How NOT to appear foolish on the internet.

Ravenblack

Join Date 07/2004

How NOT to appear foolish on the internet.

One assumes that you have the best of intentions to begin with...

1) If you are new to a website, community, blog or forum, be sure to read the FAQ and rules first.

2) Read everything properly and thoroughly before responding.

3) If you don't want to risk a nasty response, don't post anything at all.

4) Never put more than 3 exclamation marks in a post. If all your sentences end with exclaimation marks, it makes you look like spam.

5) Don't laugh at your own jokes. Avoid ending your sentences with LOL. (Ironically, I just did.)

6) If you aren't sure about something or how to do something, ask nicely.

7) Don't post links without telling people where they lead to. Don't click on links if you don't know where they go.

8 ) Don't post links to prank "click and get counted" sites and scam sites.

9) Poetry.com and its affiliates are scams. Don't boast about entering and being accepted into their contests. (Read about these scams and more: link )

10) Don't post your email address in your signature because you will be spammed. Don't post other people's email address or personal particulars without permission.

11) A cookie file is not a virus.

12) Don't assume everyone's American.

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Rule #13: Spelling and grammar count.

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Rule #13: Spelling and grammar count.

See # 12

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Rule #13: Spelling and grammar count.

See # 12

True, but the Internet is occupied by a strong contingent of either uneducated American teenagers or very lazy people who can't be bothered to proofread their posts, or even to find their shift key. I can understand not being good with English if you're from a non-English speaking country. I can even understand the variances in spelling between the British and American dialects of English.

But when I see something like "how is ur skin comeing? i think ur teh best!!!1!" my first reaction is generally not that the other person is from Switzerland. It's that the other person is either stupid or lazy.

Ergo, rule #13.

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Here's a link I picked up somewhere that might be relevant:Link

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# 14 dont tell people how to think or act!!!!!!!!!! lol

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( i said that to prove a point and to be funny, i accually agree with most of the rules)

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thanks for the advice i am canadian and i do tend to think everyone else is american but i guess not...anywayz good rules

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Thanks for the link, Surfcook.

>> [DI] lMG0D5552666
I think you have a point while making a point.

Thanks for comments, everyone.

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For what it's worth, another point to add might be:

If you have to add something to a post / forum / other comments - read it out loud before clicking submit. People may tend to think you're strange, but sometimes hearing how it sounds may give you an idea of how it may be mis-interpreted by someone else.

(Okay, maybe they think I'm strange because I read them out loud in different voices; but that's a different story altogether. [insert Airplane joke reference here ] )

And yes we need to be learning gooder grammer and spelling cuz i ain't the only won who kant speel or use gooder grammer, i'm just worser than you!