How NOT to appear foolish on the internet.

Published on December 23, 2004 By Ravenblack In 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.

Comments (Page 2)

TasT

on Dec 28, 2004

Good List, however I probably break most of the rules except #12 and maybe I am foolish!

Sleeping Dragon

on Dec 28, 2004

My Dad used to say that "It's better to let people assume you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt". In this case, open your keyboard ...well, ..type on your keyboard ...

You know ...

Ravenblack

on Dec 28, 2004

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

craeonics >> Though #12 will probably only happen to Americans, don't you think?

No, several times, it was some other who turned around and condemn the entire community as "You arrogant Americans." I am not American, but I too use to have the tendency to assume that others are.

As for looking foolish, there's just always a chance of that. No 3 comes from that. You are likely to get a nasty comment because someone thinks you are typing something stupid. The universally least tolerated trait is stupidity or percieved stupidity.

WOM:>> But as I've seen since, the kids (not all) talk to their parents like they are talking to some idiot friends. So I guess this is outdated.

Yeah, that wouldn't work for bratty kids who have no respect for their parents. And it's not always the kids who are acting childish and being rude anyways..

butch123

on Dec 28, 2004

Developer Sleeping Dragon So i guess you never listenrd to you dad lol

Action_Jay

on Dec 28, 2004

Lurk, lurk, lurk!

Too true. Otherwise you'll fall prey to people who eat newbies for breakfast. I've seen some normally great people who, for the sake of fun, love to mess with the sensitive new posters who aren't familiar with their sense of humour. At first glance the posts seem brash and elicit crazy, troll-like responses, but to everyone else in the community it's a hilarious joke, usually making an ass out of the newbie.

butch123

on Dec 28, 2004

Sometimes you should watch what you eat. Liable to come back up on you.(lol)

Sleeping Dragon

on Dec 28, 2004

Developer Sleeping Dragon So i guess you never listenrd to you dad lol

"I" should be capitalized. "so" should not be. I have never seen the word "listenrd" before, and I'm pretty sure the word you want is "your", not "you"

Did I offend you in some way, butch123?

butch123

on Dec 28, 2004

Developer Sleeping Dragon No, not whatsoever. Just tried to joke around with people and break the ice. Hope you did not take it in a bad way. It was not meant to be taken in any way but humourous. Oh about the errors in English, its because I am French, English is a second language and overall I think I am not doing too bad.

Sleeping Dragon

on Dec 28, 2004

Your English is fine. Just paybacks. If we keep this up we can break all of the rules.
If I had to learn English I probably couldn't, so I applaud you. It seems to be the only language in which there are no consistencies.

butch123

on Dec 28, 2004

Developer Sleeping Dragon..Thank you. (See no errors LOL)

Sleeping Dragon

on Dec 28, 2004

JDavidHarper

on Dec 28, 2004

Rule #13: Spelling and grammar count.

Sleeping Dragon

on Dec 28, 2004

Rule #13: Spelling and grammar count.

See # 12

JDavidHarper

on Dec 29, 2004

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.

SurfCook1

on Dec 29, 2004

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

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