Netiquette 101: Rule #2 - "Just because you live in a barrel doesn't mean you have to act like a monkey"

I have found it interesting that peoples behavior changes dramatically when they believe they won't get caught doing something.  I'm quite sure there are volumes of articles written by the mental health community as to why this is.  Through all the 50 cent words they use to give reasoning to this human phenomenon, there is an obvious reason for it. 

We are naughty because...well....we can be.  It's that simple.  And if we really think we'll never be caught, we behave even more outlandishly.  Interesting, eh?

So, you add this theory to how anonymous we perceive the internet to be, the humans inherently naughty nature  and {{WHAM}} you've got an irresistible combination.  Invisibility + Naughty Nature = A barrel of monkeys!

Today's rule is a little more formal than my silly rendition but you get the picture.  This rule has a few simple principals to follow for clean, clear and respectful internet communication:

1. Be Ethical
2. Breaking the Ethical Laws is Bad Netiquette!

Being ethical seems simple enough but there are caveats because we all didn't hatch from the same egg on an island in the South Pacific.  But this is about communication so follow an ethical approach to talking.  As in real life, think before you speak (type), read and re-read until you know you've not offended the hair off someones head with your opinions.  Really people....if you're willing to be seen doing or saying what ever you are typing, then by all means go ahead and send/post it....but don't blame the internet for the nuclear fallout you'll experience later. 

And there are repercussions for our "Bad Netiquette", like some people have found out the hard way.  Remember the young lady who lost her high-paying job because of several "naughty" Facebook posts from a long party weekend?  Or the fella who lost his job and fiance after a YouTube video was posted from his very naughty bachelor party? 

A more applicable example to this article is "Ned" who made several online pseudo-profiles and proceeded to post things like "Cats are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" and "Did you smack your baby today?" But after 100's of bans as inappropriate "Ned's" IP address was flagged by his ISP and {{SMACK}} the bars slammed shut on his high-speed internet account.  Wanna be on dial-up?  Jump in the barrel with the rest of the monkeys. 

In the next post, we'll review Rule #3: "Lurk before you leap"

Netiquette 101: Rule # 1 - "Remember the Human"

I liked this course so much I decided I would pass on the information and hopefully someone will find it as useful as I did.  This week's posts are dedicated to this topic...and maybe even next week if I don't drive everyone crazy playing "Ms. Manner's of the Internet".

Rule #1:  Remember the Human
I touched on this in yesterday's post, the whole "Do unto others" approach to communication.  Lets dive a little deeper into typical and a-typical human behavior.

Typical (in a workplace or home setting)

• Human tends to think (not everyone) before it speaks.
• Human is a little more concerned about losing its job by not using foul language.
• Human tends to consider others feelings (albeit briefly).

 A-Typical (The internet, driving a car on a busy freeway, emails, blogs)

• Human uses vial language and has vivid expressions of inappropriate behaviors.
• Human subjects others to its naughty thoughts (like we want to know the sewage that flows between your ears?).
• Human has no regard for the other person it is "flaming" because it falsely believes the internet provides it with anonymity.  (not the case, but ignorance is bliss, right?)

As quoted from the official Netiquette training manual at Albion.com:

"It's ironic, really. Computer networks bring people together who'd otherwise never meet. But the impersonality of the medium changes that meeting to something less -- well, less personal. Humans exchanging email often behave the way some people behind the wheel of a car do: They curse at other drivers, make obscene gestures, and generally behave like savages. Most of them would never act that way at work or at home. But the interposition of the machine seems to make it acceptable."

Here is the earth-shattering kaboom....one single, simple, basic rule: (and it is not news to 99.9% of the population)

1. "Would you say it to the persons face?"

I'll close with a quote from this book that should be a clear reminder of how truly visible you really are on the internet:

"Never forget the story of famous email user Oliver North. Ollie, you'll remember, was a great devotee of the White House email system, PROFS. He diligently deleted all incriminating notes he sent or received. What he didn't realize was that, somewhere else in the White House, computer room staff were equally diligently backing up the mainframe where his messages were stored. When he went on trial, all those handy backup tapes were readily available as evidence against him."

Next, we'll tackle Rule #2 - "Just because you live in a barrel doesn't mean you have to act like a monkey"

Netiquette - Learning the Rules of the Internet

The art of faceless communication is something that is not taught in any pre-work educational setting I am aware of.  Neither of my colleges taught such classes and while they hinted at proper "netiquette" techniques, they were minimal references at best.  What is the "Netiquette" I'm speaking of?  It is proper electronic communication techniques whose intent is more than assisting people poor English skills called "Grammar Abusers" to clearly articulate their messages.  It means to keep individuals connected to the "Faces" of the faceless.  The point being: the "Golden Rule"standards still apply even to the internet.

In Virginia Shea's book titled "Netiquette", she digs deep into the importance of proper faceless communication. The principals this manual discusses, albeit a bit dated, still stands true. And there are even classes one can take online.  Albion.com offers an online overview using the materials from Shea's book.  Here is an excerpt from Albion.com's Netiquette:

"Would you say it to the person's face?

Writer and Macintosh evangelist Guy Kawasaki tells a story about getting email from some fellow he's never met. Online, this fellow tells Guy that he's a bad writer with nothing interesting to say.
Unbelievably rude? Yes, but unfortunately, it happens all the time in cyberspace.

Maybe it's the awesome power of being able to send mail directly to a well-known writer like Guy. Maybe it's the fact that you can't see his face crumple in misery as he reads your cruel words. Whatever the reason, it's incredibly common.

