Each of us has once encountered the lack of culture on the Internet. Some Internet users are aggressive and vulgar towards others, and hate on social media is common. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to avoid this phenomenon, but it is still worth observing the basic rules of internet culture that each of us should follow. We explain what netiquette is and what you should know about it.
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Internet culture – what is it, how did it come about?
The Internet has been widely available since the early 1990s, although it appeared on a larger scale in Poland only in the 21st century. Over the years, a specific Internet culture has developed, created bottom-up by users . This is a very broad concept – it includes content specific to the Internet (e.g. memes), specific language, but also rules that all Internet users should follow.
What is a netiquette?
Although websites and social media have their own regulations, most of them take into account some of the rules contained in netiquette. What is behind this concept?
Netiquette is a set of rules that govern the use of the web in a civilized way . It can be said that this is the savoir-vivre of the Internet world – observing netiquette is not absolutely necessary, but it is simply appropriate to comply with it so as not to make life difficult for other Internet users. Importantly, the rules of netiquette have not been codified anywhere . Although most of them are obvious, some may surprise you: https://nano.komputronik.pl/n/jak-zachowywac-sie-w-internecie-10-zasad-netykiety/ .
What is the penalty for breaking the netiquette?
Netiquette is not a law, so there are no serious consequences for breaking it – at least in theory, because in practice we can be punished with warnings, ostracism, and even complete exclusion from the online community for bad behavior . No one likes spam or trolling, and breaking the rules of netiquette will sooner or later face severe consequences – except that justice will be served by the internet community.
Netiquette – the most important rules
Although netiquette has not been clearly codified, there are a number of rules that all Internet users should follow . Here are the most important of them!
Respect is the basis
Netiquette emphasizes the need to treat other network users with respect. Offending, ridiculing and harassing Internet users is prohibited, but the issue of respect also applies to the form of expression – especially in social media, where we should not abuse emoticons, capital letters or memes. If someone didn’t understand what we meant, please be patient and explain what we meant.
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Trolling and spam are prohibited
Trolling and spamming are two activities that are prohibited by netiquette. While the issue of spam is rather obvious (after all, no one likes to read hundreds of the same posts), trolling raises some controversy. Netiquette does not prohibit mere jokes as long as they are not overly offensive . Internet trolling, on the other hand, is malicious and harassing. Its purpose is not to make others laugh, but to arouse controversy and draw attention to the author of the statement . Such behavior should be avoided – let’s take care of the comfort of all Internet users!
It is worth taking care of linguistic correctness
Speech errors happen to everyone, but when spending time on the Internet, you should ensure that your speech is correct . Today, most browsers have built-in dictionaries and automatically highlight errors – checking them and then removing them is a matter of a few mouse clicks. Attention to linguistic correctness proves elementary respect for other users of the network!
Sources must be tagged
Copying and sending various content is a characteristic element of internet culture. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as we take care of copyright and always try to credit the sources . The creators of most memes remain anonymous, but infographics or fragments of press articles have authors who can be easily identified. Sources are often forgotten on the Internet – which is a pity, because it is one of the most important rules of netiquette!