E-tiquette, A Guide
January 21, 2008 | Filed under Online
I’ve been reading a guide to modern manners recently. While I personally hate the word ‘manners’ and the related connotations of society’s view of propriety as opposed to common courtesy (which I think is much more important), I have to admit that it’s actually quite a good read.
One chapter regarding online etiquette (or as I like to say, e-tiquette {EE-TEE-KET}) was particularly relevant to the social circles that I mingle in on cyberspace. Observe:
Everyone loves watching a good flame war…If there’s blood in the water there will be a guaranteed guilty shuffling in your website’s direction.
Everyone does enjoy e-drama/flamewars, no matter how they might argue and state otherwise. Why else would you participate in, or be an onlooker in, or comment on, e-drama otherwise? If it wasn’t enjoyed, the slightest hint of drama would die on its arse and simply would never come to pass.
Flamewars are invariably fuelled by the massive egos of the participants.
Again, I have to agree with this. I’m not pointing fingers of course, because I’ve happily participated in various e-dramas of my own, but you need an ego to be able to sustain a proper flame war. Without this ego and the conviction that you are right and the other person is wrong, one would simply capitulate to the other party once the drama began to surface, thus quenching the flames of e-warfare.
Partaking in a flamewar is not in itself a terrible thing; if nothing else it will heighten your ability to articulate searing putdowns without resorting to swear words. And, as the currency of a flamewar is wit, the obvious loser is the side that resorts to the pettiest insults.
Again, true. Nothing spells failure and being pwned more than someone who resorts to petty name-calling, the like of which you can find on Jordie‘s (new and improved!) e-dramuh bingo card.
Along the same lines, the degree of respect that you command from drama onlookers increases in accordance to the way you spell and use appropriate grammatical and sentence structures – half the reason why no one has taken Barbi Lee seriously in the recent bout of e-dramuh.
So what can one take from the guide to e-tiquette in e-drama?
- If you want hits to your site, start some e-drama.
- If you’re going to start e-drama, make sure you never capitulate or waver in your conviction that you are right and everyone else is wrong.
- Once the e-drama has started, always spell-check your impeccably-worded retorts, counter-retorts, and insults.
The first two are simple – even novices can do it. The third point however, is where most amateurs phail and get officially pwned. So go forth, merry e-dramuh maker! Find an illiterate fool and begin your dramuh!
10 Responses to E-tiquette, A Guide
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Off I go!
Sarai on January 21, 2008 #
B-I-N-G-O! B-I-N-G-O! B-I-N-G-O! and BINGO was his name o~
haha, everyone sides with Jem because BLee really brings on the WTFs :P
Chien Yee on January 22, 2008 #
I never start e-drama or try to get involved in it, I think I’m too scared with getting attacked by internet l33ts. Hahahah. Love the Bingo card!
Juice on January 22, 2008 #
Isn’t there a list of illiterate fools we can all refer to when our traffic and comments are down? Someone must compile one!
Kat on January 22, 2008 #
*squeezes ego into comment box* PHEW! So about this e-tiquette (isn’t it supposed to be netiquette?)…
2) Um… dunno about that. I’m pretty sure, that refusing to acknowledge that IMDB is not breaking any copyright law, does not help your case, if you want to be taken seriously.
3) I completely agree. The bigger and more obscure the wording, the better ^_^
I’m wondering here: why is it bad to accept that you were wrong? I don’t mean that you were wrong in creating the e-drama.
Accept that there was one tiny detail you may have overlooked, or that a particular approach to a particular issue was bad?
Vera on January 22, 2008 #
I spell well, but when it comes to be being confrontational… I’d rather not. :P
Aisling on January 22, 2008 #
You should probably let your lj hotlink to your image files. :P
Mike Haddad on January 22, 2008 #
I don’t enjoy the majority of e-drama (these days). Offline drama, however? I’m all ears.
Amber on January 22, 2008 #
This is what these people call online etiquette? I wouldn’t call flaming “good manners”.
That aside, all three points were dead-on. It seems like the few books I’ve read that discuss online activity are all written by people who don’t really know anything about the Internet.
I never participate in flamewars myself (I’m too nice, I guess, but not nice enough to avoid them altogether :P Flamewars be fun to read about sometimes…)
Angela on January 22, 2008 #
The third one’s not hard. Just get Firefox. :)
What happened to “Why can’t we all be friends?” on the Bingo card? I liked that one. :D I’m not so enthusiastic about the actual drama, though.
Kycoo on January 22, 2008 #