and post greetings.
Yet some of them don't give a thought to politeness in the process. There's a definite downside to rudeness online, however: poor online manners can have consequences on the job and in everyday life.
The term 'Netiquette' emerged early in the history of the internet as a catch-all phrase to describe a set of rules that govern manners online. Netiquette tends to be more of a set of suggestions than obligations, however, says Besim Karadeniz from the information portal netplanet.org.
That may be one reason that netiquette is seldom discussed much any more - even though internet communication in the age of social networks and SMS services is more important than ever.
Even if they don't know the ins-and-outs of netiquette, users of Facebook and similar sites should still use common sense and not make boors of themselves, Karadeniz says. One reason is because the networks themselves have codes of conduct, in many cases including bans on bullying or mocking behaviour. Discrimination and racist statements are also taboo.
Slander and other potentially illegal behaviour tends to be more rare, Karadeniz believes. A bigger source of irritation is irony or sarcasm. Even if you don't intend those biting comments to do real damage, they hit harder than most people realise - and no amount of smileys can patch up the hurt.
When several such posts bump into each other head to head, things can quickly degenerate into a 'flame war.' 'First think, then post,' says Patrick Schenk from the Hamburg-based Trendbuero company, 'particularly because the virtual circle of acquaintances and the flood of information is growing all the time.'
The more online communication grows, the more casual we become in using it, experts note. That makes it crucial to keep things in check, even for things that aren't insulting in the slightest. That includes taking the time to spellcheck and use proper expressions, and to avoid writing long, drawn-out texts that only overwhelm the reader, says Axel Schmiegelow from the German Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW).
'When you compose a message, you should be clear about who will have access to that text,' the social media experts say. If an email message is mistakenly sent out to a large distribution list, there's no way of retrieving it. And sometimes a little error can turn into a life-changing catastrophe, like the two female colleagues who were chatting about their love lives over email messages and with one wrong click forwarded it out into the big wide world.
Another part of civil discussion is using links to reference sources through links and respecting copyright. The latter needn't stop anyone from publishing brief excerpts from copyrighted texts. The use of entire texts is illegal, though.
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