The following are a few rules of Forum Netiquette compiled and adapted for WaHI Online from
Wikipedia,
Google Groups, and the
Netiquette book.
1. The most important rule of netiquette is, "Think before you post." If what you intend to post will not make a positive contribution to the discussion and be of interest to several readers, do not post it!
2. Never forget that the person on the other side is human. Always be courteous.
3. If you're new to the forum, lurk for a while before you post. "Lurking" is reading the forum discussions without actually participating. Despite the sinister tone of the word, lurking in cyberspace is not frowned upon -- in fact, it's encouraged. Lurking gives you an idea of who the participants are and what the tone of the discussion is. It helps you avoid mistaking a joke for a serious statement, or posting a comment only to find out that a virtually identical statement appeared in the forum yesterday.
4. Personal messages to one or two individuals should not be posted to the forums -- use the
Personal Message feature instead.
5. Before creating a new topic thread,
search to see if a similar topic already exists.
6. Post a new topic in the correct sub-forum -- the one that most closely matches the content of your topic.
7. Use descriptive subject lines. The subject line helps a person with limited time to decide whether or not to read the thread you've posted.
8. Avoid
double posting and
crossposting.
9. Be brief.
10. Write well. Follow standard grammar and spelling rules and try not to use slang. If needed, use the spell-check feature.
11. Stay on-topic. If you want to digress, it's better to start a new topic (see Item 5 above).
12. Be careful with humor and sarcasm. Without the voice inflections and body language of personal communications, it's easy for a remark meant to be funny to be misinterpreted.
13. Respond to topics started by others more often than starting topics of your own so that you don't appear arrogant and unlikable.
14. When quoting a previous post, include only the relevant portion of that post.
15. Avoid the use of all
CAPITAL LETTERS in posts. (All CAPS is considered "shouting" and makes your posts harder to read.)
16. Do not resurrect a very old topic if you have nothing extremely significant to add.
17. Try to refrain from lashing back at a poorly behaving member or participating in a
flame war; instead, click the "Report to moderator" link to notify the forum moderator(s) of the event. (See also
How to Deal with Trolls.)
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