Newsgroup Etiquette or Netiquette

Netiquette (neologism, a morphological blend formed from "Internet etiquette") is a catch-all term for the conventions of politeness recognised on Usenet.

Regular newsgroup posters tend to inheret this morbid sense of ownership and like to attack those personally that don’t conform to their own sense of what is right and wrong behaviour on Usenet. Sometimes they have a very valid point.

The rules of netiquette are slightly different for newsgroups (Usenet), private email, web forums, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), and other methods of communication.

As an example, on Usenet it is conventional to write in standard English and not use abbreviations such as "u" for "you" or "ne1" for "anyone". These abbreviations are only slightly more likely to be tolerated on web forums, but are fairly widely used in certain parts of IRC where, since discussion is real-time, they serve the practical purpose of speeding the rate of typing for people who cannot touch-type. However, many IRC users look down on this form of conversation as it usually does not make reading easier and may actually confuse further in the face of poor grammar. In fact, there are many IRC channels where it is inappropriate and may result in the culprit being removed from the channel (kicked) or even banned.

Issues such as the level of tolerance for off-topic discussion or spoilers may also vary from one newsgroup, forum, or channel to another. The rule of thumb in any of these discussion media is to "lurk before one leaps" — to get a feel for the local conventions before engaging in conversation and inadvertently embarrassing oneself. Another commonly recommended precaution is to read the FAQ if available.

Usenet is a threaded discussion format. Discussion branch off in different directions and often have a different tone. For that reason, when posting to a post, make sure you understand the quoting systems (bottom-posting, interlaced posting styles) before you reply to a person. If you are posting via a forum interface, always reply with the QUOTE button under the post you are replying to rather than the REPLY button down the bottom of the page (which preserves the threaded nature of discussions). If you read no further than this page, please remember one thing.... only re-quote the relevent bits of information and make an attempt to format the post so it is pleasing to the eye. Do NOT top post!!

The sub menu to the right details the (n)etiquette that applies to various forms of online communication - but most important from our point of view - is Usenet etiquette.