Netiquette (Internet Etiquette)

Every few months a plague descends on Usenet called the spelling flame. It starts out when someone posts an article correcting the spelling or grammar in some article. The immediate result seems to be for everyone on the net to turn into a 6th grade English teacher and pick apart each other’s postings for a few weeks. This is not productive and tends to cause people who used to be friends to get angry with each other.

– Chuq Von Rospach, Gene Spafford, Mark Moraes; A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community, 1983-1995.

“Netiquette” stands for “Internet Etiquette”, and refers to the set of practices created over the years to make the Internet experience pleasant for everyone. Like other forms of etiquette, netiquette is primarily concerned with matters of courtesy in communications. The following sections provide more information.