Reverse netiquette

[author_by_night]

I've been wondering when one should mention a breach of netiquette on the web.  I have a tendency to be blunt, and tell people not to use "u" if they do, or that all caps is screaming. But it's occurred to me that perhaps that, too, is a breach of netiquette.[Poll #1297928][Poll #1297928]

Comments

[gileonnen.livejournal.com]

I'd say it depends upon your personal relationship to this person. Critiquing a person's grammar/conversational topics/repetitiveness online is, to me, similar to interrupting a person's loud conversation on the street to do so--and then not criticizing the loudness, but the content. Yes, the person was speaking in a public forum, and yes, the content was aesthetically offensive, and yes, you have a right not to be subjected to that. However, the return that you are likely to get on the investment of time is going to be contingent on your relationship with this individual. A stranger may simply get angry and insist that if you didn't like it, you didn't have to listen/read; a vague acquaintance might be sanguine enough to reply with a bit of good-humored attention to your comment; a student might take it as a teacherly correction with possible consequences for the grade; a friend might feel bad for having offended your sensibilities.

Just my many cents.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Interesting thoughts.

My only problem with that is, if everyone on the forum is silently disliking the person, then is it fair to watch them continue to embarrass themselves? But then, maybe it's still up to the mod or admin?

ETA: Reading that comment of course makes me question my own question... since is it the same thing as telling someone nobody likes the cookies they bring to the office, or is it the same thing as telling someone walking into meetings late is distracting?

[gileonnen.livejournal.com]

I think the work metaphor might be a little strained, though, because work is a place you have to be. Try setting it in a bar instead, or a bowling alley.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

True enough.

[scarlett71177.livejournal.com]

I guess my question has always been- who decides something is inappropriate? Personally, I have bigger things to worry about; I don't mind if someone uses 'netspeak.' However, if it's against the set rules of the website, forum, etc... then that's something different. In that sitch I'd leave it up to the mods to handle. If they are letting it slide then there isn't a darn thing you can do. You don't want to be seen as the 'tattle-tale' either.

*shrugs* I don't think I answered your questions at all.

[kakeochi-umai.livejournal.com]

I cringe when I see excessive netspeak or people posting in "pretty" colours and/or playing with the fonts when regular fonts would have done just fine. Or in the case of ITIL, Japanese where just saying the damn words in English would have sufficed ("My apato costs sanman per month" *eyetwitch*) But whether I'd say anything about it depends on the nature of the forum. On some forums that kind of thing very much frowned upon, but in other places, the person who thinks people shouldn't do it is the one who's in the minority, so it's bad form to say anything.

Also, ironically, as a moderator on ITIL I actually feel less able to tell someone to cut it out, because my feeling, and I think the general feeling on there, is that mods shouldn't be petty, and while netspeak and excessive and gratuitous Japanese can be annoying, it's not on the level of, say, flaming someone or posting racist comments. So quite often there'll be stuff where I would have said "STOP. THAT. NOW." as a regular member, but as a moderator I feel that it would be a bad move. So I just leave it. If it's really bad the regular members tend to jump on the poster anyway.

[lump-of-clay.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on a lot of factors.

The general tone of the forum/place being posted. Some areas don't care how much netspeak etc you use.

How much authority/ownership you have in the place. Just because you prefer people don't use bright colored fonts, do you have a right to request it? A public park, someone wearing really strong perfume? Can't say anything. Although if you're in a classroom, it'd be less impolite to speak up. So smaller forums vs large ones. ONTD vs a harry potter one with 100 people.

Things like bad grammar, net speak, I don't care about. Especially since I know a lot of people who aren't any good at typing, either from legit reasons (dyslexia, etc) or just not caring enough/enough book learning. As long as I can tell what they're trying to say, that's all that is important. If you can't understand what they're saying, and you are somehow the one who it is addressed to (ie, either a post directed to you, or to the general public. posts that are more directed to someone else, not so much).

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I think context is key. I've seen a fair bit of this "correction" going on in another online venue (a forum in which a lot of high minded arguing of lofty ideas goes on), and it usually indicates that the person doing the correcting doesn't have have a leg to stand on and has had to revert to nit-picking the format and not the substance of their opponent's position.

However, this is not what you're talking about. Each speech community has its own set of norms, and sometimes a gentle nudge to help someone adhere to the group's standards are in order. This does seem to be the job of mods, but an individual could always PM the unknowing offender and thus make the "correction" seem more helpful and less like a public admonishing.

Of course, if you really dislike this person and want to put them in their place in a public way, this goes beyond simply correcting a breech of netiquette.

[tunxeh.livejournal.com]

If you're not a mod, I think it's better to reply on-topic but include a remark about the breach of etiquette than it is to reply only about the etiquette.

[conuly]

I don't think age matters, in most people's dealings, as much as... call it "length of presence". If you've been around this place, or if people have known you, for two years, you are in that respect "older" than people who have just shown up.

People online are unlikely to know your real age - I tend to assume everybody I'm speaking with is my age unless they directly say something to contradict that! - and they probably don't care anyway. But they have a feel for how long you've been posting, and how much *experience* you have with the online world, even if you haven't posted *there* before.

Edit: I'm not taking a stand, mind, on whether "I've been here forever, and this guy's a total n00b" should justify correcting or not. Just that I think most people, when deciding if it was right or wrong and figuring out whom they're siding with, they'll take that into account.

[mcgonagalls-cat.livejournal.com]

I've moderated several forums. It is important to catch someone before it gets to be a habit on their part. Be very tactful, but firm. If for some reason you run afoul of an insecure Mod who takes it as some sort of territorial situation, apologize to them, but let them see that you only had the site's/community's best interests in mind. (Is this where I make a snarky comment about the immature Mods at TLC?) Most sites will state somewhere what their expectations and limits on members are - just make sure you don't go against whatever they've said.


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