According to the Wikipedia the RFCs (Request for Comments) “are a series of memoranda encompassing new research, innovations, and methodologies applicable to Internet technologies”. Many of them are now obselete but there are a few which still have something to offer.
One that is still important, despite not being updated since 1995, is RFC 1855. This is one with a whole lot of guidelines about electronic communications. It’s a sort of Miss Manners guide to (n)ettiquette.
From the section on email,
- Unless you have your own Internet access through an Internet provider, be sure to check with your employer about ownership of electronic mail. Laws about the ownership of electronic mail vary from place to place.
- Unless you are using an encryption device (hardware or software), you should assume that mail on the Internet is not secure. Never put in a mail message anything you would not put on a postcard.
- Respect the copyright on material that you reproduce. Almost every country has copyright laws.
- If you are forwarding or re-posting a message you’ve received, do not change the wording. If the message was a personal message to you and you are re-posting to a group, you should ask permission first. You may shorten the message and quote only relevant parts, but be sure you give proper attribution.
- Never send chain letters via electronic mail. Chain letters are forbidden on the Internet. Your network privileges will be revoked. Notify your local system administrator if your ever receive one.
- A good rule of thumb: Be conservative in what you send and liberal in what you receive. You should not send heated messages (we call these “flames”) even if you are provoked. On the other hand, you shouldn’t be surprised if you get flamed and it’s prudent not to respond to flames.
Are these guidelines of any use? I think that they are and I think we can adopt them into our blogging philosophies as well. The interweb is not a free for all for educators.
No related posts.
I can sense from this post that you are a follower of Miss Manners Nix, trust that potato chips will not be on the menu when we catch up in the holidays
Dear Miss Manners: What is the proper way to eat potato chips?
Gentle Reader: With a knife and fork. A fruit knife and an oyster fork, to be specific. Good heavens, what is the world coming to? Miss Manners does not mind explaining the finer points of gracious living, but she feels that anyone without the sense to pick up a potato chip and stuff it in their face should probably not be running around loose on the streets.
Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior
I’ve always been rather partial to eating potato chips with dip actually. Never mind the implements.
Good manners and good sense, going hand in hand. especially in the blogoshere where friendships, respect and professional expertise are shared so freely around the with the people we are unlikely to see face2face. I feel it makes a lot of sense.
Ahh Simon, since I intend to see Nix face2face as it were in the very near future (aka the holidays) – does this absolve me of any expectation of “good manners and good sense’ in terms of what I post as comment – am I free to leave comments of no consequence or sense on the blog?
Fry: Start with a compliment. Tell her she looks thin.
Dr. Zoidberg: [calling to Edna] You seem malnourished. Are you suffering from internal parasites?
Edna: [pleased] Why, yes. Thanks for noticing.
It’s a curious thing to scoot between an online relationship and an f2f relationship especially when it plays out in a public medium. Often the most inconsequential and nonsensical is the most profound.
Not that I would know anything about internal parasites.