Guy proposes a useful test for anything you're about to post or mail: Ask yourself, "Would I say this to the person's face?" If the answer is no, rewrite and reread. Repeat the process till you feel sure that you'd feel as comfortable saying these words to the live person as you do sending them through cyberspace.

Of course, it's possible that you'd feel great about saying something extremely rude to the person's face. In that case, Netiquette can't help you. Go get a copy of Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior."

What I found to be most excellent while reviewing this book were the not-so-subtle references to the absence of body language and our ability to slide into "Stealth Trolling" mode given the anonymity the internet affords us. 

It's true, the internet is a vast chasm of unknown people from around the world, all of whom have very little idea who you are and could, in most cases, care less.  That being said, Netiquette is as lost to electronic communication as good penmanship is to handwriting.  It would behoove anyone to take a moment to brush up on their internet-manners to keep from having unwanted business faux pas.

The Future of the WWW, HTML5 and CSS3

In a recent article from Tech Republic, written by Justin James, he asks the following:

"The trend toward using Web technologies for application development, even outside of the Web browser, is here to stay. The recent revelation that Windows 8 will have provisions for writing apps using the HTML5 technologies merely cements this shift in the development world. So the question is: How are you going to deal with it?"

How am I going to deal with it?  I don't know how other web developers keep up with new technologies with intense learning curves but for me it means forking over some hard earned cash to get the low-down from places like www.lynda.com and the local colleges.

And lets not forget CSS3, another advance that once browsers begin sweeping support will overtake another facet of the industry.  When combined, the HTML5/CSS3 have the same industry wide "awe" inspiring effect as XHTML/CSS did when it first came out.

While both HTML5 and CSS3 are not standards yet, they soon will be so to keep pace with new technologies, get your dunce cap on and get in a classroom soon!  I already am.

Tired of Google+ in every blog? Enjoy free Joomla! tutorials instead.

If you like to eat (and I certainly do) here is an off-topic freeby for you. Check this video tutorial out on how to create a slideshow with your articles in Joomla. It is cool and works, albeit there is a bit of a learning curve (or so I found it to be).

Joomla! Free Slider SL1 Tutorial

By learning curve, I mean the documentation for this FREE tutorial isn't the greatest but with a little coding background you can implement this extension. Your clients will enjoy the results (and so will you).

Is Google lord of the world wide web?

Consider the recent turn of events regarding Google's latest mass judgement towards users, shutting off ALL of your Google accounts because of their "real name" policy. Pseudo-names are not allowed, therefore, Google will freeze all of your Google assets, not just Google+.

According to many, this feels like an invasion of privacy. Many want some form of anonymity when it comes to the internet and their privacy. They feel Pseudo-names are a form of protection from identity theft.

The flip side of this is that maybe...just maybe Google is trying to prevent the very thing that these people are angry about, identity theft, amongst many other troubles that plague our internet experiences every day. Dissidents, individuals who want to politically take a stand but do not want the negative (or positive) ramifications that come with speaking up to be personally attached to who they really are especially sensitive to this issue as it leaves them prone.

Say for instance, TROLLS, you know, those losers on the internet whose sole purpose is to talk smack in any public setting because the have "anonymity" living behind their pseudo-name.

Google has frozen thousands of accounts under this "real name" stance, an not just your Google+ account is frozen. It includes everything Google has control over. So, for many of us webmasters who rely on the scores of Google tools out there, fear has taken on a new name. It's called "Lord Google" and if the pesants do not play nice with the court, Lord Google will banish your existence until such time as you comply with his wishes.

That last bit is quite extreme but truly for some it may seem this to be a horrible invasion into their private internet life.

For me, I tend to ride the middle on this issue. My Google accounts are safe because I'm me online as well as in real life, for better or for worse. And I hate trolls...I abhor the ridiculous wastes of internet space these spineless people take up. And I also wonder, how many of us walk into a party or the mall and start introducing ourselves as "Sam the Slayer" or "BabyKillerZeb". Just saying is all.

Mac OSX Lion - Can we get better battery life...yet?

The long awaited (at least for me) release of Apple's OSX Lion met with much ado earlier this week. And at $29.00, who could ever be upset? They've opted out of CD's and have a download only from iTunes which gave many a worry but fear not! Their download speed is incredible...it took only 7 minutes to download the upgrade on a home RoadRunner account.

Installation is only a wiff as well, about 14 minutes and I was upgraded. Easy-peesy people, something I've never experienced with Windows in nearly 20 years of using their products. Yes, I'm that old, but never mind that.

On to the pressing issues. The installation was interesting, there wasn't really any notification of where I was in the process. Only a little lion icon on my doc that didn't show any percent of installation information. So, I simply went and made myself a cup of tea and waited patiently.

The most important thing for me was battery life. I own a Macbook, nothing too fancy as it's about 4 years old and when I upgraded to Snow Leopard 2 years ago, I was sadly disappointed. I was reduced from around 8 hours of battery life to a poultry 1.5 hours! Devastated was more like it, I used it daily and was reduced to being tethered to an outlet in nearly every situation. Grrrrr. And with each update, nothing changed. I combed hours of blogs and forums looking for a solution only to find I wasn't the only one with this problem but no solution was in sight.

So when I found out about Lion, I held a small beacon of hope...would they fix this obvious bug?

Drumroll please.....YES! I am back up to nearly 8 hours of battery life(unless I'm playing with videos or watching a DVD, then it's down to about 3.5-4 hrs which is what it was before).

So YIPEE! Old reliable is back and we are happy campers once again.