Internet etiquette

[blue_bunny_paz]

I've done a search and couldn't find another topic on this, but it may have been covered on the old board.

As a bit of background, another messageboard I use is based around a Goth/metal band. There's a wide range of first languages and ages on the board, which I bare in mind, but it can have the worst examples of internet etiquette ever. I actually started a thread on behaviours that could upset / irritate other users but the main offenders obviously did not read this.

While I am quite happy to forgive a typo or misunderstanding the following really raises my blood pressure:
  People who ask a question but ignore the answer.
The IRL equivalent would be:
Bobby: Where are my shoes?
Sarah: Under the bed.
Bobby: [moral outrage] WHERE ARE MY SHOES?
Lisa: Er, they're under the bed.
Bobby: Where are my shoes? It's so stupid!
  People who don't read a thread before replying. I'm sorry, but why should we value your opinion when you're too lazy to read anyone else's.
IRL equivalent:
Bobby: Where are my shoes?
Sarah: Under the bed.
Lisa: I think they're under the bed.
John: Have you tried under the bed?
Toni: No, they're on the doormat.
Seb: Under the bed...
  People who attention seek (especially with too many photos!) Now I know we all need to vent at times and seeing a photo of someone, especially a nice or funny one, can be entertaining. But once we have seen about 50 of them it gets a bit old.
IRL equivalent:
Sarah:[holding up professionally taken photo after professionally done make-over]Here is my photo.
John: Ooh. You are pretty.
Sarah: No I'm so ugly. Here are five more pictures.
John: I think you are pretty.
Sarah: My life is so sad. I am so fat and everyone is mean to me. Here are seven more photos.
  And more of a board specific one. We have an All Your Own Work forum for any art / writing etc we have done. Nothing wrong in this. Except the false praise people pile on. If I ask for constructive criticism saying "ooh it's lovely" when you've not read it is hardly helpful. Equally [insensitivity approaching - warning!] if someone writes terrible Goth poetry and everyone tells them it's great they will continue to broadcast their fictional problems with more and more cliched nonsense.
IRL equivalent:
John: My life is sad, this time is bad, my heart is dark, I'm in the park.
Sarah:[who was on her phone when it was read] Oh! Best poem ever!
Seb:[who knows nothing of the ways of poetry] That was great! Really deep.
John: huzzah! I am the greatest poet alive!

I'm all for niceness, but make it genuine.

What annoys you on-line?

[nicetooths]

I find it hard to keep reading when things are full of spelling mistakes or has no punctuation. Especially when it's something long without paragraphs.

[CrayonOutlines]

The one that gets me is when people respond to some question other than the one the person asked:

Bob: I need help deciding which nightly news show to watch.  Which do you prefer?
Sarah: I like that show "The Class"!
Matt: Newscasts have too much fluff these days.
Peter: I met Tom Brokaw in 1987.
Jennifer: Newscasters get paid too much.
Carol: Watching television is bad for you.

[aloe]

What I find hard is that there are so few messageboards where politeness is the norm and valuable communication takes place without constant raised hackles and obscenities.
Messageboards are my favorite Internet medium.  I see them as living works of art, places where information and knowledge is shared and camaraderie is spread worldwide.
I have a few specific interests and hobbies and have felt lucky to find good messageboards about them.  But, there have been flamers and bad apples and paired with inactive moderators, things have gotten bad at times.
I lurked here a while, and noticed that this is truly a rare, high-quality messageboard, so I joined recently.

[nicetooths]

this is truly a rare, high-quality messageboard.

I agree.

[Hawkwatcher]

People who don't read a thread before replying. I'm sorry, but why should we value your opinion when you're too lazy to read anyone else's.

If a thread is extremely long, I can understand that even the most conscientious poster might accidentally gloss over one of the posts and accidentally post a similar response.  However, I do tend to find myself annoyed by posters who announce they have not "had time" to read the entire thread, especially if the thread is a fairly short thread.

I also find posters who ask for other posters' opinions or advice but get really defensive if they do not like the answer. 

A IRL equivalent would be:

Bride:  I am trying to save money on my wedding.  Do you think that my guests would be offended if we feed them spam and soda crackers while the bridal party dines on prime rib?

Friend: Yes.  You are making your guests sit and watch you eat this great meal while they are eating spam and soda crackers.

Bride: What?  I thought that you liked me.  You are just jealous because I am having a more expensive wedding then you.
 

[Cyndi]

ONLINE BULLIES! Er, sorry, but this happens to me a lot.

What do people get out of hurting the feelings of a person they will probably never see? It's still a person and text words are still WORDS that can HURT! My theory on this is they know the person they are bullying can't reach through the screen and punch out their teeth.

I remember in one forum I posted my Halloween pictures and all the people did was make fun of the SHOES I was wearing. Just what the hell?! I no longer show my photos on that forum because obviously the people aren't worth my time.

