I'm glad things have started to quiet down today, but please remember that we are still in pre-season and off-season topics have tended to be quite different than in-season topics over the past years of HOCKEY-L. The following comes from Rob Slade (address at end of this article). I hope you find it interesting and useful... cheers, Wayne Smith The College Hockey Discussion List administrator Systems Group - CAPS BITNET/CREN: wts@maine University of Maine System internet: [log in to unmask] Enc: ("Roberts Rules of Internet Order" by Robert Slade) As part of a presentation for a conference, I was asked to make up a quick handout to be given out to all registrants. Given the subject, I thought there might be some interest in it here. RobertS Rules of Internet Order (by [log in to unmask]) 1. Keep your cool. 2. Understand that bandwidth, the space for information to travel in, is a shared resource, held in common by all. Respect other people's right to use bandwidth, as they respect yours. This has several corollaries: - keep it short - Keep it relevant - be as clear and concise as possible. 3. Keep your cool. Don't waste bandwidth by sending out public messages chastising people who, in your opinion, are wasting bandwidth. 4. Broaden your understanding of the net. Understand the different types of systems that people use. Understand that just because *your* system allows you to send file attachments, doesn't mean that everyone can, and that the garbage attached to your message may just be an annoyance to them. Understand that most people see messages on a maximum 80 character wide screen, but that "quoting" an 80 column wide message makes it more than 80 columns wide. Understand that a lot of people come into the net through BBS or commercial online services and may have no idea what ftp, telnet, gopher and WWW are. (If you don't know what these are, understand that a lot of people use them every day, and may send you instructions and advice assuming you know how to use them. "Finding It On the Internet", by Paul Gilster, is a good book for finding out how to access resources using only email.) 5. Keep your cool. 6. Depending upon who you believe, there are between three million and fifty million people on the Internet. That is somewhere between the population of BC and twice the population of Canada. Many of those people are nice. Some of them can be short tempered at times. Some of them are old, some young. Some are downright nasty and evil. As you explore the net, you will run into all kinds. Bear this in mind. 7. Keep your cool. Remember, as the saying goes, it's all just ones and zeros. They can only hurt you if you let them upset you. 8. You *can* do business on the Internet. But remember that email provides the recipient with an automatic "caller ID". Don't waste bandwidth. Don't waste people's time. Net people respect information, but *hate* hype. Respect the topics in public discussions. 9. Keep your cool. 10. Humour can be very easily misconstrued. Sending messages is easy, and it can be tempting to toss off a quick quip in reaction to an email message or posting. Be careful. Your quip can easily be read as an insult, particularly if the original poster feels deeply about what they wrote. Especially in a public discussion, it is likely that the receiver takes something more seriously than it might have been meant. And remember that nobody who has been on the net for any length of time is impressed by a really insulting message that ends up with the sentence: "For the humour-impaired: insert a :-) every three words." 11. Keep your cool. Even if you have been flamed publicly, anyone with any brains will be able to see who the idiot really is. If you maintain a dignified silence, you may find that others will defend you. Always more satisfying. 12. You will see some odd markings on online messages that you don't see in normal text. This is because online text generally can't support boldface, italics, underlining or any other form of emphasis. Emphasis is most often marked by *asterisks* on either end of the word or phrase. (This is akin to italics.) Some people use _underscores_ to denote that a word or phrase should be underlined. (This is fairly rare on the net, and mostly used for references.) Text that is typed ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS stands out, and is referred to as "shouting". (Messages typed completely in capital letters is the sign of a newcomer not used to net behaviour.) The "smiley" or "emoticon" typed with a colon, hyphen and right parenthesis :-) is a sort of sideways "happy face", and is used to denote humorous intent. (There are endless variations on the smiley: I have a collection of about 800 entries.) You will also see the most absurd acronyms on the net: btw (by the way), fwiw (for what it's worth), imho (in my humble opinion) the use of these acronyms is much more likely to confuse and annoy people than to promote effective communications. 13. Keep your cool. Communicate effectively, and help others keep theirs. 14. When sending a message, please use a subject that clearly indicates what the topic is about. Many net workers receive hundreds of mail messages in a day: a complete and accurate subject line is very helpful. Also, when "replying" to a message or posting, be sure that your reply still pertains to the subject. If your reply isn't along the same lines, then don't "reply"; send a new message instead. 15. Keep your cool. Be specific. 16. Read carefully, especially if you think you disagree with something. People tend to read email and postings too quickly, and to fail to understand the real intent behind a message. Especially if you want to reply to something, read it three or more times before you start to write. 17. Keep your cool. Read it again. 18. sPeling kountz. Too does syntax grammar and. A number of Internet posters feel that, since the medium is ephemeral, messages do not need to be composed with care. This shows a lack of respect for those who will spend time trying to read and understand the message. Remember the Usenet warning: "This message will cost the net hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to post to all machines. Are you sure you want to do this?" If it is not worth the time to correct your spelling and grammatical errors, it isn't worth posting. Read the postings of others forgivingly, but your own harshly. 19. Keep your cool, D00DZ! 20. There is *NO* rule 20. 21. Keep your cool. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 ORDER.INT 941004 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Oct. '94) Springer-Verlag