Reverse netiquette
Nov. 15th, 2008 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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]
no subject
Date: 2008-11-15 06:30 pm (UTC)Just my many cents.
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Date: 2008-11-15 06:51 pm (UTC)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?
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Date: 2008-11-15 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-15 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-15 07:23 pm (UTC)*shrugs* I don't think I answered your questions at all.
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Date: 2008-11-16 12:31 am (UTC)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.
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Date: 2008-11-16 01:13 am (UTC)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).
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Date: 2008-11-16 01:29 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 03:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 06:42 am (UTC)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.
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Date: 2008-11-16 11:38 pm (UTC).