What Are Good Manners on the Internet?
While on the Internet, some people seem to forget their manners. They post rude, racist, sexist and other extremely hurtful comments on a daily basis. This might make you believe that users do not need to follow good manners while online. However, that is false and there are some rules that can help show good manners on the Internet.
Other People Are Reading
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Behave As You Would In Real Life
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In real life, the majority of people follow the rules, are polite and do not try to hurt others feelings. However, for some people those rules disappear in cyberspace due to the lack of consequences. But, good manners on the internet should be the same as in real life. The lack of consequences should not stop you from behaving like a mature, good mannered adult.
Respect Other People's Time
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Good manners on the Internet entail that you respect people's time. Do not spam websites or people's inboxes. When you send or post dozens of copies of the same message, you are wasting people's time since they have to read and delete each one. In addition, do not send out junk, spam or other nonsense that you know people do not want to see. If people trust you with their email address, do not abuse that trust and send them junk everyday.
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Be Forgiving
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Be forgiving with other people in cyberspace. No one starts out being Internet savvy. So, when someone makes a mistake you should forgive and politely correct them. In addition, you should only correct someone through a private channel. Do not point out their mistakes on a public forum. The situation might embarrass them and it lacks good manners to call someone out like that.
Another example where it is necessary to be forgiving is with website errors or incorrect links. Sometimes websites don't work the way they should. That is not a reason to send the webmaster hate mail. Politely and constructively email the webmaster about the problem and provide as much information as you can.
Use Proper English
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According to the "Etiquette and Manners for the Contemporary Woman" website, when typing messages on the Internet, it is considered good manners to use proper English. Use proper sentence structure, grammar and spelling so that others can easily read the information. It is not considered polite to make someone decipher a message written in your own shorthand with no punctuation. In addition, do not write in all capitals, which makes it seem like you are shouting, or all lowercase letters, which makes you look lazy. Use proper capitalization to show you put time and effort into your writing.
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References
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