What is netiquette?

The emergence of electronic mail and other Internet services, this new mode of exchange between people, was also the emergence of a new way to communicate. This way, we impose certain rules of education to which we are not used, but that experienced Internet users do not get tired of caring for and correct: the Netiquette.

These rules are not capricious or chosen at random. Resulting from the use and knowledge of a type of communication and aim to make it as enjoyable and useful.

Behold these few rules for proper living in the virtual world that will make communication easier.
The golden rule of netiquette

Remember that there are human beings across the monitor.

The golden rule of Internet is simple and resembles a rule we learn as kids: Do not do to others that we would not like to do unto us. Imagine how it would feel if the other side. Defend your position, but try not to hurt the feelings of others.

In cyberspace, we define it even more simply remind the human being across the Internet.

When you communicate electronically, all you see is a computer screen. No one has the opportunity to use facial expressions or gestures, or tone of voice to express their views, all we have are words, written words. The same thing that happens to the other side.

When kept an electronic conversation, either an email or a discussion in a group, it is easy to misinterpret the meaning. And it’s awfully easy to forget that the other side is a person who has feelings like one.

It is really ironic, computers bring together people who otherwise never would have known, but the impersonality of the medium makes this process somewhat less personal ….
Many humans exchanging email how people behave behind the wheel of a car: insulting other people, make obscene gestures and behave like savages. Most never behave that way at home, but the filing of a machine seems to make it acceptable …

According to the netiquette that is not acceptable.

Yes, use the network to freely express themselves, explore new worlds and go where ever impulsively have gone. But remember the first rule of etiquette: there are real people on the other side.

Ask yourself, “I would venture to say this person?”.
If the answer is no, go back to reread and rewrite your message.
[Chris Johnson]

