Forum etiquette is important for maintaining a standard of acceptable behavior when expressing opinions online. Posting personal information, name-calling, scrolling, flaming, and using all caps are violations. The golden rule applies: treat others as you would like to be treated. Report offensive posts to moderators.
The internet has become a worldwide community and in the process countless forums are available on every topic where people can express their opinions. Some forums are strictly moderated, i.e. someone checks each post for suitability before it is uploaded to the forum. Some forums have little or no moderation, just Terms of Service (TOS) that members are expected to follow. Most forums have some sort of flagging feature for obscene or harassing posts. However, even with a minimally moderated forum, is there a standard of behavior? Is there really something called forum etiquette? The answer is an absolute yes.
Forum etiquette means maintaining a standard of posting behavior that is acceptable and appropriate. Forum etiquette can be flexible, depending on the topic of the forum, but there are certain standards that most people expect others to uphold. A few lines need to be drawn for the safety of all forum posts.
One of the truest rules of forum etiquette is not to post personal information on another poster. Even if the advertiser almost drew a map of her house, posting a real name or address is considered grounds for a permanent ISP ban on most forums. This could compromise someone’s safety. This is probably the most serious violation of forum etiquette and most moderators take it very seriously.
You may disagree with someone’s opinion, but calling that person an idiot or profane name is a violation of forum etiquette. Some forums are more liberal about this than others, but keeping it civil is never the wrong thing to do. Posting the same thing over and over is called scrolling and is also a prohibition offense. It’s extremely annoying and consumes bandwidth, which is something someone is paying for. It’s completely unnecessary and makes the poster look immature and childish.
Trolls are always in flagrant violation of forum etiquette and enjoy disturbing the peace in any forum they post to. Trolls tend to swipe, call names, gossip about other posters, post things that are deliberately provocative, and usually violate forum posting rules. Most moderators rush to get them banned as soon as possible, but sometimes they can do a lot of damage before that happens.
Another violation of forum etiquette is to post in ALL CAPS. This is considered shouting and is very rude as well as being hard on the eyes. Something could be capitalized for emphasis (eg, I did NOT mean to go!), but no post should be entirely capitalized.
Flaming, deliberate insults or personal invectives, is also against forum etiquette. Flaming is often employed by people who are losing threads on a forum. Their response is to personally insult the poster for disagreeing with them, usually in a long, nasty post.
This type of behavior is why so many forums have a list of posting rules and consequences for breaking them. Some might say that this behavior is more evident among immature teenagers, but that’s not the case at all. Many of the worst offenders are adults who should know better. The veil of anonymity seems to bring out the worst in these people, and any bullying tendencies of theirs tends to be magnified in the semi-protection of an anonymous forum.
Most of the rest of forum etiquette involves the use of the golden rule: treat others as you would like to be treated. Behaving like a reasonable adult, even in the face of being insulted, is always the best course of action. If a poster becomes harassing, obscene, or personal, don’t retaliate. Instead, cut and paste offensive posts into an email and quickly report them to the forum moderator or administrator.
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