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Date: August 11, 2005

eLearning Best Practices: Netiquette
by Chip Donohue

A welcoming and safe online learning community depends on good netiquette. Netiquette is short for "network etiquette" and it defines some basic dos and don'ts of online communication when sending e-mail, posting messages in a discussion forum, or participating in a chat room.

The 10 Core Rules of Netiquette are excerpted from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea. A summary of each of the rules is available on the Netiquette Home Page at www.albion.com/netiquette/index.html.

• Rule 1: Remember the human

• Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life

• Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace

• Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth

• Rule 5: Make yourself look good online

• Rule 6: Share expert knowledge

• Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control

• Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy

• Rule 9: Don't abuse your power

• Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes

You can also access an online edition of the book and take a Netiquette Quiz at the Netiquette Home Page, www.albion.com/netiquette/index.html.

Another online resource for understanding netiquette is The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette by Arlene Rinaldi at www.fau.edu/netiquette/net/netiquette.html.

EOE is edited by Michael Kalinowski of the University of New Hampshire