alt.religion.mormon Manners FAQ

Contents

Purpose

Rule 1: Watch your Words

a) What if the person were standing in the room with you, would you still say it to them? If not, then do not post it.

b) Why do you want to post? To prove yourself right? To prove the other one wrong? Stop, take a deep breath, and chill. If the other poster is a fool, others will have noticed, and you don't need to reply. If he or she isn't, and you post anyway, others will notice and assume you are the foolish one.

c) Where does your post go? All over; your message will pass through hundreds or thousands of computer systems where all can read what you wrote. This may include your boss, your friends, your family and even Hard Copy. Don't write anything you wouldn't want to see quoted in the media.

d) Whom are you addressing? If your post starts out with "Jim," or "Sue," or if your subject line reads "Response to <insert name here>", send it in private mail. Don't post it for thousands to read. If you don't get the difference between e-mail and posting, don't send anything, yet. From an etiquette stance, commercial, unsolicited e-mail is not private communication, do with it whatsoever you will.
 

Rule 2: Quoth the Raven: Nevermore.

a) You need to include enough of the previous text to allow the readers to understand the context of your reply. If your post starts with: "Yes, I agree, and I want to add..." then no one is likely to comprehend your thought.

b) Sometimes enough is too much. Find the essential part of the post to which you're replying. If the first original word of your response isn't on the first page of your post you've gone too far.

c) Most newsreaders use a symbol to show quoted text, like a ">". When previously quoted text is re-quoted, you get two symbols, like ">>". It should be a rare case, indeed, that you would need to quote lines more than two previous articles deep.

d) Never, ever, ever quote e-mail you received privately from someone in a post without asking and receiving their direct and explicit approval to do so.

Rule 3: Silver Threads and Golden Subjects Can't Mend Your Topic.

a) When starting a new thread, make your subject lines relevant. Subject lines like "What?" or "Did you Know..." are cute, but not very helpful to those who sort their mail by subject.

b) When following a thread, if someone else already posted what you're about to write, restrain yourself. Everyone has already read it, they don't need to read it twice. And, sorry to say, quoting someone else's entire post just to say "Me, too!" or "Amen." breaks most of these rules and only makes others think you are incapable of forming a complete thought without help.

c) If your reply changes the topic, change the subject line. It's confusing to read a post titled "BoM Archeology" and discover you're reading about dog breeding in China.

d) If you have 40 posts in your reader, and you read the oldest one first, don't respond until you've read the other 39. Then refer to Rule 3b.

e) Learn to use your newsreader and editor. A post that quotes someone else's entire article and contains no follow-up text is a sure indication that you are new to the net, and have not yet learned how to use your software. Make a trial posting to an alt.test.* newsgroup first, to be sure you know how things will turn out.

Rule 4: Stupid is as Stupid Posts

a) Finding a stupid argument is a no-brainer, to point it out rarely causes one to change their mind. They likely will become defensive and flood the group with more stupid arguments.

b) The only thing worse than a stupid argument is the defense of stupid argument.

Rule 5: Signature Files

a) You don't have to have one to be cool.

b) "Four Line .Sig." It's an old rule, but a good one. It conserves bandwidth, it avoids boring your readers, and it shows you to be a 'net polite person.

c) Don't put pictures in .sig files. They are cute, but a waste of space. We know you're talented, or you wouldn't be here. Don't prove us wrong by adding ascii art. Oh, by the way, most have seen the "cat"/"cougar", thought it was neat once (optional), and may now find it silly. Ever think about folks with text-to-speech converters?

Rule 6: User Interfaces Were Not Created Equal.

Rule 7: All You People Who Have A Lot To Say, And Like To Write In A James Joyce Style Of Run On Thoughts That Go On Forever And Never Seem To Come To A Point, Please Raise Your Ha

a) Make it brief.

Rule 8: When All Else Fails

References

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