Etiquette in the Electronic World

Network Culture

When you're on the Internet, you're participating in a worldwide community. You may be corresponding or communicating with people who come from an entirely different culture. Their concept of humor, for example, may be quite different from yours. To help ease culture clash, Internet users have developed a culture of their own with some simple rules to guide their communications.

• Use upper- and lowercase letters, as if you were writing a letter. Using all uppercase letters indicates SHOUTING. It can be offensive.
• Use warnings and symbols to designate text that you mean to be emphatic, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, or whatever. Your messages will more likely be read as you intended. For example, :-) is a sideways smiley face indicating humor or a joke. Asterisks *emphasize* a word or phrase.
• Remember that an electronic communication represents you--to the world and to your Internet service provider (ISP) where complaints are often initially directed. Just as in "real life", surface impressions can be critical!

Courtesy on the Internet is essential. Pay attention to these important points when communicating electronically:

• Keep your messages brief and to the point.
• Write very very carefully. Though e-mail makes it easier to share information, it also makes it a little *too* easy to spread. Like paper mail, e-mail is permanent. To be absolutely safe, don't send anything you would object to seeing (with your byline!) on the front page of the New York Times.
• Don't flame (yell at other people via e-mail). Wait several hours before deciding whether to send an emotional response to a message. Once you've sent your angry or inflammatory message, you cannot take it back or make it disappear.
• Sign your messages with your name, and your e-mail address should appear in the header of all e-mail you send. If you add more information to your signature, keep it short.
• Address your messages carefully. Some addresses may belong to a group, even though the address appears to belong to just one person.
• Respect copyrights. If it isn't yours, don't copy it! See the Policy FAQs.
• Don't send unsolicited messages in large numbers to people. They clog the networks-- slowing their performance for essential, legitimate uses--and also may violate university policy.
• Remember, just like with postal mail, e-mail can be forged. If you suspect the e-mail you receive may not be legitimate, it's a good idea to check with the "sender" before acting on its content.
• Don't forward e-mail warnings about computer viruses before checking with the CIT HelpDesk or the CIT Virus Information Web site.
• Don't engage in or otherwise facilitate e-mail forgeries or spoofing. Such activities are violations of university policies and can result in disciplinary actions. If you suspect that e-mail you receive is illegitimate, check with the alleged sender before acting on its content.

• Become familiar with the list or group before you send messages (or "post").
• Watch what you say. Your messages will be seen by a large audience that may include your parents, professors, or current (or perhaps future!) boss. Your messages will probably will also be stored in a public archive for a long time.
• Quote sparingly from messages to which you're replying. Retain just enough of the original message to help readers follow the discussion. And use minimal text formatting, (e.g., colored fonts, bullets), because the person or program at the receiving end might not be able to "translate" your text.
• Don't send large files or files with attachments--They can clog or even "overflow" the recipient's mailbox, causing mail to be lost, or overload servers, crippling their performance.
• Save the instructions for using or communicating with the list or group for future reference.

The information above has been adapted for use at Cornell University from material originally written by Sally Hambridge of Intel Corporation ("RFC 1855: Netiquette Guidelines," Internet Engineering Task Force: Oct. 1995).

See also E-mail Etiquette and Newsgroup "Netiquette"

Last modified: May 24, 2007
Contact Person: cit_pubs@cornell.edu