Netiquette in the different services

E-mail
If you are writing to a stranger who lives in a country other than the Spanish language, use as much as possible English.
When you have questions or problems with a particular host, there is a person you see: the postmaster. The postmaster is the manager of one or more computers on the Internet. To send a mail to the postmaster, do it postmaster@computadora.dominio. Please: When sending messages to the postmaster, be polite, brief and be patient. The postmaster is usually very busy and the reply may take several days.
Do not use capital letters. In the emails, this amounts to SHOUT!
Try not to write any lines containing more than 80 characters, or some people who use other programs may have trouble reading them.
Where possible use non-ASCII characters greater than 127. In other words, do not use accents or eñes or rare symbols which are not directly on the keyboard, as on the road that runs your message can be bad “translated” by another computer and transformed into other symbols.
Avoid quoteos (quoting from original message) unnecessary.
Use judiciously the subject line (subject) and let life a little easier for your recipient. A short line and concrete can quickly locate the correct mail in a long list.
Mailing lists
To subscribe and cancel a subscription to a list of interest, do not send an email to the list, but the administrative head of the list, otherwise your application reaches all members and can cause discomfort (think messages to the lists are multiplied many times as there are people enrolled in it, completely unnecessary, causing increased traffic on the Net).
Some lists are moderated, ie, there is a person who reads every message to the list and decide whether it passes or not. Before you write, get as far as possible the rules of moderation on the list, and avoid disadvantages.
Each list has an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions, FAQs), which contains a description of the issues addressed in the list and their most frequent responses. It’s a good idea to read the FAQ before writing.
Read for several days before writing a list for the first time.
Send messages always within the subject matter list.
To respond to a message, but it is a private answer, send an e-mail to the recipient rather than the full list.
Some lists are Read-Only (Read only), such as advertising firms or those of famous people such as Stephen Hawkins. This means you can only read messages arrive, but not write.
The signatures should not exceed 4 lines long.
Avoid quoteos (quoting from original message) unnecessary.
News
Respect the theme of the newsgroup. Watch carefully for the message corresponds to the subject, or any branch of the subject for which no other group more successful.
Each newsgroup has an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), which contains a description of the issues addressed in the area and its most frequent responses. It’s a good idea to read the FAQ before writing.
Respect the official language of the newsgroup.
To the extent possible, respond via e-mail messages if the answer were private in nature.
Do not use capital letters. In the newsgroups, this is equivalent to SHOUT!
Read for several days, a newsgroup before writing the first time.
Avoid quoteos (quoting from original message) unnecessary.
Keep the subject (topic) of the message according to content. If there was a twist on the theme, change the subject.
The signatures should not exceed 4 lines long.
Suppose you want to post (paste, put) a message about indiscriminate fishing of a particular fish in Brazil. Your message may be news on both the aquarium, as in ecology, as in the policy of Brazil. If you want to put a message in several areas of news at once, you can. This process is called cross posting. However, it is advisable to cross posting too often or by more than 3 or 4 groups.
Try not to write any lines containing more than 80 characters, or some people who use other programs may have trouble reading them.
Where possible use non-ASCII characters greater than 127. In other words, do not use accents or eñes or rare symbols which are not directly on the keyboard, as on the road that runs your message can be bad “translated” by another computer and transformed into other symbols.
Do not send sensitive data (such as address) in an area of news, unless it was necessary dissemination.
Telnet
Try to connect to public computers outside business hours (ie trade in the country where you are calling). Remember that there are other people trying to use the same resources at a time.
Be as brief as possible in their “visit”.
Respect Policy Manager Server, which generally shows when connected to the computer. Many sites warn that all transactions you make will be stored in the log (log) on the server.
FTP
Respect Policy Manager Server, which generally shows when connected to the computer. Many sites warn that all transactions you make is stored in the registry (log) on the server.
Respect FTP schedules. In general, suitable times are outside the business hours of the area you want to order. If it should do so during business hours, is as short as possible. In the welcome message to the host in general are detailed timetables “educated” to visit.
If you make anonymous FTP, log on as Anonymous key account its website. This will allow the host administrator know where you are calling, and keep statistics of hits. Some hosts analyze its direction, and if they determine it is not a valid address, it can deny access to certain directories.
If you want to leave a file, not stored on the remote computer, unless you request it. Most have a directory called incoming or similar, where you can leave what you want.
WWW
Plan visits to the pages to avoid “down” twice the same information.
Trying to log into the site after working hours in the area of the server.
Archie
Once you Archie returned to the place where the file is likely to offer multiple hosts as a result. Choose from these closest to home, to minimize access to the network and increase transfer speed.
If the system responds very slow Archie, try to use it outside of business hours. Archie Some work to the public only at night.
Try to reduce search everything possible so that others can also make use of the system.

The Rules of correct “quote” (quote)

The art of the quote

The quotes (quotes) are pieces of the message that is being answered, which are included in the response as a reference, so that the recipient knows that you’re talking about.

Generally, quotes are from the rest of the message, because the lines are headed by quotes the character “>” or “:” and sometimes the initials of the person who wrote the quoted text (this may not happen).
For example:

AG> “This line is a quote.”
What can (and should) Quotes

It should quote those parts of the message to ensure that the recipient understands that we mean, and omitting all superfluous information (signatures, dates, comments).

Think of a reply message without quotes, can be totally incomprehensible to the recipient, especially if one gets a lot of correspondence.
What you should never quote

Do not quote:
Getting to the start or end of messages.
Automatic headers (From, To, etc..), The date of the message routing information.
Signatures.
Nothing that is not directly relevant to the text of the response.

One particularly unusual is quote an entire message just to add “I agree with you.” This generates a lot of traffic without meaning.

In such a case you can leave the first and last lines and making clear the meaning ellipsis indicating that there was more in the middle.
For example:

> Respect the netiquette is important because if we do
> …
> And that would be useless to return the network communication.

Fully concur with the opinion.
Putting the record straight

To be left at least one field of a blank line between paragraphs quotes and answers so you can read clearly the message. If everything is very close reading, and thus understanding the message, may be difficult.

In general, you should make a rational use of space, so that reading of the message is as clear as possible.
SUMMARY

You see, the rules are very simple and summary are:
Remember that you are communicating with humans. Think of them as in you.
Remember that the network has limited resources. These resources are to be used by all. So do not waste it by all and rational use of them to continue serving.

We hope these rules help us all to live better.