Internet etiquette for the newbie

[DottyG]

We're finally getting Mom set up with email!  I want to be able to give her a list of things to know and why these things are. So, I need your help. What would you tell a newbie about email - and why?  For instance, don't pass along spam and every urban legend you get because 1) it's annoying to your recipient 2) it clogs up their Inbox and 3) it makes you look foolish.

This is very important - keep in mind that we're talking about someone who just learned how to turn the computer on! She's truly a newbie - so, I don't need things about business use or complicated stuff. I need the real basics.

And, I need some explanation of why I'm telling her these things.

 

[rosiecat]

Don't open any email from someone you don't know?

[Lisbeth]

Be careful about "Reply to All."  Unless it's something everyone on the list really needs to know, use the "Reply" only button.

Don't put someone's E-mail address on a distribution list without their permission.

[DottyG]

I was trying to explain why you need to use bcc: but I couldn't figure out how to explain why. Why?

[Giggity]

Try a story like mine.

I have two friends, Shelly and Ange, who historically have not gotten along. I love them both dearly. When something would strike them both funny, I send it to myself, and BCC both of them. That way, they don't have one another's e-mail addresses, so potential problem averted.

Would Mom give out Aunt Mary's phone number to Aunt Marge if the aunts don't get along? No, she wouldn't, and you don't share e-mails either, which is why you BCC.

[Lisbeth]

I was trying to explain why you need to use bcc: but I couldn't figure out how to explain why. Why?

To protect the privacy of those who don't want their E-mail addresses revealed to the rest of the world.

[juliechan]

I was trying to explain why you need to use bcc: but I couldn't figure out how to explain why. Why?

Because unless the people to whom you are adressing the email already know each other, it is rude to assume that the recipients would want you to share their email addresses with everyone who is receiving the message in question.

[dawbs]

I was trying to explain why you need to use bcc: but I couldn't figure out how to explain why. Why?

If I send a mass e-mail (an appropriate mass e-mail :-) to a group of people including, say billybobjoesuesam@whatever.com, and I just add all the names w/o BCCing, I'm, in essence, giving ALL of those people billybobjoesuesam@whatever.com's e-mail address.

IF, heaven forbid, one of THOSE people, forwards that e-mail, and then again, and then again, EVERY person who ever gets that e-mail has billybobjoesuesam@whatever.com's address.
Which means that when, eventually, that e-mail gets posted somewhere and the e-mail addresses attached to it get harvested by a spammer, the evil spammer also has billybobjoesuesam@whatever.com's e-mail address.

Basically failure to BCC is giving out personal info w/o persmission.  And while I know Aunty J doesn't care that she ends up on the same e-mail as my parents and my cousins, I know she'd be less than amused to end up on my great-uncle-ethbert's spam mailing of political hooey list.

[Dazi]

All caps = yelling.  Seriously, we had to tell my DM that about 1000 times. 

Paragraphs are our friends, please use them in long correspondences.

[dawbs]

there ARE some excellent netiquette sites out there (which p'raps, for now, might be printed for her?)

these are the 2 faves that I occasionally direct newbies too:

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
(this is the extended version of that:  http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/index.html)

http://www.careerowlresources.ca/articles/newsgrouparticleback.htm
(that 2nd one is specifically for newsgroups but applies to message boards and some other parts of cyberspace too)

[Joannie81]

All caps = yelling.  Seriously, we had to tell my DM that about 1000 times.  

Paragraphs are our friends, please use them in long correspondences.

I was just going to post this.  I am always trying to get DH to understand that one!

[Nurvingiel]

I was trying to explain why you need to use bcc: but I couldn't figure out how to explain why. Why?

An email address is like your phone number. Just like you wouldn't want someone to tell your phone number to a room full of people, you don't want to do this with an email address either. If you put all the email addresses in the "to" line, each recipient knows everyone else's address. You use the BCC line to hide the address and protect everyone's privacy.

[Elfqueen13]

1) Introduce her to Snopes.  When my grandmother got her first email address (at age 79) she passed along everything she saw.  Now she checks them out first and only passes the ones they verify.

2) Win a free [whatever] is never free.  Ever.

3) Tell her about the scam emails pretending to be eBay, PayPal, Bank of America (to name a few I've gotten in the last couple of weeks) and the ever-popular Nigerian diplomat.  Warn her never to give out bank information or passwords via email.  Let her know that many websites that as for an email address sell their lists, which increases her spam.

[blarg314]

- Emotional content is harder to read in email than face to face or in voice conversations. The problem is much worse when dealing with someone you don't know well. So think about how your email or posting will read to someone who doesn't you are being sarcastic or funny. Similarly, don't be quick to take offense at someone else's writing.

- DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPS. THIS MEANS YOU ARE SHOUTING

- Don't forward cute sayings/poems/pictures to your entire email list. If you do forward stuff send it to specific people, and if they don't like it, stop. A good guide: do they forward stuff like this to you?

- Don't forward any warnings about drug side effects, abductions, government or corporate conspiracies, health warnings for various products, or anything offering people free stuff if the just X. 99.9% of the time these are fake and will annoy people.

- Don't open emails from people you don't know.

- Only open certain types of attachments even from people you do know.  What I told my mom was that PDF, GIF, JPG, DOC etc. were okay, anything that ends in .EXE should never be opened.

For someone who is really internet naive, I would say to not do any financial interactions or give any critical personal information over the web. Never give anyone your bank or credit card information, SSC/SIN number, and so on. If you really need to do so for some reason (say internet purchase), get an internet capable friend to physically supervise you.

To people with more savvy, I would say to only give financial information when you have personally navigated to that site, by clicking on your own bookmarked or hand entered link. Don't go through any links on third party sites or in emails.

[ShadowLady]

1) Introduce her to Snopes.  When my grandmother got her first email address (at age 79) she passed along everything she saw.  Now she checks them out first and only passes the ones they verify.

Yes, I introduced a  number of my friends to that site, and got them to start using it before they pass on all of "those" emails.