Netiquette Rules

Be Careful What You Post Everyone uses the internet, so do not put anything on it you do not want anyone else to see because they might find it.

Everyone includes your Mother, family, friends, employers, and law enforcement. There are ways to keep your social networking pages discreet. Use the privacy settings in your account profile to block anyone but friends from viewing your page. Use a personal e-mail that your school/employer does not have as the contact e-mail on your account. Set up your account under a nick name rather than your real name. Do not include information about your occupation or school in your profile. If you are doing something illegal or that you are not supposed to be doing, know that the internet is monitored by law enforcement for various reasons.

Protect Your Financial Identity Shop on secure sites because it protects your information.

A lock in the lower left hand corner and https:// in the address bar lets you know a site is secure. Secure websites encrypt data to prevent hackers from accessing your personal information. Websites purchase security certificates from third party companies who provide encryption services.

Spell check and proof read e-mail before sending it because errors make you look uneducated.

Steps For Spell Checking & Proofreading Messages: Misspelled words project a negative image. If you are using Hotmail or Microsoft Outlook make sure the spell check feature is turned on. For Yahoo mail, you must click the spell check button. Proof read e-mail because spell checkers do not catch all grammar errors. Steps For Spell Checking & Proofreading Messages: Make sure the spell checker is on or click the button when you finish writing. If there is no spell checker write the message in a word processing program with a spell checker. Then copy and paste it into the e-mail. Proofread by re-reading the message after you spell check it. Finally, click send.

Obey the law because IP addresses and ISP's are tracked.

As you can see from the box below, websites track IP addresses and ISP information. Search Engines save searches matched with IP Addresses and it may become illegal to search for illegal things. Saved search information can be matched to an IP address and traced to the user of the computer through a number of different methods. Proper netiquette is to obey the laws of the country you are in.

Stay away from spam and pop-up advertising for security reasons.

Spam and Pop-Up expose your computer to spyware and viruses Spam and Pop-Up expose your computer to spyware and viruses. Spyware programs can track your keystrokes and steal your credit card information when you make a purchase. In addition, spam and pop-up advertising are bad netiquette because they are unsolicitated.

Do not flame because it can give you a bad reputation.

A flame is a written personal insult communicated through the internet A flame is a written personal insult communicated through the internet. Personal insults are done by lower people because they feel they have to bring a person down. Do not respond to them because it brings you down to the level. Writing or responding to personal insults is low class and ineffective communication.

Use personal e-mail accounts for messages to friends and family because school e-mail is for educational purposes only.

School e-mail is official school communication because the school owns the rights to the domain. Since the school owns the domain it has the right to read your e- mail. We routinely read student e-mail for a number of reasons from security to monitoring students.

Tell the truth in your social networking profiles to create the best experience.

Telling the truth in your profile makes the experience better because your friends have an accurate information about who you are. Lying in your online profile prevents effective communication because the people you are communicating with are basing their communication on lies.

Do not send e-mail late at night because it may call your lifestyle into question.

If you send e-mail late at night the recipient know what time you sent the message and may call your lifestyle into question. For example, sending an e-mail to a potential employer at 2:00 AM is bad netiquette because you should be asleep at 2:00 AM. You may subject yourself to more scrutiny because you sent an e-mail late at night calling your lifestyle into question.

The more e-mail you send the greater chance of sending a bad message The more e-mail you send the greater chance of sending a bad message. The more e-mail you receive the better informed you are because you are receiving more information.