[dawbs]

I hate it when folks can't figure out to lurk before posting.
Even Miss Manners has said to lurk before posting.

(and the reason is 2-fold. 
1-if there is a question asked 15 times a day, lurking for a few minutes [even just scrolling through the last several posts] means you don't repeat the same question...again. 

2-if there is a general 'attitude' to the board, it comes through.  [No one has to like a board's attitude,  but I get throughly annoyed on several boards when a "n00b" comes on and immediately starts trying to change the board instead of looking a *little* harder and managing to find a board they like..."what, that's not a condoned topic here?  you're all being close-minded!  What do you mean there are other boards, I don't want to go there, instead I insist on making this board into the vision I had for it from merely reading the title!"]

[CutebutPsycho]

Like brunoboy1, I dislike reading posts that are lacking in proper punctuation, spelling in grammar. I would never point out a posters errors (after all, that WOULD be in poor taste and lacking in the etiquette department) but if a post is hard to read because of all of the errors, I will move on to the next post.

I also dislike people who think they know everything, and even on subjective matters have to always be right and that means everybody else is wrong. Then again, I dislike these people in real life too!

[Brentwood]

I don't like it when people come into a thread just to dump on it. For example, if someone started a post discussing the plot of last night's "Really Cool Show", it would be rude to enter the conversation just to say, "That show stinks. I don't know why anyone watches it."

[Verruca]

I don't like it when people don't warn me that their post is going to crack me up and make me spit on my keyboard.  Bad bunny!

Seriously, though, I'm in the spelling/punctuation/capitalization/white space camp as well.  One of the things I loved about this forum was that folks who ignored the Rule of White Space would be politely (POLITELY!  Yay!) asked to make their posts more readable - and they usually did!

[Brentwood]

I don't like it when people don't warn me that their post is going to crack me up and make me spit on my keyboard.  Bad bunny!

Seriously, though, I'm in the spelling/punctuation/capitalization/white space camp as well.  One of the things I loved about this forum was that folks who ignored the Rule of White Space would be politely (POLITELY!  Yay!) asked to make their posts more readable - and they usually did!

If I open a post that is a large chunk of text with no paragraphs, I skip right over it. I can't read it. Likewise, I can't read posts of any significant length that do not contain capital letters and appropriate spacing.

[freakyfemme]

-People who say "brb" ("be right back"), and then disappear for half an hour or more, or don't come back at all, or disappear, come back, and then immediately say they have to leave.

-People who sign onto MSN, but are constantly "busy" or "away."  My friend "Pedro" used to do that, because he said he only wanted to talk to "select people," of which I was one, but still.....what's the point of signing onto MSN and then discouraging people from talking to you?  It's like going to a water park and expecting not to get wet.

-People who start up petty drama on online forums, and then accuse me of being "McSunshine" when I'm nice to people, and politely point out "we have a private messaging system for a reason" when the fighting starts to take over the forum to the extent that nobody can enjoy the rest of the forum, and then turn around and say that *I'm* ruining *their* "fun" by expressing my dislike of all the rampant hostility.

-People who completely tear me apart and say "you're naive, you're annoying, you suck at life," and then tell me to "take it with a grain of salt" when I get offended.

-People who type in all caps, use excessive netspeak/slang, or don't make any attempt to use proper spelling and grammar (except those who have learning disabilities, or for whom English isn't their first language).

-People who post crap poetry, and expect people to rave about it and say it's amazing and wonderful and great.......I usually just don't say anything at all about it.

[Brentwood]

-People who say "brb" ("be right back"), and then disappear for half an hour or more, or don't come back at all, or disappear, come back, and then immediately say they have to leave.

I'd give these people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they expected to be right back, but something happened to prevent or delay them.

-People who sign onto MSN, but are constantly "busy" or "away."  My friend "Pedro" used to do that, because he said he only wanted to talk to "select people," of which I was one, but still.....what's the point of signing onto MSN and then discouraging people from talking to you?  It's like going to a water park and expecting not to get wet.

I occasionally sign on to AIM to look for or talk to a specific person or people. If I don't have time to chat with anyone and everyone who comes along, I'll put my away message on. Signing on to an instant message service doesn't obligate one to chat with everybody.

[Clara Bow]

People who get into a forum that discusses topics they do not agree with or know anything about and then flame out on people and get overly offended. If you are a member of political party x, why are you a member of the site for political party y if you know political party y is just going to cheese you off??
People who post stories or threads or what have you that are OBVIOUSLY false. Come on! I've only heard of this on a forum my husband posts on for automotive acolytes, but it's just a ridiculous thing to do.
We're pretty lucky here, no one's really off the charts as far as behavior goes. It's nice to have a little refuge in the wild world of the web. I actually quit posting to some boards just because of the sheer ridiculousness of the behavior.