Netiquette, a
colloquial portmanteau of
network and
etiquette or
Internet and
etiquette, is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks, ranging from
Usenet and
mailing lists to
blogs and
forums. Like the network itself, these developing norms remain in a state of flux and vary from community to community. The points most strongly emphasized about Usenet netiquette often include using simple
electronic signatures, and avoiding multiposting,
cross-posting,
off-topic posting, hijacking a discussion thread, and other techniques used to minimize the effort required to read a post or a thread. Similarly, some Usenet guidelines call for use of unabbreviated English while users of
instant messaging protocols like
SMS occasionally encourage just the opposite, bolstering use of
SMS language. Common rules for
e-mail and Usenet such as avoiding
flamewars and
spam are constant across most mediums and communities. Another rule is to avoid typing in
all caps or excessively enlarging script for emphasis, which is considered to be the equivalent of shouting or yelling. Other commonly shared points, such as remembering that one's posts are (or can easily be made) public, are generally intuitively understood by publishers of Web pages and posters to Usenet, although this rule is somewhat flexible depending on the environment. On more private protocols, however, such as e-mail and SMS, some users take the privacy of their posts for granted. One-on-one communications, such as private messages on chat forums and direct SMS, may be considered more private than other such protocols. Beyond matters of basic courtesy and privacy, e-mail syntax (defined by RFC 2822) allows for different types of recipients. The primary recipient, defined by the To: line, can reasonably be expected to respond, but recipients of
carbon copies cannot be, although they still might. Likewise, misuse of the CC: functions in lieu of traditional
mailing lists can result in serious technical issues. In late 2007, employees of the United States
Department of Homeland Security used large CC: lists in place of a mailing list to broadcast messages to several hundred users. Misuse of the "reply to all" caused the number of responses to that message to quickly expand to some two million messages, bringing down their mail server. In cases like this, rules of netiquette have more to do with efficient sharing of resources—ensuring that the associated technology continues to function—rather than more basic etiquette. On Usenet,
cross-posting, in which a single copy of a message is posted to multiple groups is intended to prevent this from happening, but many newsgroups frown on the practice, as it means users must sometimes read many copies of a message in multiple groups. Due to the large variation between what is considered acceptable behavior in various professional environments and between professional and social networks, codified internal
manuals of style can help clarify acceptable limits and boundaries for user behavior. For instance, failure to publish such a guide for e-mail style was cited among the reasons for an NZ$17,000
wrongful dismissal finding against a firm that fired a woman for misuse of boldface colorful
all caps text in company-wide e-mail traffic. Netiquette continues to evolve with the rise of social media, online forums, and digital communication platforms, providing guidance on respectful and effective interactions in modern online communities.
Netiquette in South Korea In South Korea, the Korea Internet Safety Commission declared the '
Netizen Ethics Code' on June 15, 2000, and the Ministry of Education prepared the 'Information Communication Ethics Education Guidelines' in early 2001. Therefore, some middle and high schools started to provide education on netiquette. The basic netiquette education contents of South Korea are as follows. Postings to a noticeboard should be written clearly and concisely, use proper grammar and Korean spelling, and avoid excessive refutation of other people's writings. In e-mails, identify yourself and send a letter. When chatting, you should introduce yourself first, engage in conversation, use the title "Nim," and do not slander, abuse, or make sarcastic remarks. Furthermore, it is against etiquette to repeat the same thing over and over again, and you must offer parting salutations when you come out of a chat. Furthermore, do not engage in sexual harassment, stalking, or the use of expletives. ==Digital citizenship==